Sambat

SAM BAT began operations in February 1997, and is located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The corporation was founded by Sam Holman, inventor of the patented Sam Bat, the first approved maple wood bat for the Major Leagues. The company is privately held and as of April 11, 2007 is owned by four individuals.

Origins of Sam Bat
Sam Bat grew out of careful research and a thorough knowledge of eastern hardwoods. It also developed from a simple question posed to Sam Holman by Bill MacKenzie, then a scout for the Colorado Rockies: "Were just breaking too many bats. Do you think you could come up with an answer to that?" The solution was fairly obvious. But the answer led to a pile of work and a crash course on bats. The reading list ranged from "The Physics of Baseball", "The Rules of Major League Baseball", "219 Patents on Baseball Bats" to "The Trees of Canada, Standard Handbook for Civil Engineers". There was also the search for wood which, for carvers and lovers of wood is never ending.
Living in Ottawa was a huge advantage in developing the Sam Bat concept. It was a researchers dream centre to develop a wooden baseball bat: home of the Canadian patent library, two first rate universities, the Wood Council, the Canadian Forest Research Centre, the National and other extensive Libraries - all in the centre of the richest deciduous forest in North America. However, sifting through the mountains of information - especially reading 219 U.S. patents - was painfully tedious. Perhaps Sam Bat hadnt been invented because no one had ever had the heart to turn one after this task. In fact, simply going by patent law, ash would be the only choice.
Then there was the task of translating maple (a much more dense wood than ash) into a workable model with the accepted range of bat lengths and weights. One thing was sure: Sam Bat was determined to come up with a line of wood bats that would deal with the needs of major league baseball.

Designed and Produced in Canada
We met our original goal to introduce a maple wood baseball bat to Major League Baseball. Since prototype testing in 1996 we realized that we had a bat that was tougher and will last longer than the ash bat traditionally in use. It remains our goal to use the best maple we can buy in our Sam Bats. We make our bats from the best grade maple available. It is kiln dried to a moisture content of 7% - 9%. The specific gravity is 63%. The selection of sugar maple allows us to model our bats extremely close to other wood bats. We are familiar with most models of wooden bats that are commonly in use.

Sam Bat: The Logo
My brother, the artist Nathan Holman, came up with the bat design over the phone one evening when I asked, "I need something TV recognizable, 2 inches by 4 inches". Nathans bat was clean and simple and alluded to natural sense of sonar. If the name was to be Sam Bat, there seemed only one conclusion: the symbol had to be a picture of the "little devil" itself (with wonky eyes cut out by Nathans daughter, Laura). It is a strong and unique design that is visible from the furthest bleachers or the smallest screen. The Sam Bat logo is universally recognized and symbolizes what is undoubtedly the best baseball bat in the world.

The Challenge
From the beginning, there was no question about our market. We knew we would come up with a standard that would be universal to baseball, starting with the big leagues. The result is one of the prettiest and yet meanest baseball bats in the world. We suggest to the professional player to provide us with a profile of a bat he is currently using. Yes, it can have a crack. We will turn a Sam Bat that he will use, enjoy and rely on.
We dare anyone to challenge this the only way that really counts: by putting Sam Bat to the test!
Sam Holman - Founder - SAM BAT - The Original Maple Bat Corporation