| Baseball was a very young sport in the | | | | increased the diameter by a quarter of an inch as |
| mid-eighteen hundreds, so batters usually made | | | | well, making the maximum diameter two and |
| their own bats. This led to a lot of | | | | three quarters of an inch. In the early nineteen |
| experimentation with the shape and size of the | | | | hundreds, one of the greatest players, Honus |
| baseball bat. It didn't take long for players to learn | | | | Wagner, was the first player paid to have his |
| that the best bats were those with rounded | | | | name burned into Louisville Slugger bats. Despite |
| barrels. With all the shapes and sizes being used, | | | | the continual evolution of the regulations regarding |
| some rule had to be established about the bat. In | | | | the size and shape of bats, the bats of today |
| 1859, it was established that baseball bats could | | | | look much like the ones of a hundred years ago, |
| be no larger than two and a half inches in | | | | the biggest difference being that today's bats are |
| diameter, though they could be any length. After | | | | much lighter and have thinner handles. |
| ten years, a restriction of 42 inches was put on | | | | The Rise of Aluminum |
| the length of the baseball bat, but still no | | | | William Shroyer patented the first metal baseball |
| regulations governing the shape. | | | | bat in 1924, though they were not seen in |
| 1884: The Louisville Slugger is Born | | | | baseball until introduced by Worth in 1970. Worth |
| Baseball bat's most popular name, still to this day, | | | | soon produced the first aluminum one-piece bat, |
| is the Louisville Slugger. Seventeen-year-old John | | | | and the first little league aluminum bat. Easton |
| Hillerich watched Pete Browning break his bat at | | | | introduced a much stronger bat in the late '70s . |
| an 1884 Louisville game. John observed as Pete | | | | These skyrocketed the popularity of aluminum |
| Browning got frustrated, and after the game | | | | bats, though they were not allowed in major |
| offered to make him a new bat. Pete Browning | | | | league games. In 1993, both Easton and Worth |
| joined John Hillerich at his father's woodworking | | | | introduced titanium bats, and in 1995 Easton and |
| shop, where Pete supervised the construction of | | | | Louisville Slugger introduced the lightest grade of |
| his new bat. Browning went three for three with | | | | aluminum bats available to date. Continuing |
| his new bat. Word spread quickly, but not as | | | | developments include double walled bats, and |
| quickly as the demand did once everyone knew | | | | scandium-aluminum bats. |
| about these bats. It wasn't long before each | | | | No matter what kind of baseball bat a player uses |
| baseball bat that John and his father constructed | | | | today, the sport remains one of the world's |
| was slapped with the famous Louisville Slugger | | | | favorites. Not many can resist the sunny days |
| trademark. | | | | and cool nights in the stands, with the cracking |
| Evolution of Regulations | | | | sound, fans on their feet, and the smell of hot |
| In the 1890s, bats could no longer be flat at the | | | | dogs in the air. |
| end, according to the rules committee. They | | | | |