Tom Duffy saw his last baseball game as a Grasshopper League player. Sam Holman made his last throw from third to first as a youngster, when his father realized he was strong enough to heave hay bales into the loft of the family barn. But Duffy, a artisan-artist-craftsman who runs a woodworking studio-shop in Ogdensburg's Oswegatchie Delta, and Holman, a stagehand turned manufacturer from Ottawa, Ontario, are currently fashioning a potential hitting innovation in major league baseball. The two self-made middle aged enterprising free spirits are currently living out one of the great American Dreams involving the Great National Pastime. They are building a better baseball bat. One made of maple instead of the traditional ash. And hoping the world will beat a path to their door.
Maple has proven to last 30 times longer than other types of wooden bats and the "SamBat" offers a bigger sweetspot than the ash bats. Ash bats have dominated major league baseball ever since apprentice woodworker John Andrew "Bud" Hillerich, created a bat on his lathe for Pete "Old Gladiator" Browning of the Louisville Eclipses in 1894. Browning promptly used the 37-inch, 46 ounce club to break out a slump and the Louisville Slugger was born.
Bats have been tapered to different sizes over the years and in the modern days they have become shorter and lighter. But never more durable. Statistics show that major leaguers average 72 bats per player per year, and the expense of replacing bats has allowed aluminum to replace wood as the substance of choice in youth leagues, high schools, and colleges.
A few years ago Bill MacKenzie, Ottawa area Scouting Supervisor for the Colorado Rockies, was lamenting the short lifespan of ash bats one day talking with Holman at their favorite pub "The Mayflower." Holman responded with the idea of making a bat which didn't break. Sam, a long time wood carver, felt the idea was far from outlandish. Working with wood had been a hobby since boyhood and as a stagehand at the National Arts Centre for 22 years, he had learned wood's properties first hand, its characteristics, eccentricities, strengths, and drawbacks. His first thought was to replace ash with maple, and that thought has carried him through extensive research into developing the bat and sifting through the "219 Patents on Baseball Bats." Then there was task of getting the bat field tested by professionals who are resistant to change and outrageously demanding. Legend says Ted Williams used to hand pick ash trees in Pennsylvania forests for his bats. But Holman persevered, and through the cooperation of Carlos Delgado, Ed Sprague, and Joe Carter of the Toronto Blue Jays, he gained his field test. And the SamBat passed the durability with flying colors. Delgado used one bat for two and one-half months of batting practice. Carter became a much-needed spokesman for the bat and has been sued by "Louisville Slugger" for his endorsements.
"It's a harder wood with a bigger sweet spot" said Carter in a recent newspaper story from the Baltimore Orioles' spring training camp. Carter left the Blue Jays for the Baltimore Orioles after last season. And shortly after Major League Baseball approved the bat in January, Holman received orders from a flock of Orioles: Roberto Alomar, Rafael Palmeiro, Jeffrey Hammonds, Harold Baines, Mike Bordick, and Eric Davis. Holman's "The Original Maple Bat Company" also supplied all major league teams which train in Florida with two dozen bats for use in spring training. Among other notable players to render orders were: Houston's all-star Killer B combination of Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell, and much-traveled slugger Jose Canseco, who currently wields his 35", 35 oz whammer for the Blue Jays. Holman, in a visit to the Orioles' camp, asked icon iron man Carl Ripken to try the SamBat. Ripken took an open-minded swing and drove a ball forty feet over the leftfield fence.
Meeting the meticulous specifications of major league hitters brought Holman into partnership with longtime friend Tom Duffy, a renown cabinet and furniture maker. In producing wood craft and art for over 25 years, Duffy's works have been displayed in several art museums. His Ogdensburg shop also produces "The Willow," a popular model of the St. Lawrence River rowing skiff. His web page carries high praise from "New York Times" critic Michael Varese. "Thomas Duffy of Ogdensburg, N.Y. is one of this country's leading cabinet and chair makers working with curly maple along traditional lines."What could have more traditional lines, or tradition for that matter, than a baseball bat? So their partnership was a natural. And they hope that the durability of the maple bat could eventually bring natural wood back to the Little League and high school ranks.
"This may be something a little different for me. But being a craftsman simply means doing something very well," said Duffy who is also very enthused by the commercial prospects of the venture. His shop and warehouse have room to accommodate any need for production expansion. In the current production line, Duffy creates the bats to the individual specifications, and Holman brushes on the desired stain. Each bat also receives the distinctive bat logo designed by Holman's brother Nathan (who was helped by his daughter Laura, who provided the wonkey eye cut outs). "It's really been fun making the bats and through the orders, I am getting know the players. Now I am going to have to watch baseball games to see how they are doing." said Duffy with a sawdust-sprinkled laugh. That means I'll have to buy a television. I guess there are drawbacks to everything."
The first SamBat was sent directly to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. The hall responded by giving Holman a lifetime pass to the hallowed ground of hardball. "Who knows, maybe that Griffey guy will break the homerun record with one of my bats and I'll be there to see it," said Duffy, who also maintains a studio in Seattle, Washington.
Stranger things have happened.
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