South End Baseball Celebrates Wood Bat Weekend

Last year Owen Carlson was browsing in the basement of Holovak & Coughlin sporting goods store in Arlington when he spotted a pile of used youth-sized wooden baseball bats for $29 apiece.

“I just thought ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if we had all our kids use wood bats for a few games,’” the Commissioner of South End Baseball recalled on Saturday during the league’s second annual Wood Bat Weekend. “I bought two dozen bats, they gave them to me for $10 each.”

Carlson said playing with wood bats in youth baseball is a rarity.

“It makes the kids feel like a Major Leaguer. We hear them talk about them a lot.”

David Conforti, a 12-year-old who plays for the Dodgers, will never forget cracking his bat during last year’s Wood Bat Weekend.

“I just hit the ball off the end of the bat, I guess it didn’t hit right and it snapped,” Conforti recalled during Sunday’s game against the Marlins. “The ump started to call it a foul at first … it took a weird bounce, and barely stayed in. I didn’t even know it till coach pointed it out.

Conforti keeps the bat at home to this day.

“It’s a memory I guess, look back at it. [Wood Bat Weekend is] different, maybe a little different spin on the usual games. It’s a little challenging for some and easier for others. It’s kind of like the pros use.”

Mike Kudisch, the commissioner for the Minor and Major Leagues, said the players enjoy Wood Bat Weekend despite the fact that it usually hinders their performance at the plate.

“It certainly changes the game because it’s just more difficult to hit with wood than metal. The kids really enjoy it. I don’t think it’s something they would want to do on an extended basis but for the short period, to do it for a weekend it’s a fun novelty the kids get into."

During Wood Bat Weekend, players use wooden bats for two games, usually adjusting to the non-metal material by the second game. Wooden bats are used in professional baseball games, which adds to their appeal, Kudisch said.

“I think certainly the fact that Major League players use it probably is a main draw," he said "It feels different in their hands, the sound of it is nice. It’s just something different.”

Carlson said some players choose to keep playing with wood the rest of the season and he also noted that Wood Bat Weekend is a good training ground for their Under-18 wood bat summer league.

“High schools are going more and more to wood bats so to have that experience I think is good,” he said. “Some of the kids stick with wood. We leave a few bats behind for players that want to stick with it.”

And while six wood bat games were washed out this weekend, Carlson said wood bats will not only be used during those makeup dates but that there will be plenty of more opportunities to enjoy Wood Bat Weekend in years to come.

“We’ll continue to use the wood bats, we’ll make sure the wood bats get used,” Carlson said. “We’re always going to have Wood Bat Weekend.”

Click here to view complete South End Youth Baseball standings as well as schedules for the remainder of the 2011 season.