Posted By:
Frank WakefieldHey there, you hit upon something.
I have a Howard Wakefield bat that is realistically 100 years old. It came from the H&B pattern bats, in the old days when you cracked a bat you sent it back to Louisville, and it was used as a pattern when dowelling down your new bats. This Wakefield bat is very long, small barrel, not much taper, might be hickory wood.
When I got this Wakefield model bat I also got an Orsatti bat, also cracked. A pattern bat. Ernie was center fielder for the Gas House gang, he was Leo Durocher's best man in the Laraine Day wedding. The Orsatti bat is much shorter, more taper, much thinner handle, big barrel, and the center of gravity is on out there. No wonder Babe was hitting home runs. It wasn't just a lively ball...
When I hold the bats it is easy to visualize which one was good for bunting, which one would last a season, and which one would either hit the ball hard or possibly break in the effort. It reminds me of that poem about the old fashioned batter who scattered line drives from the spring to the fall, compared to the new batter who shatters the ozone with all of his might, swinging from his heals and missing the ball.
After Mays hit Chapman baseball used clean white baseballs. They commenced curtailing spitter ball pitchers. The ball was made more solid. And the bat physics changed to take advantage of it all.
My Orsatti bat is on loan to the St. Louis Cardinals Baseball Hall of Fame. My 1934 Pepper Martin contract is there, too, with some other stuff.
Frank.