“Going Yard” Bat Blog

If you need evidence of baseball’s global appeal, look no further than the Wikipedia entries discussed in this enjoyable read.

But somehow Major League Wezen-Ball just doesn’t sound right…

We tweeted about this last week - marking the passing of Irving Franklin, co-founder of Franklin Sports and co-inventor of the batting glove.

Franklin teamed up with Mike Schmidt in the 1980s to design and make the batting glove that remains today the flagship product of the Franklin Sports brand - and a favorite of batters stepping up to the plate.

We’ve been hearing the drum beats of change these past few years as the game of baseball has gone back to basics with its embrace of wood bats.

In the name of safety or fairness or the purity of the game, the result is the same: here’s an interesting article on some of the ways that wood bats are changing the way we play the game.

We’d love to hear what you think about what the trend towards wood bats means for the players and the game.

A new, ergonomically-correct bat has made its debut in MLB, and the makers of the Pro-XR bat hope it’s a sign of things to come.

The new bat technology is based on an angled knob that is designed to improve grip and reduce injuries. With this ergonomic knob, the Pro-XR bat enables batters to improve bat speed and achieve more swing control, according to Grady Phelan, the brains behind the new bat.

Several MLB players have already used the new Pro-XR bat and many more have signed on to try it out. We’d like to try one ourselves. Will let you know if and when we do. Have any of you tried this bat yet?

What’s the difference between reinventing the wheel and building a better mousetrap?

The former is a pointless exercise, and the latter is, well, basically what a New Jersey man has done by creating a revolutionary new wood composite bat that’s shatterproof.

MLB isn’t convinced, but we think these durable bats are worth considering, especially if you’re prone to breaking bats.

The Mets caught a break when newly-crowned Miss USA Rima Fakih stopped by Citi Field before a game last Thursday.

She posed for photos, chatted with players and took a few swings before the Mets took the field to face the Phillies.

Rima, a long-time Met fan, brought the Mets some luck as they went on the blank the Phillies 3-0. Mets fans say, “Miss USA, stop by anytime!”

Interesting article by Ken Belson at The New York Times website about the bat-making industry.

The story focusses on BWP Bats, a up-and-coming player in the industry that specializes in maple bats it manufactures from wood it harvests from its own forests and runs through its own mills. There’s a lot of inside info here on everything from manufacturing to marketing - worth a read.

Had you already heard about the response Vernon Wells had for a bunch of hecklers at the beginning of this month? After enough innings of shouts and jeers, the story goes, Wells tossed a ball up to the stands, with a handwritten message:

“Here’s your ball, now please tell me what gas station you work at so I can come and yell at you when you’re working. Please sit down, shut up, and enjoy the game. From your favorite centerfielder, Vernon Wells”

Maybe the fans got under Wells’s skin, but that’s a pretty comedic retort. Poetry it’s not. Billy Chapel’s signed message in For the Love of the Game it’s not. (And while we’re on Costner, it’s also not as good as the note Crash sent Annie in Bull Durham.)

HomerDerby caught up with the hecklers to share their story and posted the interview. Of course, they may not be up to the caliber of the original hecklers, but you can judge for yourself.

 

Baseball’s efforts for cancer awareness don’t stop a the MLB-wide Mother’s Day campaign. This week, the Yankees welcomed an honorary bat girl, Polly Tompkins, who is battling stage 4 melanoma.

Tompkins threw out the first pitch, hung out with Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, and Nick Swisher, and brought about 100 friends and family members to the game. Donning a white and pink jersey, when Tompkins pointed to her group in the stands, Rodriguez and Swisher jumped into the section, shook hands, and signed autographs.

It’s not every day that the pregame schedule takes on this meaning—it’s good to see the game making a difference and giving people an incredible experience.

Do you remember which Chicago club President Barack Obama favors? In interview with Stuart Scott last year, the then-candidate gave the answer. The White Sox. He even got to throw out the first pitch at their season opener this year.

But Obama has been a baseball fan since long before he moved to Chicago…the Tribune found a great childhood photo of him in Hawaii taking an early swing. The bat looks a little big for him… maybe he should have taken our advice about youth bats.

Obama is a lefty now, but from the follow-through, it looks like he may have been a righty in his youth. We’ll let that slide.