Birdman Bats

Birdman Bats is a privately owned American sporting goods manufacturing company located in Redwood City, California. 
Birdman Bats is one of thirty-five licensed baseball bat suppliers for Major League Baseball (MLB) and Minor League Baseball (MiLB) players. It is also a bat supplier for baseball leagues throughout the world, including Australia, China, Japan, and Korea.
In addition, they also make baseballs, bottle openers, hats, hoodies, keychains, raglans, snapback hats, stickers, t-shirts, softball bats, and whiskey glasses. 
==Background and history==
Gary and Mark Malec grew up playing baseball in Wildwood Crest, New Jersey and would later move to San Francisco, California. Gary would move there in 2010 and Mark would follow in 2013. In May 2011, they started their boutique baseball bat company in their backyard and opened a warehouse in South San Francisco, California. They turned the garage of the warehouse into a workshop and would make bats for themselves using power tools.https://sjmagazine.net/sports/swinging-for-the-fences
Gary Malec produced the first bat on his hand-wired lathe in 2011 for his brother Mark, who at the time was playing college baseball and struggling at the plate. Months earlier, Mark drew a cartoonish half-man, half-bird sketch (drawing)|sketch in an art class. Gary found the doodle, made it into a sticker and put on the first Birdman bat. That drawing sparked the company name, Birdman Bats. The logo is meant to serve as a reminder to play baseball like a kid for the love of the game.https://video.foxbusiness.com/v/5780025438001/ 
Gary Malec met Lars Anderson (baseball)|Lars Anderson two years before meeting his Boston Red Sox teammate Ryan Kalish.https://theathletic.com/950886/2019/05/03/lars-anderson-i-have-retired-from-baseball-now-what-do-i-do/ Kalish invested in the company in 2018. Anderson was minor league teammates with Manny Ramirez and Birdman Bats landed Ramirez as their first MLB client after introduction by Anderson.https://www.ocregister.com/2019/01/30/hoornstra-for-two-former-major-leaguers-retiring-at-age-30-beckoned-in-different-ways Birdman Bats and Malec would travel with Ramirez while he was playing in Japan.https://www.hmbreview.com/news/local-baseball-bat-maker-swings-for-fences/article_b373981a-9b28-11e8-8583-ff269313eb42.html
Birdman Bats was approved by the World Baseball Softball Confederation in 2016 which allowed the bats to be used in the European Baseball Championship, the Olympic Games, the World Baseball Classic, and professional leagues in Japan and Korea. In addition, Birdman Bats is also licensed in the Chinese Professional Baseball League, the Confederation of European Baseball, and the Australian Baseball League.https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/peninsula-baseball-bat-maker-gets-a-shot-in-the-show/168137/ The first Birdman bat was used in a Spring training game by List of World Series champions|World Series Champion Terrance Gore.https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/jenkins/article/Birdman-Bats-MLB-players-feel-the-love-for-Bay-13499092.php
Shortly thereafter, Birdman Bats were used by prominent MLB players like Hunter Pence, Yasiel Puig, Kris Bryant, Todd Frazier and Alex Blandino.https://thesixfifty.com/how-the-peninsulas-artisan-baseball-bat-makers-became-a-hit-within-major-league-baseball-fa6a6df82c2d?gi=9be0617c574 
Yasiel Puig was the first to use a Birdman bat in a Major League regular season game, as well as postseason in 2018. His five home runs in a twenty-four hour span set a Major League Record tied the record for the most home runs in two consecutive games.https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2017/02/27/birdman-bats-take-flight-in-san-francisco The first Birdman bat used in a Major League Baseball postseason|Major League postseason game was also by Puig on October 4 at Dodger Stadium in 2018 National League Division Series#(2) Los Angeles Dodgers vs. (3) Atlanta Braves#Game 1, October 4|Game 1 of the 2018 National League Division Series, where the 2018 Los Angeles Dodgers season|Dodgers defeated the Atlanta Braves 6-0. The first Birdman bat used in a World Series game was by Puig on October 24 at Fenway Park in 2018 World Series#Game 2|Game 2 of the 2018 World Series, where in the fourth inning Puig singled off of David Price (baseball)|David Price to drive in Manny Machado with the go-ahead run.https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/jenkins/article/Birdman-Bats-MLB-players-feel-the-love-for-Bay-13499092.php
==Manufacturing and production==
Gary Malec originally carved bats by hand, which take upwards of an hour. He then bought a makeshift lathe off Craigslist in 2010.https://whyy.org/articles/south-jersey-natives-swinging-for-the-fences-with-boutique-baseball-bat-company/ This was until he launched and secured funding through a Kickstarter campaign in 2016. The funds were used to purchase a computer operated lathe that makes bats, a laser engraver, and a healthy stack of wood.https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1284341045/birdman-bats
==MLB clients who use Birdman Bats==
Current players
* Austin Slater
* Pablo Sandoval
* Jorge Alfaro
* Albert Almora
* Jake Arrieta
* Greg Bird (baseball)
* Alex Blandino
* Willie Calhoun
* Brandon Dixon (baseball)
* Kyle Farmer
* Maikel Franco
* Kyle Hendricks
* Rich Hill (pitcher)
* Cole Irvin
* Drew Jackson
* Mike Leake
* Gerardo Parra
* Hunter Pence
* Chad Pinder
* Yasiel Puig
* Edwin Ríos
* René Rivera
* Tyson Ross
* Ross Stripling
* Bradley Zimmer
Former MLB players
* John Baker (baseball)
* Chase d'Arnaud
* Brandon Dickson
* Tim Dillard
* Pedro Guerrero (baseball)
* Ryan Kalish
* Jeff Keppinger
* Alex Mejia
* Melvin Mercedes
* Will Middlebrooks
* Manny Ramirez
* Madison Younginer
Category:American companies established in 2016
Category:Baseball bats
Category:Companies based in Redwood City, California