Last weekend my parents went to an estate sale in their neighborhood, and knowing their son loves anything and everything baseball related they forked over $4 for a corkball bat.
I had never heard of corkball before, but from what I can tell it's a variation of stickball. There are no baserunners in this game and the size of a standard playing field is 30 feet by 250 feet. As few as two people, the pitcher and batter, can play at a time. If the ball is batted between 15 and 150 feet then the batter is awarded a single, 150 to 200 feet is a double, 200 to 250 feet is a triple, and if the ball clears 250 feet then it's a home run.
The ball itself is the same size as a baseball, but its interior is nearly all cork and it weighs about a third of a traditional baseball.
This particular bat looks well-loved and from what I find through online searches it appears production started in the 1950's in the St. Louis area. I don't think this one is 60 years old, but I bet it's been around for at least a few decades. This exact model can still be purchased online today from Markwort for $42!
The corkball bat is 36 inches in length and the barrel is only 1.5 inches in diameter. For reference, the picture above shows the corkball bat leaning up against the wall next to my bat collection, which includes my two coaching fungos on the far right.
I'm not sure if I'll just decorate the man room with the bat or maybe purchase some whiffle golf balls and use them with the bat as a training aide for my sophomore baseball players.
Thanks for the bat, Mom and Dad!
I wonder how many more bats used for sports that could be considered baseball's distant relatives you'll be able to add.
ReplyDeleteThat bat display is very cool. I wonder how many kids (or even adults) around the country play corkball. I guess enough that Markwort still produces those bats.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I made it myself!
DeleteNever heard of corkball. Sounds cool.
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty cool! I can't say that I've heard of the game either, but it sounds fun. With just two people it'll involve a lot of ball chasing... Very nice bat display.
ReplyDeleteNever heard of corkball either. Thanks for the knowledge!
ReplyDeleteThanks for doing the research, that was a fun read.
ReplyDelete