From the early days of baseball, bats have been an important part of the game. Today, bats are made of a variety of materials, including aluminum and composite materials like carbon fiber and Kevlar. In the beginning, however, the only material available for making bats was wood. Wood provided the strength, resilience, flexibility and durability required for the rigors of the game, and it continues to be used as a material for making bats to this day.
History
In the 1850s, when baseball was a very young sport, batters made their own bats of wood. Much experimentation went on during that time, with different shapes, lengths and sizes of bats tried. Eventually, a rule was made in 1859 that bats could be no larger than 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Ten years later, another rule established a length limit of 42 inches. Other rules defined the acceptable design and shape of bats. The basic form of the modern wood bat is much the same as it was more than 100 years ago.
Materials
The wood used for making baseball bats must be hard but flexible, light but durable. The wood must resist breaking under the significant stress of hitting a baseball. Several different types of wood have been tried. White ash proved to be one of the best choices and is used today by many companies, including the famous Louisville Slugger. Other resilient woods, such as green ash and rock or sugar maple, are also used. Recently, bats made by turning compressed layers of bamboo have become available.
Manufacture
To manufacture a baseball bat, a wooden blank is first dried to the proper moisture content. The blank is then weighed to ensure the finished bat will meet regulation requirements. It is then turned in an automatic lathe to round it. (In many cases, the design of the bat is based on one used by a certain professional baseball player and has the name of the player inscribed on it.) The bat continues to be weighed at intervals throughout the manufacturing process. Final shaping and finishing on a lathe, sanding and painting, and staining and varnishing are then done to complete the bat.
Use
Wood baseball bats are still manufactured in a range of sizes, even though other materials are proving to be more popular. Wood bats continue to be used occasionally in peewee, little league, pony league and collegiate level baseball, though metal bats are more common. Professional play, sanctioned by Major League Baseball in its most popular form, is the only place where a wood bat is required, as all other forms of bat materials are prohibited.
Comparison
When comparing wood bats to aluminum or composite bats, the most obvious difference is that wood tends to break. Wood bats also weigh more, making them harder to handle and swing with control. While aluminum and composite bats are much more consistent in their manufacture, wood bats tend to vary from bat to bat because of the nature of wood. Also, the rebound of a baseball from a wood bat is not as significant as from bats made of other materials. For these reasons, aluminum and composite bats tend to outperform wood bats.
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