FROED One Government Center Fall River, MA 02722-7700 Tel 508-324-2620 Fax 508-677-2840 info@froed.org		THE BAT MAN Big Papi among Ledoux's clients The Herald News, Thursday, July 30, 2009 - Page C3 Fall River - Lou Ledoux isn’t claiming to have rescued David Ortiz from that brutal early-season slump. But he may have helped a little. Watching Sox games on television, Ledoux, in what he calls "my unprofessional opinion", thought the Red Sox slugger was dropping the head of the bat when swinging. So, he produced a few bats, similar to what Ortiz had previously gotten from Nokona, only this time the handle was thicker and the head a bit lighter. He toted the new weapons up to Fenway Park and gave them to Ortiz to try in batting practice. "I took the balance point and moved it down," Ledoux said. Ortiz liked his new wood and started using the Ledoux special in games. "The first night, he went 2-for-3 with his second home run of the season," Ledoux said this week from Nokona in the Fall River Industrial Park. "Then he went 1-for-4. Then he hit another home run. "It could have been pure coincidence, or it could have been the batting coach," Ledoux said. Whatever it was, Ledoux’s phone was soon ringing. Big Papi, whose allegiance has switched back and forth between Nokona and Rawlings, wanted to put in a rush order. "He said, ‘I want six exactly like that,’" Ledoux said. "Since then, he hasn’t put it down." Ledoux said Ortiz has promised him he’s Nokona forever, but Ledoux isn’t taking that to the bank. An 0-for-20 slump can dissolve bat loyalties in a hurry. Of course, Ortiz is not the only major name customer of Good Wood, the official name of Ledoux’s bat-making business. Good Wood, co-owned by Nokona and Ledoux, is located in the Nokona Factory building in Fall River’s Industrial Park. He said he has sold bats to Vladimir Guerrero, Jorge Cantu, Bengie Molina, Miguel Cabrera, Placido Polanco, and former Red Soxer Kevin Millar. "Kevin Millar joked once with me that we added two years to his career based on the bat that we made for him," Ledoux said. "So it’s a lot of fun. We get a lot of kids in Pawtucket (Triple A PawSox), kids in the Cape Cod League. It’s everywhere." Ledoux this week was preparing a tweaked model for Boston’s Nick Green. He hand delivers bats to Fenway Park and McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, R.I., where players (home and visiting) often seek him out. He even hits the parks when he doesn’t have a delivery, there early for batting practice just in case a player has a question or request. He said the best selling technique is to make a player a customer early in his career. "Louie is emerging as a world-wide authority in wood bats throughout major League Baseball," said Jerry O’Connor, CEO of Nokona Factory. "Louie gets text messages from David Ortiz, Jorge Cantu and just a host of other players." Ledoux is just a baby in the business. O’Connor brought him into the Nokona fold a year-and-a-half ago. They had a met at a Christian men’s group, and Ledoux, a carpenter, was hired to work on a room at O’Connor’s home in Waltham. O’Connor said he was incredibly impressed with Ledoux’s professionalism, his attention to minute detail, and his work ethic. He was so impressed that when Nokona decided to make a renewed push in the baseball bat production field, O’Connor decided Ledoux, a Tiverton resident, was his man. Ledoux, 54, had plenty of baseball experience. He played at Durfee High School and then competed in the Sunset League in Newport and in various seniors leagues. But he had zero experience making baseball bats. But Ledoux knows wood, so it was a challenge he accepted with enthusiasm while still working his contractor business. "The challenge and excitement was putting a bat in a player’s hand they can succeed with," he said. "Playing sports gives you that edge where you look for that challenge and you want to succeed no matter what you do. "There a couple of criteria in anything you do. It’s quality and materials that you use, especially in the building industry. The craftsmanship that goes into building a house, you just apply those same set of skills to making a bat." Bat making involves plenty of high tech. The billets (pieces of ash or maple) are cut into the bat shape by a Computerized Numerically Controlled (CNC) Lathe, a machine which will set you back $100,000 and change. It can deal in millimeters. There is also a large automated sander. For staining purposes, it’s an old-fashioned hand dip and hang dry. Cutting off unneeded wood at the top and bottom of a bat is done by hand on a table saw, and the hollowing out of the top of the barrel and the underside of the knob by hand using another machine. The Nokona label is applied by hand. A computerized laser engraver personalizes the bat barrel. For those who are pondering a venture into marketing bats to Major League Baseball should know there’s more expense than the equipment. Concerned with the danger to people from broken bats, MLB requires all bat suppliers to carry $10 million in liability insurance, up from $5 million a year ago. And MLB has a strict requirements for its bats. The most important part of the bat for strength, Ledoux said, is the first 24 inches, or the handle. For that to be as strong a possible, the grain must run almost perfectly vertical. To study wood strength, MLB baseball in the last year partnered with the United States Forestry Service and TECO, an independent certification and testing agency for structural building products. All bats for major league use must pass the TECO ink test. With the bat standings on its knob, the handle of the bat is dabbed with ink (actually a stain), which follows the capillaries of the wood. If the grain is more than three degrees off vertical, the bat cannot be used for MLB. The dot must be visible on all MLB bats. Ledoux said about only one of 20 bats he produces fails that ink test. (Some of those are still fine for retail or other sales.)br> He said Nokona gets its wood from upstate New York and Canada, where trees grow slowly. Slower growth, he said, translates into greater wood strength. The bat production is just part of Ledoux’s business. He has to get out and sell his product. To do that, it’s important to become friendly with the clubhouse managers at the major league and minor league parks. And then Ledoux has to convince prospective new customers his product is worth at least trying in batting practice and to let existing customers know he can cater to their changing needs. Switching from Lou Ledoux bat maker to Lou Ledoux bat salesman hasn’t been a strain. It took a lot of time and effort to first land Ortiz as a customer. Veteran players aren’t usually looking to be a guinea pig for the new kid on the block. But Ledoux pulled it off. "If you believe in what you’re selling, you just talk about it," he said. And he enjoys the ball park visiting aspect of the business so much, he looks forward to doing more of that in coming years while his son Matthew, 28, takes more control of production. "You look in Louie’s eyes, and Louie’s just an honest, hard working guy," O’Connor said. "He’s very sincere, and he’s so genuine that I think players that meet him get the sense that he is who he is, and he forms a bond of trust. We believe our business is built on people, relationships and trust." Ledoux has built relationships to the extent he’s helping out with birthday parties. That happened with the Ortiz family. One of Big Papi’s children had a party scheduled for a rare Thursday off-day for the Sox. On the Tuesday, Ledoux got a call saying Mrs. Ortiz needed 10 bats for the party. Then it was 25 bats. Then 35. Finally, the order was for 45 bats. Ledoux came through for his favorite customer, and the bat party was a huge success. Just this week, he got a call saying Boston Celtics guard Ray Allen needed three bats for his children. At this point, no request surprises Batman. "I get phone calls all hours of the night," he said. " I take them. That’s how you make your money." And have a fair amount of fun in the process. "I dreamed of playing Major League Baseball when I was a kid," Ledoux said. "And (now) just to be part of the game for the rest of my life, it’s a thrill at 54." Back