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Joe Engel Bat Co.
Baseball Bats |
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Item Details |
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MANUFACTURING PERIOD
1951-1956
MANUFACTURER
Joe Engel Bat Company
Chattanooga, TENN
Information
Provided by:
Keymancollectibles.com
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Joe Engel pitched for the Washington
Senators, from 1912-15, and 1920. He
became one of the most successful
scouts in history, a promoter and team
owner of the Chattanooga Lookouts.
In 1951 Engel recruited the
expertise of Garnett Beck, and formed the Joe Engle Bat Co.
in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Garnett Beck was a bat maker, and owner
of the
Superior bat Co. In 1930 Garnett
Beck sold a
patent for $1,000., to the Hillerich
& Bradsby Co. to strengthen bats with a
glue process. The next ten years
Garnett worked as a foreman for
Louisville Slugger.
Because of a major
league rule change requiring bats to be
made of one piece of wood, in 1940 Hillerich &
Bradsby did away with the glue process,
which eliminated Garnett's job. Using Beck's patented process the bats Joe Engel's company produced were
laminated, Instead of being made of one
piece of wood. A laminated bat is
composed of four strips of ash and one
of hickory, glued together under great
pressure and then turned and sanded
into shape like any other bat. The
center section was ash, and had hickory
on each side. The heavier, stronger
hickory wood forms the handle and the
core of the laminated bat with the ash
glued around it to form the barrel.
The bats were already being used by the University of Florida, and many of
the local high schools in that area.
The Chicago Cub, and St. Louis
Cardinal originations ordered supplies
of the laminated bats made by the Joe
Engel Co, for spring training purposes.
The bats were used in a trial basis,
and met the approval of Major League hitters.
In 1954 The rules committee of
professional baseball voted to permit
the use of laminated bats during the
1954 season. Unfortunately that's as
far as it got. The bats were never
approved for use in the major Leagues,
and the Joe Engel Bat company went out
of business by 1956.
The Joe Engel Co. No. 123 Laminated All Hickory handle was their top of
the line bat. Models included; Babe
Ruth Type, Ted Williams, Stan Musial,
Ralph Kiner, Mickey Mantle, and George
Kell Type. The six player models were
also offered in the No. 121 line, of
black finished bats; No. 20LS Graduate
Leagues and High School, No 30KS Little
League Special for Midget Leagues, and
No. 12A Slow Pitch Softball. Bats
without player types include No. 13-14
Laminated Fungo bat, and No. 23B, 21C,
32D Laminated Softball Bats.
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Joe Engel Bat Company Baseball
Bats |
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1954 Joe Engel Bat Co.
catalog ad |
1954 Joe Engel Bat Co.
catalog ad |
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KEYMAN COLLECTIBLES
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