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For episode 26, we had the pleasure of driving out to the Sam Bat factory in Carleton Place to meet with Arlene (current owner), Sam (Founder) and Alfred (Production Extraordinaire). Sam Bat is the best baseball bat company in the world, it is absolutely incredible that they come from Ottawa. We want the story to be out there even more!
The band we featured this week was A Tribe Called Red. They have been exploding across North America. They bring a new twist to electronic music by infusing native beats and chants. They host Electric Pow Wow at Babylon, once a month, such a fun time!. They play Jul 10th at the Black Sheep Stage at 9:30pm until 11pm.
We spoke about:
– We learned how Sam came from South Dakota to Ottawa in 1972 and attended Carleton University
– Ottawa is a town of libraries and you can do incredible research here
– What libraries he used to come up with the ideas for the baseball bats
– The wood council was once based in Ottawa
– Carleton Place is an excellent place for production now
– How he got the idea from Bill Mackenzie on why make the bats
– Sam’s baseball career
– All about Alfred, landing in Ottawa in the mid 70’s, with Sam Bat for 7.5 years
– He owned a beer and wine business before joining Sam Bat
– Where Sam Bat started, of course, out of a house!
– First actual factory started on Rochester Street
– How many bats were made per year
– At the start 40% of MLB baseball players were using Maple Sam Bats
– 30 competitors now
After the break we spoke about:
– The move to Gatineau
– How Joe Carter was one of the first to use the Sam Bat, first at bat was a home run
– Talking about Barry Bonds, a major user of Sam Bat
– Jose Canseco
– A special bat was made by Sam Bat for Jose Canseco for Home Runs for Autism, maybe July 6th.
– He is using a 55oz bat when the normal weight is 31-32oz
– He would like to see an entertainment czar for Ottawa
– They are still looking to expand. They are the official bat of the Australia baseball league.
– What other businesses they are expanding to
– Top secret to know where the wood is from!
– Putting out about 20,000 bats per year
– Bats are so user dependent
– What are other bats are made of
– Some of the bigger names using the bats, Miguel Cabrera being number 1!
