Meet Ben Boulware of Baum Bats in North Phoenix

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ben Boulware.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
From Boats to Bats. The original composite wood bat finds its roots in an unlikely place, a boatyard in Michigan. The late Steve Baum was an inventor, boat builder, and offshore racer. He had a vision of building a faster, lighter boat out of wood.

As the boat industry began to try to build lighter, strong boats they began to utilize fiberglass. Baum, an aficionado of the classic look of wood boats, wanted to find a way to combine the look and feel of wood with state of the art advances in the aerospace industry. Utilizing his background in manufacturing engineering, Baum began his work on his passion project, spending 20 years refining the process of crafting wooden boats that were stronger, lighter and more beautiful than their fiberglass counterparts.

Baum saw the parallel in the baseball industry as leagues began to trade in the traditional wood bats for bats made from other materials. He saw an opportunity for the revolutionary, durable wood he had invented for updating boats to similarly update traditional wood bats which resulted in the original composite wood bat, The Baum Bat, the first of its kind.

In 1993, he unveiled The Baum Bat. A composite wood bat that hits like wood, feels like wood, reacts like wood while being 400 times stronger than a traditional wood bat. For the baseball industry, this was a game changer.

STAYING TRUE TO THE DESIGN
Baum bats quickly became known as the unbreakable bat in baseball circles, and by the 1990’s the Baum Bat was approved for minor league play by Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the National Federation of High Schools (NFHS). The Baum Bat, also BBCOR and Perfect Game approved, made it a necessity for players in wood leagues, who were learning to hit with wood, without breaking multiple bats.

By 2015, Baum had fallen ill and shuttered the company while he searched for the perfect buyer. He didn’t want his invention to be swallowed by a large conglomerate, or to be rebranded as another bat. This led to a scarcity of bats and a premium on existing bats as players began to fear the original Baum Bat was no longer going to be manufactured.

Former White Sox Org. player, Ben Boulware, looking to secure a bat for his son, ended up on Baum’s site trying to locate a Baum bat and saw the company was for sale. At his son’s urging, he sent a brief email to Baum asking for details of the sale and expressing an interest in the company. Soon Boulware found himself flying to Michigan to meet the ailing Baum and after making a promise to keep true to the original design and to keep the Baum brand, Boulware bought the company and moved to Michigan for 18 months to learn the manufacturing process. In 2015 the factory was relocated to Phoenix Arizona.

STRONG AS YOU
The Baum team in Arizona is comprised of long-time baseball players who understand learning to hit with wood is a skill which takes time and adds up to a lot of broken bats. Baum’s composite wood bats preserves the tradition of wood bat play while offering players a virtually indestructible bat.

Honoring their agreement to Steve Baum, Baum Enterprises is continuing to manufacture the original Baum Bat, using the most recent developments and advancements in science, engineering and manufacturing technology.

“Keeping true to the original design of the composite wood bat invented by Steve Baum in 1993 is essential to making Baum Bats the best in the game,” says Boulware. “As a former pro-player, I know how important it is to have a bat as strong as you.

THE STRONGEST ATHLETES NEED THE STRONGEST PRODUCTS
All Baum products pass a variety of rigorous tests to ensure they fit Baum standards as the World’s Strongest. Utilizing a variety of different materials and technologies to add additional strength, renders our bats as virtually indestructible. Baum bats are the combination of the strongest resources and techniques from over 20 years of intensive research and development, making Baum products as strong as you.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Nothing is every not smooth or perfect when purchasing a company. Our previous owner passed away before we could get all the instructions on how to build our bat perfectly. We figure out but would have been much less pain if we had that opportunity.

So, let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Baum Bats story. Tell us more about the business.
We have been making wood composite baseball bats since 1997. Working with MLB teams, college and high school programs worldwide. Our bats are known not to break and being a wood performance baseball bat that is 400x stronger than the normal wood baseball bat. Nobody else does what we do or how we do it.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I don’t believe in luck. It’s about belief and waking up each day expecting great things to happen. Creating a great team with people better than you do in areas you are not and having passion for want you do. The Apollo 13 movie is real! Failure is never an option.

Contact Info:

• Address: 21617 N 2nd Ave
• Website: baumbat.com
• Phone: 4259992454
• Email: ben@baumbat.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baumbat/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/baumbat/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/baumbat

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