Comments on: Branding the Bat

By: Dave A

Dave A — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:07:49 +0000

I liked the explanation of why the bat should be held “so that its grains are oriented edge-on to the flight of the ball.” I feel smarter now.

By: Autar Kaw

Autar Kaw — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 11:36:36 +0000

“Their strength follows the square of the square of their diameter or thickness” – I think it is the cube of the diameter for strength. The square of the square of the diameter is for deflection. Why, because the stress under bending (normal stress=M*(d/2)/(pi*d^4/64)) for a circular rod is proportional to the bending moment (M) and diameter (d), but inversely proportional to the square of the square of the diameter (d). So the stress under bending is inversely proportional to the cube of the diameter.

By: Vince

Vince — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 01:50:25 +0000

There is a web site (www.woodbat.org) that has a great explanation of the shattered bat phenomenon. Yes, maple shatters much more frequently than ash. And yes, the slope of grain in maple bats is a contributing factor to the probability a bat will shatter. As far as branding, when you stand in the batter’s box you need to face the label (which for ash is and always has been on the face of the wood) towards the pitcher or catcher. As you bring your bottom hand forward into the hitting zone, the bottom hand will rotate (clockwise for RHB, counterclockwise for LHB) so that by the time contact is made with a pitch the grain facing the pitcher. This is the best approach for ash/hickory, but (recently discovered) bad for maple. As batters were facing their maple bats like the ash bats, the combination of hitting with the grain and a slope of grain beyond a certain degree contributed to the increase of shattered bats. Now I hear that maple bats are checked for slope of grain before being allowed for MLB use, and manufacturers are now branding maple bats along the grain, so that batters can orient the bat’s label the same way for any bat (simplicity or dumbing down, take your pick).

By: load shedding

load shedding — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 09:47:08 +0000

don’t give a rat’s ass about baseball or bats breaking or Derek Jeter, but Bill Nye is my hero!

By: John

John — Tue, 04 May 2010 23:03:37 +0000

While some of what you say is true there are a few other factors. Try as they will, the wood doesn’t come from old growth forest,which much denser. A second thought is Louisville Slugger has a process to reinforce the wood making them almost indestructible with all of the pure wood characteristics, league won’t take them. Still, not a bad idea.

By: Tyson F. Gautreaux

Tyson F. Gautreaux — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 19:02:20 +0000

I was very delighted to find this site.I wanted to thank you for this brilliant read!! I definitely enjoyed every little bit of it and I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post.

By: Auto CD Mp3 Player

Auto CD Mp3 Player — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 12:09:03 +0000

i discovered your weblog looking out a few different matter on yahoo, weird …… in any case, i spent some minutes reading this and another entries and gonna come back usually, i preferred it

By: Aimee

Aimee — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 21:27:47 +0000

The article was really cool, even though I don’t like baseball that much

By: Not Bill Nye

Not Bill Nye — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 06:35:38 +0000

1st word 4th line should be “bat” and not bad. 7th line of 1st paragraph should be “pitcher” not pitching. 6th line 2nd paragraph should be “you were”.There was not a spell/grammer check button for the comment box. Maybee their shoold bee? Lol.

By: Not Bill Nye

Not Bill Nye — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 06:26:49 +0000

As much as I love the amount of scientific information you provided for my younger years, your bat breaking prediction was by sheer coincidence. Many teams, even at the high school and college level, require their players to swing wood bats. It is common knowledge in the baseball world to hit the ball on the visible grain sides of the bad. Not only does this help “reduce” the possibility of a shattered bat, but it also creates for a harder surface, which in return, allows the ball to travel further. The branded sides of most bats do give you the visual reference of knowing where the grains are located (“sides” of the label), however, just because the label is facing the pitching does not undoubtedly conclude the ball will not strike the grained side.

During the stride, the batter’s front shoulder will slightly drop down towards the plate (the reason you see Jeter’s #2) and his hands will go back (the load). This causes the label to have the possibility of being seen by the pitcher. The knob of the bat will then travel towards his front foot creating a chopping motion, thus creating backspin at contact, which creates the lift of the ball. The “level swing” taught by most youth coaches is an incorrect terminology—the swing should be a down angle to the ball and level out at contact, then the bat comes back up to finish shoulder high (if both hands stay on the bat). This would almost create a blurred “U” if you standing in front, perpendicular to the batters waists when he enters the box. It is still possible to hit the grain side of the bat depending on the rotation of the batter’s hands. The batter’s hands should not rotate until after contact (top palm up, bottom palm down). If the grains are missed, you are correct in that there is an “exceeded” chance of a broken bat, but that is not always the case.

With the earlier statements about the use of wooden bats at an early age, I feel it is important in relaying that young players do have knowledge about wooden bats. Most younger players know to use the grain side of the bat as the contact focus point for the ball. They understand this in part because; they do not want the increased possibility of a broken bat (loss of money) and it is also common knowledge in baseball that the harder surface will allow the ball to travel further—in the aspect of wooden bats. Composite and metal bats can be scientifically broken down by a scientist, which I am not. I just felt it was important to stress the fact that a visible label to the pitcher, will not always mean the bat will break. I can even assure you that most all baseball players who use wooden bats, collectively as a team, will have passed down knowledge from other players about not hitting with the branded logo side (or the opposite side).

I do appreciate your exciting shows during middle school. I just felt a great sense of joy to have a “slight bit” more knowledge on a subject than “The Bill Nye”. Enjoy the upcoming baseball season!