The first baseball bats were made of wood, and wood bats reigned supreme until the 1970s, when the aluminum bat was introduced. Although aluminum bats dominate youth baseball from the Little League level through collegiate play, wooden bats are still used at all levels of professional play, both in the major leagues and in international competition.
The Early Years
In the earliest years of baseball, the game was still evolving, as were the bats. Many players made their own bats, and they experimented with all types and styles before settling on something that worked. Many players found the wood used to make wagon tongues, the long wooden poles that attached to the front of farm wagons, made the most effective bats, as they provided the best combination of strength and flexibility. They also discovered a rounded shape was best for hitting the ball with power and accuracy.
First Rules and Regulations
In 1859, the governing committee of the Professional National Association of Baseball Players was the first to adopt a law regarding the dimension of the wooden bats then in use. According to PNABP rules, the diameter of a bat could be no more than 2 1/2 inches. Bat length remained ungoverned until 10 years later, when a limit of 42 inches was imposed. In 1893, the Baseball Rules Committee outlawed the use of flat bats or bats that were sawed off at the end. In 1895, the committee increased the maximum allowed bat diameter to 2 3/4 inches, but the 42-inch length limit remained in effect, as it does as of 2010.
Birth of the Louisville Slugger
In 1884, a woodworker named John Hillerich created a bat specifically for Pete Browning, an outfielder with the Louisville Eclipse. Browning was frustrated when he broke his favorite bat during a game, and when Hillerich created a new one to his specifications out of a piece of white ash, his hitting improved significantly and all his teammates wanted a Hillerich bat. Soon the word spread to other teams, and the Hillerich wood shop went into the baseball bat business, branding their bats "Louisville Sluggers."
Player-Endorsed Bats
New companies joined the Hillerich family in creating wooden baseball bats, and these companies rushed to have popular players of the day endorse their bats. In addition to Pete Browning, Louisville Slugger bats were endorsed by Wee Willie Keeler, Hugh Duffy, Hugh Jennings and John McGraw, while Wright and Ditson manufactured a Nap Lajoie model. In 1905, Honus Wagner became the first player to have his autograph burned into the Louisville Slugger model that bore his name.
Famous Wooden Bats
Third baseman Heinie Groh helped the Cincinnati Reds and New York Giants to several championships with his renowned "bottle bat," one of the largest and heaviest bats used in the majors. One of the longest bats was swung by Al Simmons of the Philadelphia Athletics and Washington Senators, a Louisville Slugger that was 38 inches long and weighed 46 oz. Wee Willie Keeler had the shortest bat, just 30 1/2 inches long. Cleveland Browns left fielder Goose Goslin stepped up to the plate on opening day of 1932 with his distinctive striped "war club," but it was disallowed by the umpires, and no striped bats have been used since that time. While these bats were famous for being distinctive in some way, other wooden bats have gained fame due to the men who wielded them. One of these is "Black Betsy," which belonged to Shoeless Joe Jackson of the notorious 1919 Chicago "Black Sox." Another is a bat that was used by Babe Ruth to hit a home run on April 18, 1923, the first opening day at the original Yankee Stadium. This bat was sold at auction in 2004 for a record-setting $1.26 million.
The Rise and Regulation of Maple Bats
From the time of the first Louisville Sluggers through 2010, most wooden bats have been made of ash, but Barry Bonds popularized a new type of wood by using a maple "Sam Bat" for his record-setting 73 home run season in 2001, and later for his record-breaking 756th home run in 2007. Maple bats have been gaining in popularity among professional baseball players over the course of the last decade, but new rules taking effect in 2010 ban many types of maple bats from being used in the minor leagues due to their tendency to shatter.
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