When baseball was first created and the game became popular in the 1800s, the bats were

made by each player and he would use his own bat that was made from wood.(Mussill, 2000)
There were all shapes and sizes of bats there were used. When the game was still young there
werent any regulations or rules regarding the bats that were used. It was common for the
players to have flat bats as well as round ones. When the first regulation for bats were made, the
bat could be no larger in diameter than 2.5 inches. There were still no rule on the length of the
bat at this time until 1869 when the regulation for the length was set to be no longer than 42
inches. By this time players were getting their bats carved and shaped by woodworkers to their
personalized specifications. Around this time players were having a knob carved at the bottom
of the handle to add support. The first fully personalized wood bat was made in 1884 by a young
man by the name of John Hillerich. The bat was made to replace the bat of Pete Browning who
had broken his bat hitting in a game that night. Hillerich took Browning to his woodwork shop
and made a baseball bat from complete scratch and it was made to the exact specifications that
Pete wanted. Little did he know that his replacement bat was going to help take over the
business of baseball bats for many years to come. With the popularity of the J.F. Hillerich and
Son brand bat, which was later personalized with the legendary Louisville Slugger logo, players
were getting baseball bats made to certain specifications that each player was comfortable with.
Although the wood bat is the most common material used to make a baseball bat, an aluminum
alloy was introduced in the 1970s by Seiichi Yanagi Oka for Easton, the first metallic baseball
company, to create a better bat that would be more powerful than a wood bat. Eastons model of
aluminum alloy bats was the only aluminum alloy bat on the market until Louisville Slugger
released a model later in the decade. Aluminum alloy is still the prominent material for baseball
bats as it is most commonly used by children in little league all the way up to the college level.
Alloy bats were not the best bats to use when they were first brought to the market as some of the
metal bats would bend or get dented by the force applied by the ball hitting the bat. This was due
to the metal compound used to make the bats was weaker than expected. The end cap would also
be an issue but that is not as big of a problem in modern day baseball. The main difference of
the wood bat in contrast to the aluminum alloy bat is mostly the wear and tear that is withstood
along with the weight distribution. Although the alloy bat was becoming a huge hit, pun
intended, the MLB did not plan to look into using metallic bats as they knew, as an organization,
that the bats would be far too powerful for the grown men that are professional ball players could
possibly injure someone in the field. The organization also knew that the bats would cause the
average game score to increase tremendously as the rate of home runs would increase due to the
power aluminum bats could have on contact with a baseball. As years went on and the game
progressed and evolved, so did the bats. Going from wood to aluminum to a new material that is
know as composite. This material was made to have baseball bats that had a lighter weight
distributions as well as help with the velocity of the ball coming off the bat. With safety
concerns rising as bats were becoming dangerous to players in the field due to the speed of the
ball that would come off of it, a new regulation was added in 2011. The rule would be that only
BBCOR licensed bats could be used at the highschool and college levels. This bat is designed to
be lighter yet has a higher damping of the ball as well as being stiffer and a better trampoline
effect of the ball. With this rule in effect, the game of baseball is changing as distributors are
continuing to develop new materials that will make the game of baseball be more competitive.

Evolution of Baseball Bat

<http://www.stevetheump.com/Bat_History.ht
m>

BESR Baseball Bat

<https://wise.uml.edu/docs/ISEA2008_Youth
_Bats_tcm18-60860.pdf>

BBCOR Baseball Bat

<http://www.npr.org/2012/02/27/147523340/n
ew-baseball-bat-standard-spreads-to-highschool>

Louisville Slugger

<http://www.jstor.org/stable/41307132?
Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchTex
t=Louisville&searchText=Slugger&searchUri
=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery
%3DLouisville%2BSlugger%26amp%3Bacc
%3Don%26amp%3Bwc%3Don%26amp
%3Bfc%3Doff%26amp%3Bgroup
%3Dnone&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents>

BPF 1.15

<http://www.acs.psu.edu/drussell/bats/cop.ht
ml>

Composite baseball bat

<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article
/pii/S0263822301000307>

performance of wood bat

http://biomed.brown.edu/Medicine_Departme
nts/ORTHOPAEDICS/Baseball/Bat_Perfom_
MSSE_100102.pdf

Safety of metal baseball bat

<http://www.ewp.rpi.edu/hartford/~ernesto/SP
R/Cain-FinalReport.pdf>

Interview Questions
Interviewed: Brett Beamesderfer
1) What is your favorite material of bat to use, wood, aluminum, or composite?

2)

3)

4)

5)

1)

2)

3)
4)

5)

A: To me, my favorite bat to use growing up was a half aluminum half composite bat called an
exo-grid. The bat was light to swing with but still had that ting when you would get a hold of
the ball really good.
Can you tell the difference in between a BESR certified bat hits compared to a BBCOR certified
bat?
A: I honestly dont know how you cant tell the difference. When I hit a BESR bat, and then I
pick up a BBCOR bat, it feels like I went from a rubber bat to a log. The difference in the bats
are so much I hate it! I bet Id hit 6 out of ten out of the park with the BESR [bat] compared to
about 3 with the BBCOR [bat].
Do you think the officiates of the game are changing the material that bats are made out of for
more safety reasons or to make the sport more interesting by homeruns being less of a factor?
A: I think it could be a combination of both considering all the people that are on juice (HGH)
now. Now youve got guys who can walk up to the plate and have to try not to hit it out because
theyre so big and can hit. Youve also gotta consider at the younger level how kids dont pay
attention half the time and could get hurt easily if they got hit.
Do you think metal bats will ever be considered illegal therefore making everyone have to use
wood bats again?
A: I feel like it could happen eventually but with the money that comes in from metal bats, I
dont see that happening soon if it ever were to.
Do you think if bats were continued to be made with flat surfaces it would have a huge toll on
the way the game is played?
A: Ive never thought about a bat being flat, thats crazy if they were legal, I dont know if
there would be a lot of people who used them. I dont know what youd even use it for, bunting?
I guess it could help bunting be easier but I dont think it would be that big of a deal all around.
Interviewed: Garrett Davila
Do you think there will be a new material for bats that is something other than wood or
metal/composite?
A: I dont think there will be a new material of bats coming out anytime soon. If anything
everyone might have to default back to wood.
Do you agree with the BBCOR rule and how it affects how baseballs are hit coming off the bats?
A: I dont like the new rule because it makes the game less interesting because I remember
playing in high school that everyone hit about the same distance because of the bats. When we
used BESR bats you could tell who was really getting a hold of the ball and who wasnt.
Do you think the MLB will ever consider using metal or composite bats instead of wood?
A: I honestly hope not because those guys I pitch to hit hard enough with a wood bat. Im not
trying to die out there on the mound. Theyd be dumb to allow anything except wood.
Do you think the NCAA/ high school officials will agree to make a rule for only wood bats?
A: I personally dont think that will ever happen because of the money that goes into BBCOR
and other [metal] bats. Not to mention the money companies get with sponsorships. The whole
league of baseball and the equipment companies Im sure already have an agreement not to let
that happen.
Do you think baseball players will still be using the same style/material bats in the next 10 years?
A: I think that everybody is gonna be using the same bats because people rely on certain
companies and their style of bat. So if they changed the bats now, people would get upset and
revert back to the current bats.

Lit Review
Baseball bats have evolved and have changed the way the game is played due to the
material that bats are legally allowed to be made out of. Wooden bats (Mussill, 2000) have
always been the most common form of baseball bat, but there have also been made from metal as
well as another material called composite which is a mixture of carbon, fiber glass, and other
compounds. With the sport getting more intense and dangerous (Cain, 2014) over time,
regulations have had to be made on the bats that are able to be used to keep people from getting
injured as well as to make homeruns not as big of a factor in close games. The introduction of
alloy bats and composite bats had a lot to do with the making of these regulations because the
players were starting to hit the ball at unsafe speeds as well as the games were starting to become
much more higher scoring all around.
With the regulations of bats changing, a study was done on childrens wood and nonwood
small barrel baseball bats and nonwood big barrel bats to test the BPF (Jones, Sherwood, Drane,
2008) or bat performance factor. Using experimental data, scientist studied that nonwood big
barrel bats had the highest BPF followed by the nonwood small barrel and then the wood small
barrel. This data was analyzed and plugged into the formulas used to measure different statistics
and evaluations of different regulations of bats.
With the new regulation of BBCOR bats (ATC, 2012) , the game of baseball could be in
for a drastic change. With the new bats being very similar in the dimensions and power of
wooden bats, BBCOR are said to make games closer as they do not hit as hard as original metal
bats. BBCOR bats were made to make the game safer as the material of the bat dampers the
speed and velocity of the ball coming off the bat.(Nicholls, 2005) The risk of danger with using
metal bats in amateur baseball leagues has led to some officiates banning all metal bats from play
and only allowing wood bats to be used.(Palanzo, 2011) With companies making metal bats that
hit like wood bats, one of the major concerns, other than safety, is the financial commitment to
buy a BBCOR bat versus a wooden bat.
When comparing wood bats to metal and composite bats, there are a few factors to be
taken into consideration: the model of the bat, the type of baseball used when hitting the bats, the
dimensions of the bat, the hitters swing speed, etc.(Shenoy, Smith, Axtell, 2001) Wood is not as
strong as metal so the ball is not going to come off a wood bat harder and farther than it would a
metal bat. In some cases it may, but in a controlled environment and experiment, the comparison
of the two bats werent significantly different but there is an overall difference in the velocity of
the ball coming off each bat.(Russell, 2005)

PROPOSAL
When baseball was still a young sport, wood was the only option players had to work
with. Now, with the advancement in technology of the bats being used, many bats have been
deemed illegal due to regulations that have been made to create a safer environment for players.
This regulation was a major switch up for hitters because the bats that are now allowed to be
used do not have near the pop that the old, BESR bats had. The consistency of power with the
new BBCOR bats have made the playing field more level because there is no longer that one or
two bats that were just so much better than every other bat. The majority of BBCOR bats now
are made from mostly the same material. Although wood bats are the most commonly used, for
the leagues that do not primarily use wood bats, these regulations, BESR and BBCOR, were

created to keep the game competitive and interesting, as well as safe enough for younger people
to play. After discussion has emerged, the baseball community has questioned which bat has the
best pop or hits the best. Scientists have done studies to show results of hitting with a wood
bat compared with a metal bat and a composite bat. This new regulation made the game more
interesting because this material doesnt let the ball come off the bat as hard or as fast. What I
am interested in studying is which material of bat, wood, alloy, or composite, is/was the best to
use regarding the regulations each bat follows and whether that bat would be more effective in a
current day baseball game.
Performance Evaluation of Wood and Aluminum Baseball Bats Using Finite Element Analysis.
(n.d.). Retrieved September 12, 2016, from Cain, J. G. (2014). Performance Evaluation of
Wood and Aluminum Baseball Bats Using Finite Element Analysis (Doctoral dissertation,
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute).
http://www.ewp.rpi.edu/hartford/~ernesto/SPR/Cain-FinalReport.pdf
Jones, J. W., Sherwood, J. A., & Drane, P. J. (n.d.). Experimental Investigation of Youth Baseball
Bat Performance. Retrieved September 12, 2016, from
https://wise.uml.edu/docs/ISEA2008_Youth_Bats_tcm18-60860.pdf.
Nicholls, R. L., Miller, K., & Elliott, B. C. (2005, May 4). Numerical analysis of maximal bat
performance in baseball. Journal of Biomechanics, 39(6), 1001-1009.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiomech.2005.02.020
Shenoy, M. M., Smith, L. V., & Axtell, J. T. (2001, May 2). Performance assessment of wood,
metal and composite baseball bats. Composite Structures, 52(3, 4), 397-404.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0263-8223(01)00030-7
Russell, D. A., PhD. (2005, June 16). What is the COP (Center-of-Percussion) and does it
matter? Physics and Acoustics of Baseball & Softball Bats. Retrieved September 12, 2016,
from http://www.acs.psu.edu/drussell/bats/cop.html
Palanzo, D. A. (2011). Jurimetrics (3rd ed., Vol. 51). Retrieved September 12, 2016, from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/41307132
Swing And A Hitch: New Bats Safer, But Power Wanes [Advertisement]. (2012, February 27).
WFAE.
http://www.npr.org/2012/02/27/147523340/new-baseball-bat-standard-spreads-to-high-school
Crisco, J. J., Greenwald, R. M., Blume, J. D., & Penna, L. H. (2002). Batting performance of
wood and metal baseball bats. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 34(10), 16751684.
http://biomed.brown.edu/Medicine_Departments/ORTHOPAEDICS/Baseball/Bat_Perfom_MSS
E_100102.pdf