On this episode of Our American Stories, what started as a singular wood bat for his son led to the most popular and respected bat company in our country. Here's Jack Marucci with the story of how he got from point A to point B.
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we returned to our American stories. Up next, a
story from Jack Marucci. Jack is the director of Performance
in Louisiana State University's Athletic department, but also the founder
of Marucci Sports, a company known for its baseball bats.
Here's Jack with a story of how his company came
to be. Let's get into it.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
You know, we're from a coal mining town, pretty humble beginnings.
We're from a pretty immigrant family. My mom was eleven
when she came from Spain and my grandfather's from Italy.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
So we're half.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Spanish, half Italian, and that was the makeup of most
of the people we grew up with.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
It was pretty ethnic, you know. We went to the
Italian church and Saint Teresa's. We thought that's how it
was everywhere. So my mom, her dad came over to
be a coal miner, and we went back to see
her where she grew up.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
It was like it was like San Diego. I'm going,
why would you dad leave this place?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
They lived right by the ocean. But I guess times
are so bad in a civil war. The economy was
bad and the war's breaking out. This was like in
the early forties. But her dad comes over here right
before the war, and he tried to save money bring
the family up, but he can't get back and forth.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
So my mom didn't see.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Him until eleven years, until we could save up the money.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
So she was eleven the first time she saw her dad.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Then my dad's side, my grandfather came over when he
was fifteen. Then he got deported because you had to
be sixteen. You could see it on the Ellis Island report.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
We found it.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Somehow he got through all that and they said, well,
you're only fifteen, So he had to go all the
way back. You know, they were afraid. He was afraid
they were gonna make him a priest. I want to
become a priest. So he started a restaurant. It was
called Shady Side in It was built from nothing. It
was just a little deli and they built it into
a place where bank wos could set up to six
(02:13):
seven hundred people. I mean, it just kept growing, you know.
It was the same thing. And that's when I first
probably came across the first professional ethics because we used
to check coats. Me and my brother, we're like ten
years old and you're checking coats man and they're giving
you these big coats and which stay up late and
we're so tired. But that's the first time my Willy
Stargel came in, you know, with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and
(02:34):
we saw his coat and we're going, hey, let's check
in his pockets. We weren't looking for money, but we
found a business card with the Willis Stargels star. We thought,
you know, you know, so we used to get tips.
You know, they'd give you a buck, you know you
could make if it's one hundred coachs, you're making a
hundred bucks. You know, you split it. It's fifty bucks each.
It's not bad for a ten year old. My dad
(02:59):
end up being the butcher, did did the bartending. So
we came up pretty much. You know. We had the
one shower in the house. All three boys slept in
the one room. Then then my sister. So you know,
it teaches you a good work ethic. Obviously, Western Pennsylvania
is an area that it's blue collar and you know
(03:20):
you're gonna learn things that you don't think it's going to.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Pay off down the road.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
You know, you take that typing class back then and
now everything's computers. You learn how to type, then you
take a wood shop class that you learn how to
use a woodlathe, you know, which down the road would
become a you know, something that I could learn to
to use to my advantage and you know, help develop
(03:47):
a bet for my son.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
You never know what's going to influence you.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
So my son was he's about seventy years old, Geno,
and we're watching We used to watch a lot of
baseball and I didn't play old videos or Berto Clemny.
So that became his guy. And he wors twenty one today.
He wore was a little league. He got back into
twenty one because of Ertakal mining. So again, Western Pennsylvania
(04:11):
were a little bit obsessed, of course, and we're gonna
force them to elect the Pirates and the Steelers and
the Penguins. So that's just part of what we do.
And he he liked bonds as bat. He saw the
black and two tone and wood bat. He goes, Dad,
I like that, man, I wanna play with a wood bat.
That's different because wood bats weren't even mentioned back then.
Now you got wood bat tournaments and everyone likes the
(04:32):
wood beat. So I ended up calling all these bat companies,
none of them, they all had stock bats no more
small enough or short enough. Really, it was really the
size everybody maybe was an inch off.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
I needed a.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Twenty seven and they only stopped at twenty nine or
the stopped at twenty eight. So I started looking around
and there was some old bats store here at LSU.
I'm looking at him, and I said, all right. Then
we had a quarterback, Matt. I start talking to Matt.
Matt played for the Cubs for three years and uh,
I said, Matt, I'm.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Thinking about making him back for my son.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
You mind if I'm gonna make one, and I want
I'm gonna bring it in since you played, tell me
what we need to do to make this thing tapered right?
Speaker 3 (05:16):
And so I made the first one. I have it
in my.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Office today and uh, top heavy, and you know, I
use electrical tape to do whatever.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
And I carved in.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
I think that one was the Geno crusher and I
put his school he was at.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
That was my first one.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
So the next one I start making, I got a
lot better. And that was the Geno.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Slugger was I think the next one. You know. So
he starts hitting with.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Him and uh, and he he had the DNA to
hit you know, he had the good eyesight. He was
a front eyed, dominant kid, and he was he was
pretty good. So he starts getting in a little leg.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
He's using what back.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Okay, this is different, but he's he's one of the
best hitters. So everybody on the team goes, well, if
he's hitting good with that bat, I want one with
my name, my kid's.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Name on it. So that's when I formed, Okay, we'll
form a little company, Merchy bat Company. So I bought
a shed. I bought it from Canada.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
It was a Cedar shed, and I told the guy
what I wanted because I thought cedar's gonna last longer
in this weather, the mildew.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
The you know, it's not gonna rot.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
I said, I want doors in the front, in the back,
and he goes, why do you want that? I said,
have you ever lived in Louisiana? I said, it's like
living on the equator. I said, I need an airflow.
So I put a fan in there. And that was
my bat shop. That was two thousand and two. I
always joke around. I said, saving was a little stressful,
so it was a nice stress relief to get away from.
(06:53):
So after football, I'd spend nights and the neighbor come over.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
What are you doing?
Speaker 2 (06:58):
There's saldust everywhere I go making back. He goes, you're
making bats. He goes, give me a cop. You know,
everyone as soon as they saw it and they go, oh,
I want one. So I started twenty five bucks. I
mean the wood cost probably fifteen. Because money was never
a thing.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
I felt bad.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
I felt bad that I was gonna even charge somebody
for it. Then I said, well, I'd better start charging,
because you know, the first major league bat was EDWARDO.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Perez.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
I was going up for an athletic trainer's convention and
we're catching up, and I was gonna go to the.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Cardinals game, and I told him what I was doing.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
He goes, he goes, bring me one up, and he
gave me a model, which was a common model.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Everything was based off of Louisville Slugger model.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
So ce two forty three, I said, all right, I
think I can find one in the pile because LSU
had some wood bats laying around and I found one
that I so I got the hanger and I would
hang it on the hangar and I would do it
by pheel. I would cut the bat now I got
pretty good by that, by aye, and feel.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
I made him.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
I think I made him too, And think, what's he
going to do with these? Maybe you're just gonna put
it up in his house? Or I thought it was
neat that a major league guy, you know. So he
meets me in front of the hotel and he and
he pulls out the box and his eyes light up
and he goes, Man, he goes, I'm going to use
this tonight. I said, what I said, This thing's going
(08:24):
to explode, Eddie. I said, I seen seven and eight
year old swing this. I said, you're going to swing
this this thing, I said. He goes, I'm gonna sneak
it in because I want license. You know, the logos,
this big logo. Yeah, there's all these regulations which you
find out and uh.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
He goes, I tell you what.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
I want you to come down for batting practice, meet
some guys.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
I said, okay, And you've been listening to Jack Marucci
tell the story of how his bat company came to
be the child of immigrants who came from Spain and
Italy and who basically learned the lessons of life in
a working class town in western Pennsylvania. Finds himself at
Louisiana State University being the strength coach back when a
(09:07):
guy named Nick Saban was coaching their SEC powerhouse squad
and to bolt it just get some time away. He
just started making bats first for his son and pretty
soon from major league baseball player. What happens next? More
of Jack Mrucci's story here on our American Stories, and
(09:39):
we continue with our American stories and with the story
of Jack Mrucci and if you're a ballplayer, a baseball player,
that is the story of Marucci bats who came on
to challenge the almighty Louisville Slugger and from a shack
in his home in Louisiana.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
So he gets me down there and he goes, this
bat is unbelievable because I use it in the cad.
Then he introduces me to Barry Larkin. He's playing for
the Rats, and I got a picture of Larkin hold
this bat. And he says, I tell you what we're
playing in Houston.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
I want you to make me one. I said, all right,
I'll wake you one.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
So me and my son go to Houston and he
says get there early for batting practice. He wants you
to bring them back. So I'm walking in the stadium
with a bat. I gave it to my son. I go, here, Genna,
you take it. He was only nine at the time,
and I said, they won't yell at you. I said,
I'm not going to bring a bat in the stadium.
(10:44):
So he's bringing it in and we walk all the
way down. They're taking batting practice and there's people around
in the stands. I don't know what to do this
first time, you know, I've done this, actually brought a
bat to a game, and Larkin kind of sees us.
He gets his thumbs up, and everyone behind us is going, oh.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
That's funny. He recognize.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
You know. They're all like a maze that because they're
all trying to get autographs and there's people everywhere. We're
in the stands with their bells right behind the dugout.
So the bat boy comes over. We hand a bat
over to him. Everyone's going, wow, how's he getting him
to sign that bat? They're all going, how's he getting
a sign? We're trying to get all of our they're
kind of getting mat So the batboy takes it right
over to Larkin. Larkin starts putting on the call of
(11:26):
modus stick, the tackiness and like pine tart up and
everyone starts going, wait a minute, he's gonna hit with
that bat. I mean, we just brought it to him.
It's a bare bat. He starts taking bep with so
we're watching the game. His second at bat, he was
the first guy to get a hit with it up
the middle. That's big time.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
And to me, I said, that was it. I mean,
I'm this.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Thing was in my backyard a couple of days ago,
and this guy's you a major league basebackey.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
I said, oh my god, I mean, this is ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
That was probably one of the best ever and it
still probably one of the best moments ever. Word of Prez.
I can't say enough good things about him. He's one
of the best human beings. He helped the company more
than anybody because he talked to all these players and
he's showing them and I'm sending them more bats, and
he's sneaking in the game. He's leaving me voicemails. Man,
I hit Alina against No Mo, and I mean it
(12:18):
was just the excitement of it was like Contraband. You know,
we're sending Contraband up there and.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
He goes, you're gonna get a call from Manny Ramirez.
I said, okay. So I get a call from Manny Ramrez.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
He goes, I need some bats for the playoff run.
I go again, you're gonna be in the playoffs. You
can't use these bats. He goes, No, he wants and
I talked to him about it. He saw mine. I said, okay,
So Manny calls. I said, well, Manny, we're about to
take off. We're about to play Georgia. And said we're
getting on a flight and.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
I'm cutting them off.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
And I said, let me get back and I'll cut him.
So I spent three nights making bats.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
I made three bats.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
For him, and I said, maybe maybe I'll use him for.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Batting practice or whatever. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
So I put a model number on it. It's called
a CB twenty four, and I send it up to him,
and Kevin Malar saw him.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
He got all excited about him. Well, so this is
two thousand and.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Four, and I got pretty good by then making him
and the finish. I was hand doing everything, putting a
nice in me. It looked shiny, looked like furniture. That's
what Edward O President Hill said.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
It looks like furniture.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
So fast forward a couple of years ago. I saw
Orlando Cabrera on that same team, and why he's significant.
I'm watching the game and Orlando Cabrera is using these
bats in this playoff game. So I asked him. I
never talked to Orlando about it. He used Manny's bats
I sent him. I said, weren't you afraid you're gonna
(13:52):
get in trouble? He goes, no, He goes, let me
tell you something. I hit like three seventy in that series,
and those bats, that ball was coming off. He goes,
I'm remember like it was yesterday.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
So this was two years ago. I'm talking to about
that two thousand and four.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Playoff and he goes, I remember those bats like it
was yesterday. He goes, you know, we put the tape
on the bottom kind of flared out, and the other one.
I goes, I wanted a little thinner handle, so I
got the trainer scissors and I shaved the handle down,
made it thinner, and he goes, I always wanted to know.
I didn't know what company was. I wanted to order more,
but never heard of it. I didn't even know what
this was. And he goes that model number, that CB.
(14:26):
I said, well, let me tell you something. Somebody gave
me a tip. About five six months.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
After that series, they were on eBay. I found two
of them. I said, I have him in my office.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
I bought them back. I didn't tell them who I was.
I had those two bats that you hit with in
the playoffs. You know, you never know how they get
out of the clubhouse. I said, you know what the CB
stood for. He goes no, I said, cursebuster. I put
CB to break the car. I said, I put it
the cursebuster of the Yankees. And that's when the Red
Sox were down three games and they came back and
they won the World Series.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
And I have those bats in my office.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
It's just it's one of those things you just never know.
You know, it's start getting bigger the business. I always
want him to order small mouths because I had to
cut them at the time, and I was getting tendonitis.
I swear to I got bad. It's the first time
I had epicondolitis. And then we got more automated, obviously,
but we were trying to turn down business and people
(15:22):
are one of them. The next big player would be
Carlos Beltran, Carlos Beltran, and we end up having a
whole met team from Jose Reyes, Beltran, Laduka, you name it.
David Wright and all those people in the division saw
those bats. Those guys were hitting well. He would tell
everybody that these bats are unbelievble. So at the time,
(15:43):
you know, he goes, he ordered a half dozen. So
he orders the bats, we ship them out and I
get a phone call from them, Jack, he only sent
me five bats.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
I ordered six. I said, I know, because what do
you mean? You know?
Speaker 2 (15:59):
I said, do you underst and that I was trying
to get you the six bat? I cut like ten
to twelve bats. They weren't the quality I wanted. In silence,
he goes, that is unbelievable. So he goes, you're not.
You don't make like batting practice bats. You just don't
feel it. No, what do you mean batting practice bats.
I'm not gonna mention companies, but it was Louisville and
Rawlings basically, I was it. I mean there's other companies,
(16:22):
Cooper companies that he was using. Says, you know, I
only could get he going to use four to five
bats out of the dozen He thought the other ones
were so far.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
That's how they did it.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
So being naive and thinking, I'm just gonna give you
the best quality.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
And he loved it. It was the right thing to
do to make it look right. You know, there the
paint was gonna look good.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
The detail and the stamping and the knob, you know,
I would I would stamp in the player's number or stamping,
so all that detail was.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
In there when it was made, like I'm born on it.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
I mean, no one had that. Everyone was just mass
producing bats. You know, these guys, that's their living you know.
Albert once told me, he goes. You know, I love
a lot of things in life. You know, I love
my wife, you know I love my bats. I love
my kids. Maybe not sometimes in that order. But you know,
you're joking because their bats are livelihood. So no one
(17:16):
was making bats like that for these guys. You would
think they would be. He coined the frame every bat's
a gamer, So.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Every bat's a gamer. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
So I always told people, you know, we were always
chasing the quality, and you're not going to chase the dollar.
You're not gonna chase that money, chase the quality of
the stuff will come. So that's spread like wildfire. So
the word of mouth was so powerful, and baseball is
a close knit community and that's where that that.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
Really took to another level.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
We became the number one bat company probably about two
and a half years ago. That's the who sat and
by a pretty large margin now. But you know, you're
in sport and probably the things that you do here
all the time, it is a game of inches. And
if those companies made that BA one inch longer, I
wouldn't have probably made bats because they would have made
(18:09):
a bat for my son and I would have been it.
But one inch dictated to do something and and uh,
you know it's it's and it's you think about this also,
it's the last sport that has used a wooden instrument.
Golf has gotten away from wood, lacrosse, tennis, used to
(18:31):
use tennis, wood rackets, hockey, and you know, so the
purity of it allowed somebody to to do what we.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Were able to do. And it's created jobs.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Probably over close to one hundred jobs, eighty jobs for people,
you know, just because of a wood shop class. So
you know, there's there's a lot that humbles you to
if you look at that stuff. You know, you can
go to an airport. And you know, there was a
little kid.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
I was flying back from home from Pennsylvania and I
was layover in uh Charlotte Airport and kid had the
name on his his shirt and he had the bag
and he was sitting next to me at the we
were waiting.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
I said, I said, those bats aren't any good. Why
are you wearing those bats?
Speaker 2 (19:24):
I said, Louisville's a lot better. And he's getting all
mad at me. And he's getting mad, I said, I said,
I can't pronounce that name. I said, I wouldn't use
that stuff. I said, Louisville is much better. And his
grand he was there flying with his grandfather's grandfather says, no,
he loves those bats now.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
And uh, you know.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
So I found out they're coming. They were coming down
for a baseball camp at l s U. You know so,
and so I shared a story with him and I
had him come over to the office and show them
all the stuff.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
It was. It was. It was pretty fun.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
And a terrific job on the put reduction and editing
by our own Monte Montgomery. The Story of imagination, the
story of problem solving, and the story of innovation, Jack
Marucci's story and marucci Sports story Here on our American Stories.
And we returned to our American stories. Up next, a
story from Jack Marucci. Jack is the director of Performance
in Louisiana State University's Athletic department, but also the founder
of Marucci Sports, a company known for its baseball bats.
Here's Jack with a story of how his company came
to be. Let's get into it.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
You know, we're from a coal mining town, pretty humble beginnings.
We're from a pretty immigrant family. My mom was eleven
when she came from Spain and my grandfather's from Italy.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
So we're half.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Spanish, half Italian, and that was the makeup of most
of the people we grew up with.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
It was pretty ethnic, you know. We went to the
Italian church and Saint Teresa's. We thought that's how it
was everywhere. So my mom, her dad came over to
be a coal miner, and we went back to see
her where she grew up.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
It was like it was like San Diego. I'm going,
why would you dad leave this place?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
They lived right by the ocean. But I guess times
are so bad in a civil war. The economy was
bad and the war's breaking out. This was like in
the early forties. But her dad comes over here right
before the war, and he tried to save money bring
the family up, but he can't get back and forth.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
So my mom didn't see.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Him until eleven years, until we could save up the money.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
So she was eleven the first time she saw her dad.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Then my dad's side, my grandfather came over when he
was fifteen. Then he got deported because you had to
be sixteen. You could see it on the Ellis Island report.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
We found it.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Somehow he got through all that and they said, well,
you're only fifteen, So he had to go all the
way back. You know, they were afraid. He was afraid
they were gonna make him a priest. I want to
become a priest. So he started a restaurant. It was
called Shady Side in It was built from nothing. It
was just a little deli and they built it into
a place where bank wos could set up to six
(02:13):
seven hundred people. I mean, it just kept growing, you know.
It was the same thing. And that's when I first
probably came across the first professional ethics because we used
to check coats. Me and my brother, we're like ten
years old and you're checking coats man and they're giving
you these big coats and which stay up late and
we're so tired. But that's the first time my Willy
Stargel came in, you know, with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and
(02:34):
we saw his coat and we're going, hey, let's check
in his pockets. We weren't looking for money, but we
found a business card with the Willis Stargels star. We thought,
you know, you know, so we used to get tips.
You know, they'd give you a buck, you know you
could make if it's one hundred coachs, you're making a
hundred bucks. You know, you split it. It's fifty bucks each.
It's not bad for a ten year old. My dad
(02:59):
end up being the butcher, did did the bartending. So
we came up pretty much. You know. We had the
one shower in the house. All three boys slept in
the one room. Then then my sister. So you know,
it teaches you a good work ethic. Obviously, Western Pennsylvania
is an area that it's blue collar and you know
(03:20):
you're gonna learn things that you don't think it's going to.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Pay off down the road.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
You know, you take that typing class back then and
now everything's computers. You learn how to type, then you
take a wood shop class that you learn how to
use a woodlathe, you know, which down the road would
become a you know, something that I could learn to
to use to my advantage and you know, help develop
(03:47):
a bet for my son.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
You never know what's going to influence you.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
So my son was he's about seventy years old, Geno,
and we're watching We used to watch a lot of
baseball and I didn't play old videos or Berto Clemny.
So that became his guy. And he wors twenty one today.
He wore was a little league. He got back into
twenty one because of Ertakal mining. So again, Western Pennsylvania
(04:11):
were a little bit obsessed, of course, and we're gonna
force them to elect the Pirates and the Steelers and
the Penguins. So that's just part of what we do.
And he he liked bonds as bat. He saw the
black and two tone and wood bat. He goes, Dad,
I like that, man, I wanna play with a wood bat.
That's different because wood bats weren't even mentioned back then.
Now you got wood bat tournaments and everyone likes the
(04:32):
wood beat. So I ended up calling all these bat companies,
none of them, they all had stock bats no more
small enough or short enough. Really, it was really the
size everybody maybe was an inch off.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
I needed a.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Twenty seven and they only stopped at twenty nine or
the stopped at twenty eight. So I started looking around
and there was some old bats store here at LSU.
I'm looking at him, and I said, all right. Then
we had a quarterback, Matt. I start talking to Matt.
Matt played for the Cubs for three years and uh,
I said, Matt, I'm.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Thinking about making him back for my son.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
You mind if I'm gonna make one, and I want
I'm gonna bring it in since you played, tell me
what we need to do to make this thing tapered right?
Speaker 3 (05:16):
And so I made the first one. I have it
in my.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Office today and uh, top heavy, and you know, I
use electrical tape to do whatever.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
And I carved in.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
I think that one was the Geno crusher and I
put his school he was at.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
That was my first one.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
So the next one I start making, I got a
lot better. And that was the Geno.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Slugger was I think the next one. You know. So
he starts hitting with.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Him and uh, and he he had the DNA to
hit you know, he had the good eyesight. He was
a front eyed, dominant kid, and he was he was
pretty good. So he starts getting in a little leg.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
He's using what back.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Okay, this is different, but he's he's one of the
best hitters. So everybody on the team goes, well, if
he's hitting good with that bat, I want one with
my name, my kid's.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Name on it. So that's when I formed, Okay, we'll
form a little company, Merchy bat Company. So I bought
a shed. I bought it from Canada.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
It was a Cedar shed, and I told the guy
what I wanted because I thought cedar's gonna last longer
in this weather, the mildew.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
The you know, it's not gonna rot.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
I said, I want doors in the front, in the back,
and he goes, why do you want that? I said,
have you ever lived in Louisiana? I said, it's like
living on the equator. I said, I need an airflow.
So I put a fan in there. And that was
my bat shop. That was two thousand and two. I
always joke around. I said, saving was a little stressful,
so it was a nice stress relief to get away from.
(06:53):
So after football, I'd spend nights and the neighbor come over.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
What are you doing?
Speaker 2 (06:58):
There's saldust everywhere I go making back. He goes, you're
making bats. He goes, give me a cop. You know,
everyone as soon as they saw it and they go, oh,
I want one. So I started twenty five bucks. I
mean the wood cost probably fifteen. Because money was never
a thing.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
I felt bad.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
I felt bad that I was gonna even charge somebody
for it. Then I said, well, I'd better start charging,
because you know, the first major league bat was EDWARDO.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Perez.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
I was going up for an athletic trainer's convention and
we're catching up, and I was gonna go to the.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Cardinals game, and I told him what I was doing.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
He goes, he goes, bring me one up, and he
gave me a model, which was a common model.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Everything was based off of Louisville Slugger model.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
So ce two forty three, I said, all right, I
think I can find one in the pile because LSU
had some wood bats laying around and I found one
that I so I got the hanger and I would
hang it on the hangar and I would do it
by pheel. I would cut the bat now I got
pretty good by that, by aye, and feel.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
I made him.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
I think I made him too, And think, what's he
going to do with these? Maybe you're just gonna put
it up in his house? Or I thought it was
neat that a major league guy, you know. So he
meets me in front of the hotel and he and
he pulls out the box and his eyes light up
and he goes, Man, he goes, I'm going to use
this tonight. I said, what I said, This thing's going
(08:24):
to explode, Eddie. I said, I seen seven and eight
year old swing this. I said, you're going to swing
this this thing, I said. He goes, I'm gonna sneak
it in because I want license. You know, the logos,
this big logo. Yeah, there's all these regulations which you
find out and uh.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
He goes, I tell you what.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
I want you to come down for batting practice, meet
some guys.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
I said, okay, And you've been listening to Jack Marucci
tell the story of how his bat company came to
be the child of immigrants who came from Spain and
Italy and who basically learned the lessons of life in
a working class town in western Pennsylvania. Finds himself at
Louisiana State University being the strength coach back when a
(09:07):
guy named Nick Saban was coaching their SEC powerhouse squad
and to bolt it just get some time away. He
just started making bats first for his son and pretty
soon from major league baseball player. What happens next? More
of Jack Mrucci's story here on our American Stories, and
(09:39):
we continue with our American stories and with the story
of Jack Mrucci and if you're a ballplayer, a baseball player,
that is the story of Marucci bats who came on
to challenge the almighty Louisville Slugger and from a shack
in his home in Louisiana.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
So he gets me down there and he goes, this
bat is unbelievable because I use it in the cad.
Then he introduces me to Barry Larkin. He's playing for
the Rats, and I got a picture of Larkin hold
this bat. And he says, I tell you what we're
playing in Houston.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
I want you to make me one. I said, all right,
I'll wake you one.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
So me and my son go to Houston and he
says get there early for batting practice. He wants you
to bring them back. So I'm walking in the stadium
with a bat. I gave it to my son. I go, here, Genna,
you take it. He was only nine at the time,
and I said, they won't yell at you. I said,
I'm not going to bring a bat in the stadium.
(10:44):
So he's bringing it in and we walk all the
way down. They're taking batting practice and there's people around
in the stands. I don't know what to do this
first time, you know, I've done this, actually brought a
bat to a game, and Larkin kind of sees us.
He gets his thumbs up, and everyone behind us is going, oh.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
That's funny. He recognize.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
You know. They're all like a maze that because they're
all trying to get autographs and there's people everywhere. We're
in the stands with their bells right behind the dugout.
So the bat boy comes over. We hand a bat
over to him. Everyone's going, wow, how's he getting him
to sign that bat? They're all going, how's he getting
a sign? We're trying to get all of our they're
kind of getting mat So the batboy takes it right
over to Larkin. Larkin starts putting on the call of
(11:26):
modus stick, the tackiness and like pine tart up and
everyone starts going, wait a minute, he's gonna hit with
that bat. I mean, we just brought it to him.
It's a bare bat. He starts taking bep with so
we're watching the game. His second at bat, he was
the first guy to get a hit with it up
the middle. That's big time.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
And to me, I said, that was it. I mean,
I'm this.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Thing was in my backyard a couple of days ago,
and this guy's you a major league basebackey.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
I said, oh my god, I mean, this is ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
That was probably one of the best ever and it
still probably one of the best moments ever. Word of Prez.
I can't say enough good things about him. He's one
of the best human beings. He helped the company more
than anybody because he talked to all these players and
he's showing them and I'm sending them more bats, and
he's sneaking in the game. He's leaving me voicemails. Man,
I hit Alina against No Mo, and I mean it
(12:18):
was just the excitement of it was like Contraband. You know,
we're sending Contraband up there and.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
He goes, you're gonna get a call from Manny Ramirez.
I said, okay. So I get a call from Manny Ramrez.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
He goes, I need some bats for the playoff run.
I go again, you're gonna be in the playoffs. You
can't use these bats. He goes, No, he wants and
I talked to him about it. He saw mine. I said, okay,
So Manny calls. I said, well, Manny, we're about to
take off. We're about to play Georgia. And said we're
getting on a flight and.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
I'm cutting them off.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
And I said, let me get back and I'll cut him.
So I spent three nights making bats.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
I made three bats.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
For him, and I said, maybe maybe I'll use him for.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Batting practice or whatever. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
So I put a model number on it. It's called
a CB twenty four, and I send it up to him,
and Kevin Malar saw him.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
He got all excited about him. Well, so this is
two thousand and.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Four, and I got pretty good by then making him
and the finish. I was hand doing everything, putting a
nice in me. It looked shiny, looked like furniture. That's
what Edward O President Hill said.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
It looks like furniture.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
So fast forward a couple of years ago. I saw
Orlando Cabrera on that same team, and why he's significant.
I'm watching the game and Orlando Cabrera is using these
bats in this playoff game. So I asked him. I
never talked to Orlando about it. He used Manny's bats
I sent him. I said, weren't you afraid you're gonna
(13:52):
get in trouble? He goes, no, He goes, let me
tell you something. I hit like three seventy in that series,
and those bats, that ball was coming off. He goes,
I'm remember like it was yesterday.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
So this was two years ago. I'm talking to about
that two thousand and four.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Playoff and he goes, I remember those bats like it
was yesterday. He goes, you know, we put the tape
on the bottom kind of flared out, and the other one.
I goes, I wanted a little thinner handle, so I
got the trainer scissors and I shaved the handle down,
made it thinner, and he goes, I always wanted to know.
I didn't know what company was. I wanted to order more,
but never heard of it. I didn't even know what
this was. And he goes that model number, that CB.
(14:26):
I said, well, let me tell you something. Somebody gave
me a tip. About five six months.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
After that series, they were on eBay. I found two
of them. I said, I have him in my office.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
I bought them back. I didn't tell them who I was.
I had those two bats that you hit with in
the playoffs. You know, you never know how they get
out of the clubhouse. I said, you know what the CB
stood for. He goes no, I said, cursebuster. I put
CB to break the car. I said, I put it
the cursebuster of the Yankees. And that's when the Red
Sox were down three games and they came back and
they won the World Series.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
And I have those bats in my office.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
It's just it's one of those things you just never know.
You know, it's start getting bigger the business. I always
want him to order small mouths because I had to
cut them at the time, and I was getting tendonitis.
I swear to I got bad. It's the first time
I had epicondolitis. And then we got more automated, obviously,
but we were trying to turn down business and people
(15:22):
are one of them. The next big player would be
Carlos Beltran, Carlos Beltran, and we end up having a
whole met team from Jose Reyes, Beltran, Laduka, you name it.
David Wright and all those people in the division saw
those bats. Those guys were hitting well. He would tell
everybody that these bats are unbelievble. So at the time,
(15:43):
you know, he goes, he ordered a half dozen. So
he orders the bats, we ship them out and I
get a phone call from them, Jack, he only sent
me five bats.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
I ordered six. I said, I know, because what do
you mean? You know?
Speaker 2 (15:59):
I said, do you underst and that I was trying
to get you the six bat? I cut like ten
to twelve bats. They weren't the quality I wanted. In silence,
he goes, that is unbelievable. So he goes, you're not.
You don't make like batting practice bats. You just don't
feel it. No, what do you mean batting practice bats.
I'm not gonna mention companies, but it was Louisville and
Rawlings basically, I was it. I mean there's other companies,
(16:22):
Cooper companies that he was using. Says, you know, I
only could get he going to use four to five
bats out of the dozen He thought the other ones
were so far.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
That's how they did it.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
So being naive and thinking, I'm just gonna give you
the best quality.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
And he loved it. It was the right thing to
do to make it look right. You know, there the
paint was gonna look good.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
The detail and the stamping and the knob, you know,
I would I would stamp in the player's number or stamping,
so all that detail was.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
In there when it was made, like I'm born on it.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
I mean, no one had that. Everyone was just mass
producing bats. You know, these guys, that's their living you know.
Albert once told me, he goes. You know, I love
a lot of things in life. You know, I love
my wife, you know I love my bats. I love
my kids. Maybe not sometimes in that order. But you know,
you're joking because their bats are livelihood. So no one
(17:16):
was making bats like that for these guys. You would
think they would be. He coined the frame every bat's
a gamer, So.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Every bat's a gamer. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
So I always told people, you know, we were always
chasing the quality, and you're not going to chase the dollar.
You're not gonna chase that money, chase the quality of
the stuff will come. So that's spread like wildfire. So
the word of mouth was so powerful, and baseball is
a close knit community and that's where that that.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
Really took to another level.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
We became the number one bat company probably about two
and a half years ago. That's the who sat and
by a pretty large margin now. But you know, you're
in sport and probably the things that you do here
all the time, it is a game of inches. And
if those companies made that BA one inch longer, I
wouldn't have probably made bats because they would have made
(18:09):
a bat for my son and I would have been it.
But one inch dictated to do something and and uh,
you know it's it's and it's you think about this also,
it's the last sport that has used a wooden instrument.
Golf has gotten away from wood, lacrosse, tennis, used to
(18:31):
use tennis, wood rackets, hockey, and you know, so the
purity of it allowed somebody to to do what we.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Were able to do. And it's created jobs.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Probably over close to one hundred jobs, eighty jobs for people,
you know, just because of a wood shop class. So
you know, there's there's a lot that humbles you to
if you look at that stuff. You know, you can
go to an airport. And you know, there was a
little kid.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
I was flying back from home from Pennsylvania and I
was layover in uh Charlotte Airport and kid had the
name on his his shirt and he had the bag
and he was sitting next to me at the we
were waiting.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
I said, I said, those bats aren't any good. Why
are you wearing those bats?
Speaker 2 (19:24):
I said, Louisville's a lot better. And he's getting all
mad at me. And he's getting mad, I said, I said,
I can't pronounce that name. I said, I wouldn't use
that stuff. I said, Louisville is much better. And his
grand he was there flying with his grandfather's grandfather says, no,
he loves those bats now.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
And uh, you know.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
So I found out they're coming. They were coming down
for a baseball camp at l s U. You know so,
and so I shared a story with him and I
had him come over to the office and show them
all the stuff.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
It was. It was. It was pretty fun.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
And a terrific job on the put reduction and editing
by our own Monte Montgomery. The Story of imagination, the
story of problem solving, and the story of innovation, Jack
Marucci's story and marucci Sports story Here on our American Stories.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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