For many baseball purists, no sound is more offensive than the sound of a baseball hitting a metal bat. Wood bats have been around since the dawn of baseball more than 150 years ago, and it looks like they are here to stay.
History
When baseball originated sometime during the late 1840s or early 1850s, most players made their own bats. There were no rules, so bats came in all different shapes, sizes and weights. Some were even completely flat. It wasn't until 1859 that the first rule governing bats was established--bats could be no larger than 2.5 inches in diameter. In 1869, another rule was added--bats could be no longer than 42 inches, which is a rule that still holds today in Major League Baseball.
Wood Types
For many decades, northern white ash was the most popular wood used to make baseball bats. According to a story in "USA Today," ash bats were the only bats used by Major Leaguers up until the late 1990s, when Joe Carter started using maple bats. Ash was popular because of its durability and light weight, properties that made it the perfect wood to transmit power and drive for hitters.
Maple bats stormed onto the scene after Barry Bonds used maple to hit 73 home runs for the San Francisco Giants in 2001. Maple bats used to be heavier than white ash bats, but new drying technology has made them more lightweight and effective. Maple bats are denser than ash bats, and therefore harder and more durable.
Some bat makers have introduced a line of birch bats. Birch is tougher than ash and lighter and more flexible than maple. Its light weight allows for a larger barrel, which means big sweet spots and more hits.
Wood Bats and Major League Baseball
As most baseball fans know, Major League Baseball only uses wood bats. Only bats that are made by MLB-certified manufacturers are allowed to be used, and all bats must be fashioned from one single piece of wood. Bats can be no larger than 2 3/4 inches in diameter and no longer than 42 inches.
There are 32 certified suppliers of MLB bats. Even so, 60 percent of Major Leaguers swing a Louisville Slugger, and about half of those bats are made of maple.
Considerations
There has been talk of banning maple bats from Major League Baseball. When maple bats break, they break cleanly and usually send the entire barrel of the bat flying at high speeds into dugouts or the stands, and people have been injured by broken maple bats. Ash bats just splinter and break into many pieces.
Breaks are becoming much more common due to the declining availability of quality wood because of overproduction. Even so, many Major League players have still been going with maple because the ash bats break even quicker.
Fun Facts
Babe Ruth used hickory bats as heavy as 42 ounces when he played. To put that into perspective, most of today's wood bats weigh between 30 and 35 ounces.
In 1884, a 17-year-old kid named John Hellerich made a bat out of white ash for Major Leaguer Pete Browning of the Louisville Colonels. Browning went 3-for-3 in his first game with the new bat. After that, everybody wanted one, and the Louisville Slugger was born. It's estimated that about 40,000 trees per year are harvested just to make one season's worth of Louisville Sluggers.
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