Beat has been a guessing game for most people who roll; what pressure to use, how long to roll, which bats break easily, etc. There are quite a few more factors to rolling than simply applying pressure A and rolling B multiple times. People are buying laminating machines and testing the pressures on eBay and Craigslist customers. I can tell from some of the negative comments left on eBay and in the forums. There are snippets on forums, videos, and websites on how to hit, but there is no magic bullet guide. I feel a little weird saying that rolling bats is an art, but it really is a delicate process. A college professor once told our class that reading a book, one hour a day, on a specific topic will make you an expert on that topic. I would definitely say that this is not true for shooting, although it is a good start. In my opinion, one hour of riding a day will lead you to become an expert. The old saying: practice makes perfect has some merit with rolling.
Imagine this, there are around 22 people selling blender services on eBay and of those only 5 have been rolling for over a year (in terms of their time on eBay or as an internet company). Also, there is no way of knowing how long someone has been shooting when shopping on Craigslist. If a good listing on eBay or Craigslist can entice you to give up your $ 300 bat, then so be it, but my money would be better left with the guy who has good reviews and has spent time and money running a website. Word of mouth is a great way to do it, that is, if you know someone. Just do me a favor before you get to work on your bat … do some research on the person or company that is throwing your bat. Look for eBay reviews and check the web, it doesn’t take long.
What’s 15 minutes to make sure your $ 300 bat doesn’t break? Most legitimate lamination companies offer a broken bat guarantee. Some of the common things that you will read or see on eBay are: “don’t let a hobbyist swing your bat”, inflation of the distance results, like saying you will gain “20-60 feet of distance” (20-40 feet of the distance has been tested, no more). People have pictures of bats rolling in their living room. I’ve seen a guy blame the manufacturer for breaking a bat, are you kidding me? The same guy wrote that the bat will compress, 186 inches; this would break any bat before reaching half that number, unbelievable. One guy offers “hot” and “super hot”. Email him and see if there is a “super hot”. Another guy recently wrote his own bat swing guide and sells it on eBay, the guide is so bad it has the wrong pressure measurement (it was 6 turns off the mark that would break some bat because 1 turn is max pressure for most bats) Please don’t be offended if you roll the bats, just tell the truth and run a legitimate business without fancy propaganda. Every bat rolling company will share a reputation for quality bat rolling rather than just a few bad seeds that leave a bad taste in the mouth of customers and potential customers. In the Marine Corps, we used to call bad seeds the 10% that recruiters drove. Unfortunately, I see a lot more than 10% when I search online and on eBay. I’m sure the major bat rolling companies will read this article and understand exactly where I come from. Those hitters who don’t understand will be waiting to “hook” that new bat of yours.
The 10% I speak of have been doing things to damage the industry and the reputation of beating, which has been bugging me for a while. Seeing the nonsense around me, I asked myself, what could I do? I didn’t want to mention anyone by name because that also discredits me. He needed to do something to help. Have you ever heard the saying, “Give a man a fish”? I’m sure you’ve heard it. I thought I could create a base to roll to help those who want it. Spread the knowledge of 4 years of rolling, maybe that can make a difference.