[footfootfoot]

Today I learned that the good old wooden baseball bat has become irrationally expensive. Apparently, cheap wooden bats cost about $80 a pop. Inexplicably, (not really) people are choosing Maple over Ash (previously common) or Hickory (what the Babe used) because you get a bit more oomph for your swing with maple and that's what Barry Bonds used.

Maple tends to fail abruptly and violently, where Ash tends to flake and get shitty. Hickory is just heavy, but is still the best material for overall performance duralbility (in my opinion as a wood worker) After all, that's what the Babe used and look how long it took to break his record, He had to hit uphill, in the snow, in the dark, and there were wolves!

So there is a dude not far from me who makes bats and sells them for $150 a pop and up.

Not a bad way to earn some $. On further research, it turns out he makes them in his parent's basement. I'm guessing he may still live at home, that goes a long way to cutting your overhead down.