Entrepreneur Fashions Baseball Bat for a Big Leaguer and his Dad

 The Globe and Mail

Wednesday, December 1, 2004

Entrepreneur fashions baseball bat for a big leaguer and his dad By David Naylor “From his humble beginnings working out of his garage, Sam Holman has made bats for many of the biggest names in baseball. But last week he got the call to make one for a much bigger hitter. Mr. Holman… arrived at work last week to find a representative of the Prime Minister’s Office visiting his shop. With avid baseball fan George W. Bush about to visit, the PMO staff figured there was no better gift to line up than one of Holman’s bats.” “It’s really a rush, I must admit it,” Mr. Holman said. “Rumours persist in the United States that Mr. Bush would one day like to become commissioner of baseball. With that in mind, Mr. Holman suggested a bat for the U.S. leader inscribed “to the future commissioner of baseball. … “[Mr. Holman’s brother] said ‘You ought to make two models-the Presidential 41 and 43 models,’ ’’ Mr. Holman said, referring to Mr. Bush’s status as the 43rd U.S. president and to his father, George H.W. Bush… “We shortened it to Prez 41 and 43. We ran that by the PMO and they said, ‘Great.’ ” The second bat is inscribed “to the father of the future commissioner of baseball.” Mr. Holman also added the logo of a red, white and blue ribbon to each bat, in recognition of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States." “Mr. Holman said he had put the logo on some bats for the 2001 World Series and believes players of the New York Yankees and Arizona Diamondbacks kept them as souvenirs. “We didn’t see any of them being used.”