America’s pastime has a rich history with layers of stories and legacies included. One of these stories connects South Dakota to one of the bigger changes made to the game – the bats.
Sam Holman, who grew up and graduated from Wessington Springs, designed a baseball bat that was used by many greats – including Barry Bonds when he broke the single game home run record in 2001. The change was simple; a bat made of maple wood instead of ash.
In Major League Baseball today, roughly 70-percent of the bats are made from maple. But it wasn’t always like this. From the 1930’s to mid-1990’s, Ash was the exclusive wood used by all the wooden bat manufacturers. This included Louisville Slugger, one of the largest baseball bat companies in existence.
Before Sam Holman’s impact on baseball, it was a much simpler time. He was born in Missouri, moved to Ames, Iowa while his dad finished up school to be a veterinarian, and then by five-years old was sitting in an international harvester just outside of Wessington Springs.
“The only rules were home by supper. If people started yelling up the hills that was bad news that meant somebody probably got hurt, trapped in a trap or some dumb thing,” chuckled Holman. “There wasn't anything we didn't do there.”
It’s a lifestyle that many can connect with when it comes to growing up in small town, rural South Dakota.
Holman did flirt with sports in high school too, but at the end of the day, it wasn’t for him.
“I played a little bit of football at the beginning like when I was a freshman, and then I didn't get along with the coach, so I started watching as a spectator,” he stated. “I escorted the cheerleaders around to the game which was a lot more fun actually.”
After high school, Holman branched out and moved to Switzerland.
“That was an amazing experience because one of the things we did was service the Alpine restaurants on top of the mountain,” told Holman. “In the morning, we had to load the gondola to the hill with frozen food boxes, ride to the top, unload it, and then load it into the restaurant. It was unbelievably beautiful thing to do and lifting boxes when you're that young, you have no idea that they weigh anything.”
His family had picked up a Swiss hitchhiker back in the state’s during a trip to Iowa years prior, which sparked Holman’s desire to go to Switzerland.
After living in Switzerland for a few years, Holman went into the Army. During a stop in New York, he drove up to Montreal and met a Canadian gal. From there, love took over and by 1971, he had become a Canadian.
“Winter here is not far off of what winter was in Wessington Springs - cold for too long,” Holman joked.
Being a good craftsman, Holman took a job as a stagehand at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Ontario.
“It’s a theater complex that has an opera house theater and a studio, and we did over 500 shows a year, different shows, on all those stages,” he explained. “If the show required people to work on it, I would work on the show. Afterwards we unloaded the next truck and set up the next show. I did that for 24-years. It was a wonderful experience. The funniest guy that I met would be Donald Sutherland.”
Living in Canada for more than two decades, Holman eventually became friends with a gentleman by the name of Bill Mackenzie, who was a professional baseball scout. One night when the pair was out drinking at the local pub, Mackenzie voiced his concerns about the ash bats in baseball, and how they were breaking too many of them. This lit a spark into Holman doing research on wood as he was determined to make a baseball bat out of something different than ash.
After extensive research at the local Ottawa libraries, he found that rock maple would be a wood that could potentially be a bat option.
After making a bat in his garage, he brought it to the Ottawa Lynx Stadium, who at the time were the Triple-A affiliate of the Montreal Expos. From there, the bat was stamped with the name ‘Sam Bat’ was born.
“A member of the Blue Jays arranged for us to meet with Carlos Delgado, Ed Sprague, and Joe Carter. Joe Carter came up to me after that and said, “you really have something different here, stick with it.” And Joe was the only guy that offered me any advice whatsoever from baseball and I am forever grateful to Joe Carter,” told Holman. It was Joe's talking about the bat that got us going in baseball, without a doubt.”
Joe Carter eventually got dealt to Baltimore and then San Francisco. It was in the bay area that ‘Sam Bat’ came onto the radar of Barry Bonds.
Barry Bonds liked the ‘Sam Bat’ so much that he made it his bat of choice in the majors. When he broke the single season home run record (73) in 2001, and when he broke the all-time career home runs record (762) in 2007, he was using the ‘Sam Bat.’
The ‘Sam Bat’ has been used throughout the years by numerous well-known ball players; Miguel Cabrera, Giancarlo Stanton, Jose Conseco, and Vladimir Guerrero Sr… to name a few.
It’s also been given to other elites in the world as well.
“George Bush and Condoleezza Rice,” said Holman. I know John Friedly well, he was Paul Martin's (Canada’s Prime Minister) top legal advisor, and he says, “we should make some bats for George Bush,” and I said, “yeah we should, but we better make two, one for senior and one for George.” So, I was invited to the dinner where Paul Martin gave the bats to George Bush.”
What started off as a shop in his garage, the business has ballooned into a full functioning factory. Holman is now in his 80’s, retired, and has since sold the business. What started as a kid growing up in Wessington Springs has blossomed into one of the more unique situations a person could get into. Holman’s story is proof that you never know what journey life will take you on.
“Have I changed the game,” Holman asked. “100-percent I’ve changed the game. I’ve been fortunate.”
