Did You Know, Major League Batters Are Swinging a Local Bat?

“Lefty, why don’t you spin us some bats?

A pretty benign beginning 11 years ago for a company that is today the bat provider for several Major League players and numerous minor leaguers. However, if you asked Lefty (Charlie Trudeau) that same question today, you’d probably get the same response. “Sure.”

The interview with Trudeau, president of Phoenix Bat Company, was interrupted on a couple of occasions, first as the Frontier League’s Washington Wild Things made their order and an order from Vintage Base Ball player in California.

Both of which were handled with the exact same level of care and class by Trudeau. But that wouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that knows the roots of Phoenix Bat Company in Plain City, Ohio.

Trudeau was a home restoration specialist and a member of the Ohio Village Muffins, the Vintage Base Ball team that plays for the Ohio Historical Society. Finding bats for the league was difficult and team members approached Lefty about turning bats for the league.

“They knew I had a full workshop at home from my restoration business,” said Trudeau. “I turned my first bat and it became a hobby.”

But the hobby began to take over, Trudeau found himself taking more time off work to turn bats. And he faced a decision – keep the bats as a hobby or make the jump to a full-time bat producer. “I didn’t want to look back in 20 years and wonder if I could have had a bat in the major leagues.”

Well it didn’t take 20 years for Trudeau to get the answer to that question and this year Phoenix Bat Company has three full-time employees and will turn about 9,000 bats.

Phoenix’s clients include Tony Bautista, Pedro Feliz (this looks like a Phoenix Bat he’s swining), Rafael Furcal, Kansas City prospect Billy Butler, and Indians’ prospect John Drennen (right). Drennen is best-known for hitting a home run off Roger Clemens during a game with the Lexington Legends.

“I was at my daughter’s softball game when they called and we all got excited.” That is an experience that has never gotten old for Lefty. “The experience of seeing one of my bats in use still is a ‘yes’ moment for me. But it doesn’t matter if it’s a major league game, a minor league game, a vintage game, or just a bunch of kids playing in the backyard.”

Phoenix is currently working with Butler to create its first “name” bat. Anyone will be able to swing the same bat as what Butler does. Sounds amazing, but really it isn’t a big deal for Phoenix Bat Company. If you ordered Butler’s model, it would be the same bat (minus Butler’s name) as what Phoenix ships by the dozen to Butler.

“The bat quality we ship to our major leaguers is the same as we sell to the general public,” says Trudeau. Figuring out the model for a Phoenix Bat Company bat is tough considering this small company has between 200 and 300 different models. “We have models that we only made one bat of, and others that have become very popular with our customers.”

And those customers are as varied as the designs. Phoenix is a top-producer of Vintage Base Ball bats and is working with today’s baseball players. It doesn’t even stop at baseball as they are currently making a lot of softball bats. “We’ve seen a lot of leagues ban metal bats all together,” says Trudeau. “They’ve made the decision out of liability concerns and just making the fields obsolete.”

That was a decision that Phoenix found itself facing several years ago. Trudeau had improved his ability to turn bats from 5 hours down to 15 minutes. However, it was a very labor-heavy business. “We had several part-time employees and it was very hard to train and maintain the consistency that the buyer expects from a bat.” Hence, Trudeau upgraded to one of the most technologically-advanced systems on the market. The bat creation time fell from 15 minutes to 2 minutes. However, that wasn’t the end of the advancement. In the old days he hand-turned each of the dowels into a sample bat, shipped it to the player and then made adjustments before it went on the repeater.

With the new technology, all Trudeau needs is his computer and an Internet connection. “For example, this year at spring training Furcal wanted to change his bat. I designed it on the computer, in my room that night, uploaded it to the office, it was turned the next day and a few days later I was giving Rafael the prototype.”

The machine is an amazing piece of work as it turns a normal looking dowel rod into a professional baseball bat – or whatever else might be requested.

“We’ve had some unique requests that we’ve designed,” said Trudeau. “When the [Columbus] Clippers break-ground on Huntington Park they want the shovels to have bats as handles.” And while that is unique a Phillies’ fan took the top-spot. “We were contacted by the Phillies after one of their fans passed away about doing a bat-shaped urn.”

While you may never be able to purchase Phoenix Funeral Urns, Lefty does see a day coming when you will be able to purchase a Phoenix bat alongside the Louisville Slugger at your local sporting goods store. “I can easily see us branching out in that direction,” says Trudeau.

And with where Phoenix has come in 11 short-years, I wouldn’t challenge him – besides he carries a big bat.

You can order bats from Phoenix Bats Company online or by visiting their offices at 7801 Corporate Boulevard Suite E in Plain City [map].

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