GROWING BAT WOOD

Not only must the bat be made from a specific wood-ash-but it must be grown under specific conditions in a specific part of the country. Coincidentally, this prized baseball wood is found adjacent to the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, New York, official birthplace of the game.

Only in this relatively limited forest belt in the lower Adirondack, Catskill and southern tier of New York and northern Pennsylvania, can this ash be found. This area has special qualities such as soil ingredients, soil depth and a climate which is not too warm nor too rugged. But these are only a few of the required conditions.

It takes 40 to 50 years of growth in the quiet, secluded depths of a forest, under almost unbelievably ideal conditions to produce a bat of big league quality.

"The best batwood," say the experts, "grows steadily and evenly for 40 or 50 years to maturity, on the sides of mountains sheltered from wind and weather. Even the position on the mountainside is important. Seedlings high on a mountain are apt to mature too slowly, and slow growth develops tight-grained wood, too heavy and too rigid, lacking the "give" which adds zip to drives. On the other hand, trees grown at too low an elevation develop too rapidly, with a resulting coarse grain."

Throughout this long process, Mother Nature holds the fate of Big League weapons constantly in her hands. The growing conditions in New York State, as in the bordering region of Pennsylvania, are frankly admitted to be a gift, and a rare one, from Nature's book. For the most successful growth, succeeding summers and winters must be fairly uniform and free from extremes. Should

by RAYMOND SCHUESSLER

a long, severe winter be followed by a short summer, growth that year would be stunted and narrow band of new growth grain would result. Reversal of these conditions would create a wide grain beyond the thin one, resulting in a bat lacking uniformity.

MAKING THE BATS

Timber scouts scour the forests selecting the specimens which have achieved the right age and size, and preserve the growth of the younger stand to the fullest extent. The tree selected for processing has a diameter of 12 to 15 inches. From one tree ordinarily enough billets can be obtained to fashion 60 bats.

On being hauled to the mill yard, the tree is cut into lengths of about 42 inches, then split by hand into pie-shaped wedges. In the mill, cutting machines shape the splits into billets. Inspection weeds out the culls, since an imperfection might easily cause loss of a critical game.

After 18 months of storage under shelter, the billets are sent to fabricating plants. There lathes trim and curve the billets down to bat size and shape. Calipers are applied to maintain correct measures and balance is carefully determined by weighing and testing, with an exactness akin to the craftsmanship of a Swiss watch.

In the final stages a compound is added by dipping the wood in a solution which further protects the grain. The bat then emerges, smooth and shining, a precision instrument, stamped with the name of its maker, and often with the name of a particular player, ready for its mission. SIGNATURES AND LABELS

The first signature to be used on a bat was that of Honus Wagner, "The Flying Dutchman" back in

1905. Not only was this the first signature to be used on bats, but the idea of using such a device was brand new at the time, and no doubt played an important part as a forerunner of the present widespread endorsement advertising. After Wagner in the same year came the signature of Napoleon Lajoie, Ty Cobb in 1908, Eddie Collins in 1910 and Frank "Home Run" Baker in 1911.

Bat makers admit having one special fetish. They are mighty particular to stamp the labels and trademark in the exact position for the "up" side of the stick. Any sandlot player will remember the admonition a kid gets with his first batting practice: "Keep the label up!"

Whether the label is burned into the wood or stamped with gold or ink, one thing is certain, it's on the horizontal side of the grain. As batters know, the real punch in the bat is off the side of the grain and proper position can be gauged from the trademark.

C

OEDUCATIONAL physical edu

cation is a phase of the physical education program that has been a "problem child" for a great number of years.

In 1949, the men and women physical education teachers in a small high school in the State of Washington tried to solve a scheduling problem by combining their classes. Their experience interested one of the instructors in investigation of coeducational physical education.1 Using her thesis as a starting point, the three physical education instructors in the Pullman schools began to work toward their goal-a coeducational program.

PRELIMINARY ORGANIZATION

Pullman has a population of 12,000. The parents of the students in our

1 Marlys Gaye Bridgham, A Survey of Coeducational Physical Education in the High Schools of the State of Washington. Unpublished Master's thesis, Washington State College, 1951.

high school are farmers, laborers, professional people, and college professors. A large percentage of our students are members of a church and attend services regularly. Most of the boys and girls have a full-time job in the summer and part-time jobs in the winter. About 80 per cent of our graduates go on to college, nurses' training, or business school. In most cases, their records academically and socially rank extremely high in these institutions of higher learning.

When our district began building a new gymnasium, we asked that the gymnasium not be divided in any manner and that our boys and girls physical education classes be scheduled concurrently. We met no objections from the administration, the community, or the students.

OBJECTIVES

Objectives for the program were set down as a guide. The combined objectives were as follows:

1. To provide a situation in which boys and girls could learn to play together.

2. To provide an atmosphere of understanding and appreciation of one sex for the other.

3. To promote gentlemanliness and good sportsmanship.

4. To develop habits conducive to sound physical and mental health.

5. To promote a feeling for the safety and welfare of others.

6. To develop individual and group skills in various activities.

7. To offer as many activities as possible in which girls and boys may take part together.

8. To utilize the services of both men and women teachers and their special skills.

Our total school population is 375 high school and 210 junior high school students. Our physical education classes average 48 girls and 50 boys. There are six classes and one activity period each day.

PROGRAM IN ACTION

In the fall we start all classes out with some marching tactics, body conditioning, and relays. From this we go into a progression of fundamentals and finally sports. In the fall the boys play speedball, soccer,