Back in the day before television and computer games, every kid was outside playing baseball. The growing demand for baseball bats increased with the popularity of our national pastime. To generate extra income, most small woodworking companies produced baseball bats. Some became subsidiary companies to the larger sporting good manufacturers, to relieve the increasing workload, and they would also produced their own brand. Small sporting good stores, mail order companies, discount, and hardware stores that carried sporting goods would also have privately branded bats produced for them, resulting in 100's of privately branded bat labels.

Some labels such as with this Indian brand baseball bat are difficult to trace back, because of the lack of a company name or business location. These type of branded labels are usually associated with discount store, bat & ball sets. A newspaper adverting circular would be needed to identify the bat, and more than likely found by chance.

In the case of this Winfield Brand baseball bat, which also lacks company information, the registered trademark will lead to an ID. Winfield was a line of Juvenile, toy and discount store quality baseball equipment carried by the "Five-and-Dimes" variety store F. W. Woolworth Company. The in-store brand was taken from the founder, Frank Winfield Woolworth's middle name. The Winfield bats were part of a "Junior Baseball Set" that also included a baseball & glove. The bats range in size from about 22" to 30," in length, and the longer bats might have been sold separately.

 The American Bat No. 89, and No. 35 baseball bats do not have company information, location, or trademarks branded on them. The American bat No. 89, is mentioned in a 1909 newspaper advertisement and is also listed in E.C. Simmons catalogs around the same time frame. 'Simmons American' was a trademark in-store brand name for sporting goods that the hardware company carried.

There are no catalogs or advertising available to use to confirm that the No. 35 bats were made by the same company. Both bats have the same "American Bat" ornate branding. The No. 35 with slight differences, has similar ornate branding, and might be dated later or to another company that started up in 1939. In 1939 there was a small company named the American Bat Company that was started up in Woodburn, Oregon. The company was short lived, and closed by 1943.

Headquartered in Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin the Bemis Manufacturing Company dates back to 1901. The company manufactured toilet seats, molded wood products and wood dimensions. In 1965 the company opened up a woodworking plant in Crandon, WI where they made items such as Bowling pins, parts for sleds, croquet balls, and baseball bats.

The patented Hickory Stick was the result of extensive research by Bemis' engineering staff, the U.S. Forest Products Laboratory and the University of Wisconsin baseball coach Art Mansfiels. Composed of five pieces of hickory wood, the Laminated baseball bat was used on an experimental basis at the University of Wisconsin at the start of the 1965 season. Laminated equipment was outlawed in professional baseball and previsions in the college rules allowed laminated bats.

Joe Engel pitched for the Washington Senators, from 1912-15, and 1920. He became one of the most successful scouts in history, a promoter and team owner of the Chattanooga Lookouts. In 1951 Engel recruited the expertise of Garnett Beck, and formed the Joe Engle Bat Co. in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Garnett Beck was a bat maker, and owner of the Superior bat Co. In 1930 Garnett Beck sold a patent for $1,000., to the Hillerich & Bradsby Co. to strengthen bats with a glue process. The next ten years Garnett worked as a foreman for Louisville Slugger.

The Superior Bat company was started up in 1920 by Garnett Beck, brother of Zinn Beck, a major League ball player that played with the St. Louis Cardinals, from 1913-1916, and the New York Yankees in 1918. The brothers opened a factory in Columbia, South Carolina, where Zinn was playing in the minor leagues from 1920-1925, and Garnett started turning out laminated bats. In 1923 the Zinn Beck Bat Company moved to Greenville.

The Zinn Beck Bat Company was established in 1920 by Zinn Beck. From 1920 to 1922, Beck managed the Columbia Comers in Columbia, and from 1923 to 1925 Beck managed the Greenville Spinners in Greenville, South Carolina. The brothers opened a factory in Columbia, South Carolina, in 1920. In 1922 the company became a corporation, then moved to Greenville, SC, in 1923. The Zinn Beck Bat Co. which was producing 3,000 bats a day, was sold to Zenas C Grier for about $50,000., in 1927. The name was then changed to Grier Mfg Co.

Inventors Alvin W. Mueller and Lyle R Perry, co-founded the Muellen Perry Co. in 1959. Mueller worked for the McDonnell Douglas Co. for many years, and had been a minor-leaguer with the Yankees. His son Jim, played in the Chicago White Sox minor-league system from 1969-1970. In 1959 "SAV-A-BAT" became a trademark for the Mueller Perry Co Inc. The company filed for a patent in 1960, for a reinforcement that can be applied to a bat handle to strengthen it. The Patent was approved in 1964, but the company began to market the product in 1961.

 Clayton E. McQueen was the proprietor of a woodworking plant in Belmont, NY from 1927-1961. Select timber made into billets would then be turned into baseball bats which would find their way into the hands of such greats as Lou Gehrig, or Hank Greenberg. Following the preliminary process the billets were shipped to the Kren Bat Company factory in Syracuse. A large portion Kren's stock came from McQueen's plant in Belmont.