MLB maple bats: How they're made

Atlanta Braves

MLB maple bats: How they're made

The AJC looks at how MLB maple bats are created at a Goodlettsville, Tenn., company.

Brewers slugger Rickie Weeks' maple bat shatters as Braves catcher Brian McCann looks on during the June 25 game at Turner Field. On June 24, 2008, a health and safety committee of representatives from the MLB commissioner's office and the players' union met to discuss safety, testing and future action regarding maple bats.

Just hours after the committee met, umpire Brian O'Nora was cut in the forehead by a piece of a maple bat during a Kansas City Royals game Tuesday and left with blood running down his face. The injury wasn't serious.

The Old Hickory Bat Company in Goodlettsville, Tenn., hand-crafts the suddenly controversial maple bats. In this 2005 photo, Old Hickory's Brian Cusson attaches a piece of maple wood to a lathe for sanding.

Sawdust-covered maple wood stock awaits shaping, sanding and the crafting necessary to turn a stick into an official MLB bat.

Cusson applies some special handcrafting as he lathes a stick of maple. The consistency of wood also makes maple bats break into pieces, rather than crack like ash bats tend to do. Shards of maple bats are much more likely to pinwheel on the infield or into the stands.

Brandon Sons of the Old Hickory Bat Company puts a label on a newly finished baseball bat. Old Hickory has supplied Andruw Jones, Ken Griffey Jr., Gary Sheffield and Vladimir Guerrero with maple bats.

Old HIckory co-owner Jon Moyer hangs up a freshly-coated baseball bat to dry. Some players believe the ball comes off the bat better with maple, though a study at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell showed the ball carried no better off maple than ash.

Skyler Burris gives her dad, Chad Lamberth, co-owner of the Old Hickory Bat Company, a helping hand to clean up sawdust from bat making. A small operation, the company produces around 25-50 bats a day - all maple.

"You don't get as good a wood all the time with ash," says Braves catcher Brian McCann, who's used maple since he got to the majors. "You order a dozen maple, you might use three for batting practice. With Ash, it might be more like six (for games) and six (for batting practice). With ash, you might use a bat three or four rounds of BP. I've used the same BP bat all year with maple." Only Chipper Jones, Jeff Francoeur and Mark Kotsay use strictly the traditional ash among Braves regulars.

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Brewers slugger Rickie Weeks' maple bat shatters as Braves catcher Brian McCann looks on during the June 25 game at Turner Field. On June 24, 2008, a health and safety committee of representatives from the MLB commissioner's office and the players' union met to discuss safety, testing and future action regarding maple bats.

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