I started making bats in the basement of my dad's firehouse in 2009. There was an old craftsman lathe sitting there without a motor for close to 15 years. As an avid baseball fan and player, the accessibility to such a machine and the interest in the process of how the tool of my own craft was produced, my father and I made a note of it to obtain a motor and get the lathe running. With the help of my dad and his coworkers at the firehouse, I started tinkering with turning wood and through endless hours of practice, eventually perfected my craft of bat-making. 

When owner Buddy Herberg first started producing bats, only a few of his teammates took interest in his hobby.  However, after honing his craft over time, the product became exceptional and through word of mouth, his bats’ popularity spread, causing more and more players to request them. He began to have orders of up to 25 bats at a time. Anyone who tried a Firehouse Bat expressed positive feedback, saying they enjoyed swinging the handmade item, especially since the bat models were customized to their specific liking. An added luxury was that the price per bat was less than half that of any major bat company’s. With all the interest exhibited by those around Herberg, it seemed only fair to start marketing the product to everyone, rather than reserving it to only those who knew him personally. Since then, Firehouse Bats has moved out of the basement of Engine 43’s firehouse to its own shop, and begun to embark on a journey to provide players with the opportunity to swing major league quality baseball bats that anyone can afford.  The rest is history....