When Baseball Bats were first introduced they were available in all different shapes and sizes and were constructed of wood. In the mid 1800’s baseball was a relatively young sport and baseball batters actually made their own bats and experimented readily with different options. They were interested in the different lengths, shapes, and weights. During this particular time in history, players experimented with different kinds of wood for their bats in order to improve their hitting ability. They soon realized that Wagon Tongue wood was the best for making baseball bats. While the transition to Wagon Tongue wood was taking place, players also realized they could hit a ball much more solidly with a round bat. While some players continued to make their own bats, others had their bats made by a wood maker. Within the next four or five years, the round bat became very popular. All baseball players were using a round Wagon Tongue bat and the only flat surface bat on any team was used strictly for bunting. The round-bat had definitely taken over.

Because of all the varied sizes and shapes available, a new regulation was put in place in 1859 by the Professional National Association of Baseball Players Governing Committee that voted in favor of the first limitation on bat size that stated bats could no longer be larger than 2.5 inches in diameter, although they could be of any length. Ten years later in 1869, another rule was added that stated the baseball bat could be no longer than 42 inches in length, the same maximum length allowed in the game today. At this time there was no rule regarding the shape of the bat. In fact, some players sometimes used bats with flat surfaces when bunting.

While the different players had a chance to digest the new rule of bats, the various woodworkers were trying to manufacture the most popular bat. In 1879, after considerable experimenting with various styles, it was said that long and slender is the common style of bats. In addition, the handle had a carved knob for better control. Times have changed with the evolution of new baseball bat materials. In fact, wood bats are rare at most levels other than the pros. The majority of wood baseball bats today are made from northern white ash harvested from Pennsylvania or New York. White ash is used because of its hardness, durability, strength, weight and feel. Trees that provide the lumber for baseball bats are often 50 years old, and of all the lumber harvested, the top 10 per cent is saved for pro bats. Maple baseball bats have recently become popular largely as a result of Barry Bond’s amazing 73 home runs hit using maple bats in 2001. For years, maple was too heavy to make an effective bat. Recent technology in drying wood has created bats with lower moisture content, which are light enough to make effective baseball bats. Rock or Sugar Maple bats are preferred. Maple bats cost more than white ash, but they often last longer as a result of their high strength. Several companies have recently introduced bamboo baseball bats. Since bamboo shoots are hollow, unlike a standard tree that a wood bat is made of, bamboo bats are made by pressing bamboo strips into billets, and then turning these billets into bats. Bamboo is an extremely strong wood, with a tensile strength greater than that of steel.

I am often asked how I can win consistently at sports betting when most people feel that they are doing well if they win one here or there. My general response is that I know winning betting systems and how to play the betting sports game. This usually brings more questions about what I mean by that to which I ask ” How do you determine the games you are going to bet on?” The three most common answers are:

1. I get them from a sports radio show
2. I hear about them from friends
3. I find “free picks” on the Internet

These are not the best places to start winning regularly. While all of these sources may turn up a good pick now and then, they are generally the sexy picks that have big possible pay outs and should not be considered reliable enough to be betting on without solid back up. My solid back up is a sports betting system that consistently wins by playing a small percentage of games that are a virtual lock to win. The result of using this betting system is a group of games that are going to add to your bankroll and keep adding to it. This will give stability to your bankroll and allow you to analyze other sources for bets that you will have a lower chance of winning but will pay off bigger due to the Las Vegas sports odds and allow for the big win. Without a solid starting point you are likely to watch your money disappear.

Here is an example of what I am talking about. For the 2006 basketball season I used my system to bet on less then 100 NBA games. This is a very small percentage of games when you look at the typical schedule, which has each team playing 82 games and there are 30 teams. I will let you do the math, it’s a lot of games, but I only bet a few of them. You may ask why? Well, the system that I use analyzes the games as the season goes on and picked those games as winners with very low risk. And guess what, it was right, as I only lost 2 of those bets. My bankroll grew steadily on every other bet. I didn’t always have huge wins, there were some, but they all had positive results on my bankroll and allowed me to play other parts of the betting sports game. All due to the use of a winning sports betting system as the core of an overall betting system.

I am not saying that I didn’t bet on any other NBA games, I did bet other games for other reasons, but only when I felt they were relatively safe bets. You can now go back to the three typical responses above and analyze these to see if they are worth betting on. I do this often when I always look at the picks touted by others, as you have to think that some of them might have some research out into them. You always need to research them for yourself and then weigh out the risk/reward factor. If it falls in your “safe” betting range then you should place the bet. If it falls into your “unsafe” betting range then avoid betting on the game. I think that the most common problem people have when it comes to sports betting is that they bet too many games and they bet games without doing proper research. Doing that will kill your bankroll and you will lose the betting sports game and is a common mistake with a lot of sports bettors, especially the inexperienced.

Football Boots: Earliest Recorded – King Henry VIII in 1526

King Henry VIII’s football boots were listed within the Great Wardrobe of 1526, a shopping list of the day. They were made by his personal shoemaker Cornelius Johnson in 1525, at a cost of 4 shillings, the equivalent of £100 in today’s money. Little is known about them, as there is no surviving example, but the royal football boots are known to have been made of strong leather, ankle high and heavier than the normal shoe of the day.

Football Boots – The 1800’s

Moving forward 300 years saw football developing and gaining popularity throughout Britain, but still remaining as an unstructured and informal pastime, with teams representing local factories and villages in a burgeoning industrial nation. Players would wear their hard, leather work boots, which were long laced and steel toe-capped as the first football boots. These football boots would also have metal studs or tacks hammered into them to increase ground grip and stability.

As laws become integrated into the game in the late 1800’s, so saw the first shift in football boots to a slipper (or soccus) style shoe, with players of the same team starting to wear the same boots for the first time. Laws also allowed for studs, which had to be rounded. These leather studs, also known as cleats, were hammered into the early football boots, which for the first time moved away from the earlier favoured work boots. These football boots weighed 500g and were made of thick, hard leather going up the ankle for increased protection. The football boots would double in weight when wet and had six studs in the sole. The football boot had arrived…

Due to the immense popularity of baseball in the United States, college baseball has a considerable following among college and high school students alike. Many of them, playing in their respective home teams, hope to get recruited in the Major Leagues.

Baseball is a game comprised of two teams with nine players each. The team that wins is the one that makes the most runs. A player hits a ball with a bat before he starts a run. Baseball bats vary in width, lengths and materials from which they are made. Different materials yield different batting results. A heavier bat brings more momentum to the ball. However, a heavier bat also means less speed when making a swing. A lighter bat will give the batter more control but provide less momentum to the ball. The restitution of a bat (in other words, how much bounce it provides to the ball) also determines the distance in which the ball will travel. Bats that are made with aluminum or graphite hit balls farther than those made out of wood.

Aluminum bats were first used during the 1970’s. Batting averages increased up to 30 points, while the number of home runs hit doubled that those previously recorded. At the time, Major League batters used wooden bats. If the rules allowed for a change in bats made from a lighter material such as aluminum, there would be more home runs hit, paving the way for new record sand milestones. However, since different leagues use different types of bats, the transition to different leagues was difficult. A bat was needed to aid players in the adjustment from each league. Designers wanted to combine the features of hardwood bats and the light weight of aluminum bats.