Wood Bats

Wood bats were the only choice for any batter in the game of baseball until the mid 1970’s. But today, wood bats are used far less often than aluminum baseball bats on both the baseball and softball diamonds. Pros are required to use wood bats, and for safety reasons, some high school leagues have recently moved to wood only. Most wooden bats are made of northern white ash, but in recent years maple has become a popular option. This trend started with the success Barry Bonds had with maple bats during the 2001 season.

Learn how to properly care for, clean and maintain a wood baseball bat.

Maple Baseball Bats

Until 2001, nearly all wood baseball bats were made from the same northern white ash that bats had been made from for over 100 years. That year, however, brought Barry Bonds, his incredible 73 home runs and an extremely quick change in the wood bat market. Bonds’ record breaking season brought attention to the fact that he was using unique maple baseball bats – made by Sam Bat of Ottawa, ON. In no time at all, the maple bat craze had begun.

For years bat makers were unable to make baseball bats from maple due to the high moisture content of the wood – despite the high strength it was simply too heavy to make into a baseball bat. In the late 90’s technology came to the rescue and high tech wood kilns now remove enough moisture from the wood to make high quality, high strength maple baseball bats. Today, maple bats are increasingly favored by amateur and major league players alike. Maple bats can be expensive (some retail for over $115!), though many feel that their increased strength makes one maple bat a wiser purchase than several ash bats.

Where to Find Maple Bats:

• Just Bats
• Hitting World
• Baseball Express

Bat Manufacturers who focus on Maple Bats: