Plant manager Ron Vander Groef: "We will not be able to make any more pro bats", "It's bordering on catastrophic"
In 2016, the bats of the baseball industry were in danger as woodlands from Michigan to New York were infested with an emerald-green invasive beetle. The beetle was characterized by how it pulped several layers of healthy bark.
Plant manager Ron Vander Groef expressed his concerns in reports on npr.org and said:
"If the ash borer is not controlled, it'll wipe out the entire species of white ash. We will not be able to make any more pro or retail [equipment] or anything out of white ash because it will be gone.”
About 70% of the 300,000 bats produced annually at Rawlings company are composed of ash. In 2016, Vander Groef predicted that the company's supply may soon be exhausted or become unaffordable.
According to Michigan State University scientist Deborah McCullough:
"It's bordering on catastrophic.”
She was among the first entomologists to recognize the invasion of emerald ash borers.
State and federal officials tried to quarantine emerald ash borer-affected sites across the nation. No untreated timber was removed from certain locations as a result. Additionally, they were experimenting with the discharge of several wasp species that targeted ash borer larvae as well as insecticides.
Major League players continue to embrace baseball bats
One of these bats was used to hit the home run that helped the New York Giants defeat the Brooklyn Dodgers and win the pennant in 1951. The game became known as the "shot heard 'round the world."
Andrew Romine, Rob Refsnyder, and Manny Machado are among the players on Rawlings' plant manager Ron Vander Groef's roster.
In 2019, Victus released a picture of a pair of bespoke Bryce Harper bats with the Phillies' logo and No. 34 on them and went viral on the internet.
So, from sources at Victus, the bats were made a week and a half ago and were not made as a special order.
Were made just in case it happens.
Harper used the “We The People” bat to win the 2018 Home Run Derby.
Harper is a right fielder and designated hitter for the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Phillies are set to square off against the Houston Astros on October 28 to start the World Series. However, Philadelphia are the +143 betting underdogs heading into the game, whereas Houston sits at -170.