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MANUFACTURER
- Edward F.
Woodbrey
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The E.F. Woobrey, Norway, Maine,
baseball bats were produced by Edward
F. Woodbrey, a former University of
Maine All-Maine second baseman from
Standish, Maine. Ed Graduated from the
university in 1949, served in the Navy,
and went to Norway High school as a
coach. He then went to Springfield to
get his Masters Degree in Education. Woodbrey fielded the first baseball
team at Sabattus high, in a dozen
years. As a School teacher Woodbrey
needed to make extra money, and made
baseball bats in his spare time. He
started making baseball bats in 1950 in
his small woodworking shop in Standish.
Baseball bat sales increased steadily in 1954. The baseball bats produced
by the school principle and baseball coach, were
in demand and exceeded supply. Coby
College was using some of Woodbrey's
baseball bats and the University of
Maine, purchased softball bats. Schools
all over New England and many schools
in Long Island N.Y., were swinging
baseball bats bearing the E.F. Woodbrey
branding.
A former teammate of Ed's Mickey Foster, playing Class B for Hangers Town,
Maryland, took a couple of Woodbrey
bats with him, but the E.F. Woodbrey
baseball bat never made it to the
majors. Ed Woodbrey picked up retail
model baseball bats of major
League players and copied them. He turned out
bats that beared the names of players
that included; Yogi Berra, Ted
Williams, Mickey Mantle, to name a few,
and copied them. Sabattus High School
kids were swinging E.F. Woodbrey bats
which bear the name Pee Wee Reese,
Larry Doby and the like, but they were
just copies of the originals,
with crude
block letter last name branding on the
barrels.
Ed Woodbrey also made Laminated baseball bats after it became legal in
1954. The bats were made of eight
pieces of flat wood glued together, to
make a stronger and longer-lasting bat.
The process
of producing laminated bats was
patented in 1933 by Charles and Garnett
Beck of the
Zinn Beck Co. Because of a major
league rule change requiring bats to be
made of one piece of wood, in 1940,
laminated bats were never used again.
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E.F. Woodbrey Norway
Maine Baseball Bats |
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E. Jackson Branded E.F. Woodbrey Baseball Bat |
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KEYMAN COLLECTIBLES
RELATED RESOURCES |
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