From his shop in Troy, Bradford County, Walter Ambrosch transforms billets of ash wood into baseball bats. Ambrosch enjoys his craft and looks forward to working for many years, but he knows the day may come when his cherished bats might be made from something other than ash.
A beetle from China, called the emerald ash borer, was recently discovered in Pennsylvania. The insect has already killed millions of ash trees in the Midwest and it has its sights set on Pennsylvania’s 300 million ash trees.
“All bat makers are concerned,” Ambrosch said. “If the spread of this insect continues, my guess is we have three to five years before we’re decimated. We’re talking about the next generation not knowing what an ash baseball bat is.”
That’s something former professional baseball player Alan Probst can’t comprehend. The Kingston resident was a catcher with the Mets, Astros and Blue Jays organizations from 1992 to 2001. He said he and all his teammates used ash bats supplied by Louisville Slugger because the wood was dense and hard.
“When you hit a ball on the seams with an ash bat, you wouldn’t get seam marks on the wood. With other wood bats you would see an indentation at times,” Probst said. “There are some people that use maple, but ash has been the predominant bat in professional baseball for at least 50 years.”
Brian Boltz, general manager of the Louisville Slugger-owned Larimer & Norton mill, said preparations are being made for the day when ash wood is no longer available for baseball bats. Larimer & Norton has mills in Bradford, Potter and Warren counties and uses ash in 80 percent of its bat production.
However, half of the bats the company makes for major league players are maple, Boltz said, and that figure could increase.
“Offering more hard maple into the bat market would be our first option if ash becomes obsolete,” he said. “But the challenge is to get the price down. Right now a maple bat costs $20 to $25 more than an ash bat.”
Boltz said his company is also working with the state and federal governments to have its mills certified if a quarantine is enacted that would prohibit the movement of ash out of areas where the emerald ash borer exists.
“I’m hearing that there’s nothing to stop this insect and every ash tree in the state will be killed,” Boltz said. “We feel we’ll have enough ash for the next couple of years, but after that we may have to shift our production to more maple.”
Ash bats are lighter and more flexible, Boltz said, and are preferred by players hitting for average. Maple bats have a harder surface and the ball comes off the bat faster, he said, making them the choice of power hitters.
If ash does become extinct as a wood for baseball bats, Probst feels power production at the major league level will decrease because many players would use a softer wood. The change would also result in a lot more broken bats, he added.
“The ash bats I used for games had a lower number of grains and they were straighter, which means the wood is harder,” Probst said.
“You get a bat with 20 or so grains that curve, and the bat will start chaffing and break.”
Ambrosch agreed that most of the bats that shatter in a baseball game are maple. Those players that do have success with maple bats have a golflike swing, he said.
If ash does become scarce, Ambrosch said he will stockpile the wood. He is also planning a trip to Europe to look for other wood varieties to replace ash, but he isn’t optimistic.
“I tested some bats made with European timber and they have a dull thud. They don’t have the sharp crack that ash gives you,” Ambrosch said.
Another possible solution to an ash shortage is the use of composite wood bats. Probst said such bats were just beginning to surface as his career was winding down.
“They don’t break as much,” he said.
Ambrosch agreed and said the composite wood bats are stiffer and perhaps hit the ball harder.
Still, he admits he has a place in his heart for ash bats and hopes the wood doesn’t diminish.
“As far as I’m concerned, northern white ash is the only variety suitable for baseball bats. There are some players for whom an ash bat is the best tool for them to hit with.”
Previously published in the Times Leader, August 23, 2007.
