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Student scores
a hit
Palmyra senior turns
out baseball bats
By: BARBARA MILLER
Of Our Palmyra Bureau
PALMYRA, Pennsylvania
Tyler Love has had making a baseball
bat in the back of his mind ever since he saw "The Natural."
In that film, the main character as a boy crafts a bat out
of a tree struck by lightning.
Tyler found the ash and maple he uses an easier way –
over the Internet from an upstate supplier – and persuaded
his production technology teacher at Palmyra Area High School
to let him make a bat as a project in class.
Dale Ziegler said he was a little concerned at allowing it
at first, since a bat could be construed as a weapon.
"But he’s a very responsible student. Baseball is
one of his loves, and he’s very self-motivated,"
Ziegler said.
Tyler, 18, a senior, now has a bat making business, using
a lathe he got for Christmas last year. He’s using the
hobby as his graduation project, which he’ll present
to a panel of teachers in January.
Tyler has put together a bat making video that the lathe manufacturer
is selling in its upcoming catalog to give teachers ideas
for projects. The next Penn State Industries catalog, which
comes out in December, will include pictures of Tyler and
his bats.
"He’s doing an exceptional job – we applaud
his efforts," said Pam Levy of the company’s school
products division. "He’s making money, and he’s
also filling a need for these custom bats."
He demonstrated his skills to teachers from across the state
at the Technology Education Association of Pennsylvania convention
in Camp Hill two weeks ago.
The teachers said they’ve had a lot of kids ask about
making baseball bats, but didn’t know how to get started
or where to get the wood," Tyler said.
It took him about half a semester to make his first bat out
of maple in school.
"Now I’m at a point I can make a bat in just under
two hours," Tyler said. He’s now made about 20 and
has orders to fill for Christmas, he added.
The first one he made was the most difficult because he had
a problem tapering it to the right shape, he said. Ziegler
said making a bat can be tricky because the thinner the wood
gets, the more it wants to bend.
The nice thing about making the bats is he can produce irregular
lengths that are hard to find in stores, he said. He charges
about $25 for an ash bat and $35 for maple.
"I like the ash the best, just because it’s lighter.
But some people like maple, because it doesn’t break
as easily, but it is heavier," Tyler said.
Some players on his travel baseball team, the Harrisburg Capitols,
bought bats, and one was used in a showcase for college coaches.
He puts some of the money he earned into equipment and supplies,
and some into paying college application fees. Next year he’s
hoping to study technology education and play baseball at
a college.
His dad, Kevin Love, a tech ed teacher at Anneville-Cleona
High School, said he remembers one of his students once made
a bat, "but he didn’t like doing it and it took
too long."
"I’m just really proud of him," Kevin Love
said of his son, especially to see him demonstrating at the
state convention.
I’ve been going there since I was a freshman in college,
and I can’t believe I saw my own son up there demonstrating
a project," he said. "I never got there to do it."
Tyler said so far his customers have been satisfied with his
product, with no breaks reported. No home runs have been reported
yet either, although a couple of balls have hit the outfield
fence, including one hit by his younger brother, Zachary.
"That’s the farthest one I’ve seen him hit,"
his dad said.
BARBARA MILLER:
or barbmiller
AT patriot-news.com
Published – 11/28/04, Sunday Patriot-News, Harrisburg,
PA 17105
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