ESPN MLB

Without any fanfare, another potentially significant development has occurred in the ongoing battle between batters and pitchers. Hillerich & Bradsby, makers of the world-famous Louisville Slugger bats traditionally used by a majority of big-league hitters, are now making some bats out of a new species of wood: European beech.

The exact species of wood is a trade secret. Russ Tucker of the Hillerich & Bradsby Company in Louisville, Ky., states that the beech wood is harvested in one European country, dried for 90 days in a second country, then dried for another three months in a third country before it is shipped to the U.S. and turned into major league-quality bats. Understandably, it's not in the interest of the Hillerich & Bradsby Company to give out much more information.

"It's not just the [beech] wood," says Tucker. "The processing and the technology affect the suitability for professional bats." The whole process is so carefully guarded that Tucker says the people who do the first-stage drying don't know how the second-stage drying is done, and vice versa.

Who cares if the bats used by major league hitters are made of the traditional American northern white ash, the trendy Canadian maple or the avant-garde European beech? Every baseball fan should care. The search for new and better wood for bats could have far-reaching consequences – both intended and unintended.

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