The wood versus metal bat debate is not an issue in major league baseball. Major League players must play with a wooden bat. High school and Little League baseball teams, however, have a choice between the two. There are pros and cons for each type of bat, and each side has strong proponents arguing their favorite bat is the best.

In a world of little kids knocking balls out of the park with a weak swing and a lightweight metal bat, wood bats keep baseball honest. They are the traditional tools of the sport, the bats the Major League players use, and because they are heavy, they force players to slow down and learn the game the old-fashioned way. Think Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, or Mark McGuire for that matter, would have been half the athletes they were if they played the game with a metal bat? Think again. So what goes into making these solid and often quite beautiful wood bats? The process is as specific as the player who is buying the bat.

Up until a few decades ago, when someone mentioned baseball bats, that the bat was made of wood was a given. The game started out being played with wood bats of varying sizes and shapes until trial and error gave rise to bats of the size, shape, weight, and diameter we are used to seeing today. The metal bat versus wood bat debate has raged since metal bats were first introduced, and though wood bats are more traditional, that doesn’t mean they are the clear winner of the debate. Each bat has its selling points; playing with a wood bat has both pros and cons.