The Adirondacks
03-31-2014 / By:
When Reggie Jackson, of the New York Yankees, hit three consecutive home runs in he sixth game of the 1977 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, he used an Adirondack "Big Stick" bat. The Adirondack bat has an interesting history. Sometime before World War II, Edwin McLaughin set up a small sawmill and woodworking shop in Dolgeville, New York. He produced dimension stock for the woodworking industry and billets for the producers of baseball bats. In 1945 he was joined by Charles Millard and together they formed he partnership of McLaughlin and Millard. In the spring of 1946, McLaughlin and Millard began making baseball bats. They knew that they were located in an area plentiful with Northern white ash, the best quality wood for manufacturing baseball bats. In that same year, Hal Schumacher, a very good friend and former New York Giant pitcher joined the firm of McLaughin and Millard. His responsibility was managing Professional and dealer sales for the business.
In June of 1969, Evan Baker joined Adirondack as president. One of his innovations was the bat-mobile. The bat-mobile was an Airstream trailer equipped to hand turn bats at various Major League spring training camps. By providing this service, Adirondack converted many big leaguers to using the Adirondack "Big Stick". For example, in June of 1971, Joe Torre and Tony Oliva used the "Big Stick" and led their respective league in hitting.
In June of 1975, Rawlings Sporting Goods merged with Adirondack. The improvements included updating facilities and increasing the sales of baseball bats. This year, it is projected that 1 1/2 million wood bats would be produced. In order to meet this quota, production will have to be set to nearly 8,000 bats per day.
Elise Baker Hughes
Carl Mayo
Ben Nevin