What Bat Did Barry Bonds Use?

Barry Bonds used SAM BAT maple baseball bats during some of the most historic seasons of his career. But the story of Barry's bats is also the story of the close relationship he developed with our SAM BAT founder, Sam Holman.

The SAM BAT Team thanks Barry Bonds for all of the support he has given us over the years and for allowing us to be part of this incredible journey.

We are sure that Sam was an odd-looking character when he first trekked down to spring training in 1997, trying to connect with professional baseball players. Sam always wore his signature Carhartt overalls; he looked like a craftsman. Further, he was over 50 when he founded The Original Maple Bat Corporation. He would have his duffel bag of samples of the new maple bats.

In Sam's words...

After I made the only bat I ever made in the winter of 1996, Fernando Seguignol proved balls would go over 410 feet in the air over the fence at the Lynx's Stadium in Ottawa. Bill MacKenzie advised making sure the bat worked at the highest level in baseball, or baseball would shun the bat.

When I first met Joe Carter, he said, “You really have something different here.”

This was after he, Carlos Delgado, and Ed Sprague hit balls out of the Blue Jays' Stadium in Toronto in April of 1997. Later that summer, Joe took the bat into a game. First, the catcher asks, “Is that bat legal?”

Then the umpire asks, “Joe, what are you using?”

“The new Sambat.”

With a swing, Joe hits a home run, and Sambat enters myth and legend.

At the close of 1998, Joe is traded from Baltimore to the San Francisco Giants. Barry Bonds tells me he didn't try out Joe's 35-inch Maple Sambat. Barry says he only swings a 34.5-inch bat.

What I know about maple is all I see as I get in the beige Toyota and head out on a 38-hour drive to Arizona with about 30 Sambats.

I need to see Barry and get him a bat he will use.

I have an inkling hitters talk to each other.

I am in front of Barry's locker. He looks at me and says, “Make all you want.” Then he hands me a bat. I know I don't have a bat that looks like his.

That afternoon, he took one of my bats to Hayden Field. Then he hits home runs over the fence from the first base line to the third base line. The hitting coach comes by and says Barry never hits like this in practice. Kids are running all over, scooping up balls.

Afterwards, we sit in the stadium and we talk for an hour. There are two young boys behind us. One asks, “Maybe with this new bat, you can break Sammy Sosa's record.”

Barry replies, “I have so many more records than that man. It doesn't matter.”

Sam was very tenacious, and over time Sam and Barry developed a personal relationship built on trust. Barry knew what he wanted from a bat. Sam repeatedly travelled back and forth to refine his bat until it felt and performed exactly the way Barry wanted.

Sam listened.

Rather than simply supplying Barry with a standard model, Sam worked with him to create the bat he wanted.

Their collaboration continued over many years. Barry would tell Sam what he was feeling at the plate or what he wanted changed, and Sam would return to the workshop and make another adjustment. Length, weight, balance, handle and knob profiles were refined over and over as Barry's preferences evolved. There was not simply one “Barry Bonds bat.”

One of the best-reported examples came when Barry told Sam that his hand was cramping while using one of his earlier bats. He liked to lean on his bat when he was standing on the field (there are many iconic photos of him doing so). Sam responded by developing a specially shaped large flared knob that fit Barry's hand more comfortably. The shape was designed to mimic the size of a baseball in the hand and is the largest knob that we craft. That development ultimately became the famous SAM BAT 2K1.

Barry Bonds told the Ottawa Sun on January 27, 2002:

“Sam wants to give me the credit. But it took both of us to do it.”

In 2001, Barry used his SAM BAT 2K1 during his historic 73-home-run season. He continued to use SAM BAT as he pursued baseball's career home-run record, many times going back and forth with Sam, varying the weight of the model.

Years later, Barry Bonds explained that he stayed with SAM BAT because Sam was the first person who gave him exactly what he wanted in a bat.

In 2007, he ultimately finished his career with 762 home runs.

This photo was taken in the clubhouse in 2007 before Barry broke the home run record. There is a whole story of “stolen bats,” but that is for another story...

When the home run record was broken, Barry Bonds was using a 34-inch, 31.8-ounce 2K1 SAM BAT. The barrel was black, the handle was cherry, and the logo was gold.

In the SAM BAT factory, this color combination is fondly referred to simply as “Bonds.”

But perhaps Barry himself best described what Sam's bats meant to him:

“God gave me the skill, but Sam Bat gave me the confidence.” — Barry Bonds