I probably break every one of these rules and thus why I break so many bats. Info from World Bats:
How to care for your wood bat:
Do not leave your bat in your car trunk.
- Prolonged heat will dry out the wood and make it prone to breakage. Be sure to bring your bat inside and store it in a cool dry place.
Always make contact on the edge of the grain.
- When digging in to the box for your at bat position the label either facing the pitcher or facing the backstop. When you position the bat this way you allow the edge of the grains to be facing the pitcher when you roll your wrists as you swing. The edge of grains is the point at which the wood is strongest. Some have suggested that this only applies to ash bats, however we have found that all bats should make contact on the edge of the grain.
Wipe your bat down with a liberal amount of alcohol after using it.
- This helps clean the surface and prevents items such as pine tar from seeping into the bat which will weaken the bat. Use a paper towel or cloth and apply alcohol and rub along the length of the bat.
Get rid of scratches, nicks, and dings
- To take care of dings, seem imprints, scrapes and scratches on the bat, try rubbing it with a piece of bone or another wood bat. Use the bone or second bat like sandpaper and rub firmly in the nicked areas. This will help make the barrel smooth again. If you don’t have a piece of bone or another bat, a wood rolling pin works well. This technique is known as ‘boning’.
Do not knock the dirt out of your spikes with the barrel.
- This is the business end of your bat and you want to be in the best condition possible. Instead, flip the bat handle down and knock your spikes out with the handle.
Do not lay your bat in wet grass
- Wipe your bat down with a dry cloth to absorb excess moisture off of the surface to prevent it from seeping into the grain. Excess water in the bat causes it to become heavier and weaken the strength of the bat.
Buy Wood Baseball Bats for the upcoming season.
Related posts:
“When digging in to the box for your at bat position the label either facing the pitcher or facing the backstop”
That is only true if the label is placed on the edge of the grain. Traditionally, it has been placed against it… meaning you’d want the label facing you, or away from you.
The trend started recently to change where the bat was branded because of…. MONEY. Advertisers want their logo seen in still picture of a hitter making contact with the ball. Since bats are now “labeled” instead of “branded”, there is no danger of breaking the bat.
Moral of the story… check to see where your label is before you follow that bit of advice!
when i said “no danger of breaking the bat”, I meant no danger of weakening the bat from the branding process. This would make your bat more susceptible to breakage in the event you didn’t hit it on the edges.
dropping science
“Wipe your bat down with a liberal amount of alcohol after using it…”
This one should be no problem for the Bulldogs considering they enjoy a liberal amount of alcohol from time to time. TIP: drink less of it and use more on the bats
The correct way to hit the ball with the bat is with the label up or down when the ball hits the bat regardless of the material of the bat. The branding or labeling of a bat would make little difference to the strength of the bat. For marketing the bat might be labeled so it can be seen when the ball meets the bat in pictures, however bats were labeled long before the technology of high speed cameras and high zoom lenses were available to make the label clear in a picture. I am not saying I know exactly why the bats were first labeled in that position but I would guess it is because the label is much easier to read because it does not have 25 or 30 grains through the label.
If the ball is traveling across the screen from right to left:
The ball should be hit like this
(grain) = O (ball)
And not like this
(grain) || O (ball)
This is because the strength of any material in bending is correlated to the moment of inertia. The greater the moment of inertia is, the greater the strength of the bat in bending is. The strength of the bat in bending is greatest in this form ( = O ) because the moment of inertia of each grain is the (width of the grain making contact with the ball) * (the height of the grain, or diameter of the bat)^3 divided by 12.
For example the standard width of a baseball bat is 2.75” as defined by section 1.10 of the MLB rule book. With a grain size of 1/8” the maximum moment of inertia of the proper way to hit the ball is 0.217, and the improper way is 0.00045 which is 484 times smaller.
8====D……What about like this?