Sam Bats: A Bat Maker of our Own

Batter Up: Ottawa may be a hockey town, but it’s also home to a little factory that just happens to produce bats for Major League Baseball’s all-time home run king. Barry Bonds and a number of other major leaguers use bats produced by the Original Maple Bat Corporation, founded by Ottawa’s Sam Holman, who produces well over 10,000 bats a year in his inconspicuous shop.

Developed in 1997, the “Sam Bat” is made out of Canadian maple; it doesn’t dent easily and thus lasts longer than any others. Holman claims that living in Ottawa offered an advantage for developing his product.

As the company’s website says: “[Ottawa] was a researcher’s dream centre: 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.”