Sam Holman has carved out a niche in the competitive world of professional baseball. But every game runs its course, and for the Ottawa craftsman and entrepreneur it is the bottom of the ninth.
Mr. Holman, the Ottawa carpenter who turned a garage hobby into one of the most remarkable entrepreneurial stories in sport, is selling his nine-year-old bat-making company on-line.
For $3.5-million (U.S.), a buyer can own the Original Maple Bat Corp., the maker of Sam Bat and provider of tools to some of major-league baseball's greatest hitters, including Barry Bonds, Albert Pujols and Ryan Howard.
"There are two reasons I'm selling," Holman told the Globe's David Naylor last month. "One is that I'm underfunded and the corporation needs funding to reach capacity. It has a huge future in front of it. I'm sure of it.
"The other is that I'm 61 and I need an exit strategy that would dovetail with being 65. I'm willing to work for a few years to make this happen. I certainly have a vast knowledge of what I'm doing and some unbelievable contacts."
The advertisement on eBay.ca offers a 29,000-square-foot heated building in Gatineau, Que., kilns, machinery, trademark, patents, 888 telephone number, website and client list of the world's top hitters in baseball.
"This is an incredible work in progress that needs inspired vision and wherewithal to go forward," the advertisement says.
In "Take me out of the ball game" in the latest issue of Report on [Small]Business Magazine, Mr. Holman says in his best customer was Joe Carter and his most important was Barry Bonds.
Mr. Holman answered questions online Wednesday on the challenges of building a business one bat at a time. .
Editor's Note: globeandmail.com editors will read and allow or reject each question/comment. Comments/questions may be edited for length, clarity or relevance. HTML is not allowed. We will not publish questions/comments that include personal attacks on Globe journalists, other participants in these discussions, questions/comments that make false or unsubstantiated allegations, that purport to quote people or reports where the purported quote or fact cannot be easily verified, or questions/comments that include vulgar language or libellous statements. Preference will be given to readers who submit questions/comments using their full name and home town, rather than a pseudonym.
Sasha Nagy, Business Features Editor, globeandmail.com: Hi Sam: Thanks for agreeing to discuss your baseball bat business with globe readers. You have enjoyed some notoriety with this endeavour, especially when Barry Bonds was breaking records with your bat. That must have made you pretty proud. Can you tell us what is the most enjoyable aspect of building a business like yours. Is it the acclaim that comes from extra attention, or the trust your clients feel in using something that you made?
Sam Holman: Hi Sasha: Our business is very much a service. We try hard to listen to our clients. If we get what they want right they will continue to use our Sam Bats for a long time.
Not the Alliance writes: Sam: First of all congratulations on your success and best of luck with the sale. I'm interested in how you made your first MLB contact. Did you go to Spring training with samples? Who was your first MLB customer?
Sam Holman: The very first contacts were at the Skydome. Ed Sprague, Carlos Delgado and Joe Carter were the first to use maple bats successfully in the MLB. I have been going to Spring Training and the Winter Meetings ever since.
Noel Hulsman of Toronto asks: Baseball is such a traditional sport. How did you convince players to switch from ash bats to maple ones?
Sam Holman: I don't think I did. I think Joe Carter sold three clubhouses on them in his last year of baseball. All players say they feel good. Joe added to that "You have something here, stick with it." I have been in trouble ever since. Joe's one caveat was " Keep the good wood coming."
The benefit is Spring Training. The work happens from now to October.
Sasha Nagy asks: How long does it take to make one bat, and can you tell me, on average, how many bats a major league player will go through in one season? Also, I am curious, have you ever had any one study whether a baseball travels further with a maple bat over an ash bat?
Sam Holman: In our system we spend about 10 to 14 minutes on a bat. It can take several minutes just to choose the right piece of wood. There will be seven more processes the bat will go through. At every stage if a flaw shows up the bat will be rejected.
We do have a Wall of Shame which has amounted to 80,000 rejects in 9 years. We are thinking pepper mills ... we are open to suggestions.
Sasha Nagy writes: Sam: follow up to this response. Are the bats rejected because the flaws will result in the bat breaking? My vote for the rejects is either pepper mills for the baseball fan who has everything, or maybe you can try and sell them to a furniture maker for children's (boys) beds....
Sam Holman: Thanks, Sasha: I like the bed idea. The list of flaws is yet to be completed. If the grain is not straight the bat will break. I have seen a lump of dirt in the barrel, because the tree grew around it. In the early days we would send out bats with minor flaw and mark them in our records. Sure enough we would get complaints about them. We replaced the flawed bats.
As to whether the ball travels farther [with Maple over Ash]maybe this is a Phd. study for a brave young engineer.
David Leeder from Canada writes: Why sell through ebay?
Sam Holman: My brother John is the financial guy in our family. We were discussing how to establish the value of the corporation. This is not an easy thing to do. We thought that Ebay might touch all the corners of baseball more effectively than other mediums. By this exchange we know we are out there.
Mike S from Pickering, Canada writes: I have a couple questions, Sam. First of all, why the bat logo? Just your sense of humour or is there a story of how you came to draw a winged rodent on each bat. Secondly, did you try to patent your idea? Have you had to fend off Mizuno and Louisville maple bats? And finally, what's the story behind Bonds first trying out your bats. How did you get it into his hands? Do you think Sam Bats would have been as successful if he had not been using them?
I like to think we all have a sense of humour. The bat is from my brother Nathan who is an artist, painter and a cabinet maker. When I asked, he told me that his first effort was his best. It was around Holloween and his daugther Laura cut out the wonkey eyes. She is now on the Dean's list at the University of Nebraska.
We hold patents on how the cup is made at the end of the bat and on a laminate maple bat.
I have too many competitors. I always ask the bank how did that happen?
I saw Barry the spring training after Joe Carter retired from San Franscico. I told him there were several 34 inch bats in my bag. If he liked one, he could take it and use it.
I went on to talk with other players and he grabbed one. He started putting one after another out of the park. One of the coaches observed he never did that [during batting practice]the way he did it that day. After we sat in the dugout and talked an hour or more. I wish I had known more about maple at the time.
At the end, there were two young boys sitting with us that Barry seemed to know. I think one was Peter Magown's (San Francisco Giants owner) son. At any rate one asked Barry if he thought if he could beat Sammy Sosa's record with the bat. Barry replied. "I've set so many more records than that man. I don't think it really matters."
I have always thought that that boy set Barry's mind on homeruns. Yeah, It is been a huge help.