Yuba City's bat man

It's late Sunday, and the Marysville Gold Sox are wrapping up a successful post-game talk in right field. In the dugout, Brian Madison's prized handiwork, a tool that helped them win that 11-4 game lies on the soiled ground, rolling around in a mixture of infield dirt, sunflower seeds and spit.

Pine tar cakes the handle, ball marks mar the once lustrous finish of the barrel and the circular "MADISON USA" logo in the middle, an understated company symbol reworked again and again until it was just right, is starting to dull.

In Madison's mind, there isn't a more scenic locale or optimum condition for his creations. His bats, carved by hand, formed from solid pieces of ash, maple, birch and bamboo in his backyard Yuba City workshop, are in the hands of adult players, making contact with 90-mph fastballs.

Madison Bat Company is in the game.

From billet to baseball bat

The lathe lines the far wall of Madison's shop, a modest, two-car garage-sized space just behind his driveway. He steps up to his machine and inserts a solid, cylindrical piece of ash 3 inches in diameter, 37-inches long and grabs his 2-inch wood gouge, ready to carve a model 271, the same style Ken Griffey Jr. used.

"It's a real nice bat to whip around," he said before the shrill of carving halted conversation. "A real comfortable stick."

The soft wood shavings fly everywhere. They stick to his Yuba City High baseball shirt, float in the direction of his 7-year-old daughter, waft past the circular saw and worktable used to craft his wife's kitchen cabinets before landing on the floor, covering the concrete like a Texas roadhouse.

In moments, the barrel starts to take shape. Then he works his way to the handle, continually peeling away the excess ash with his U-shaped tool. He stops once to measure circumference, just to make sure, but has no need to check the weight. He just knows. This example will eventually weigh 28.5 ounces, down from around 100 when it was a solid billet placed on the lathe.

It will eventually join the other bats hanging on string off the balcony just in front of the living room's sliding glass door. Its acrylic finish will dry along with the "Hard 90" bats for the Roseville-based youth traveling team and the ones turned out for Bobby Buckner, the son of former Red Sox first baseman Bill.

He rolls through the process with ease, taking around 20 minutes from grabbing the material off his shelf of billets — pieces of wood ordered from Oregon specifically for bat making — to carving the handle with a round scraper and finishing up with some 120-grit sandpaper swipes. As he prepares to paint, the original, prototype Madison bat lays behind him.

The making of Madison Bat Company

Compared to the smooth, blemish-free example he just breezed through, his first attempt could best be described as a rough draft. The handle is oblong and almost square-shaped. The overall finish lacks the pizzazz of his current work, like the shimmering brown-and-gold bats he made for the Yuba City High baseball seniors or the bright pink bat toted around by his daughter, Eliza.

"The first ones were a little rough," Madison said.

Now, it just lies in a box full of templates next to the lathe, along with bats from former Philly John Kruk and others that saw action in the major and minor leagues — tokens Madison picked up along the way from his baseball friends he made playing for the Honkers, Yuba College, Chico State and in semi-pro leagues.

Also in that box is a cracked youth-size Louisville Slugger from Big 5, the reason for his new venture. He bought it for his son, Brad, who plays travel ball and returned an hour later with his "Powerized" bat broken.

"We went down and bought it from the sporting goods store and he came back with it duct-taped together," he said.

In May 2009, Madison had a realization.

As a true baseball guy who loves wood, practically redid the carpentry in his central Yuba City house and owns a shed full of equipment, he realized he could do better.

"You've got a shop in your house," he remembers saying. "Crank them out there and send (the kids) on their way."

It wasn't easy. If you want to restore a classic Ford Mustang, there are websites, books, clubs, a myriad of help and solutions a call or a mouse click away. For the piece of Americana Madison was trying to replicate, the community is far more reclusive.

"You try and find baseball bat stuff and it's like a hidden search," he said. "You can go on all the blogs, but nobody wants to talk about the secrets."

So began the process of trial and error. The first examples were crafted for Brad, with the model number reading "427." It's code for his 9-year-old son's birthday, April 27. It's also become one of his trademarks. When Gold Sox player Jake Stassi (born July 6) orders a Madison Bat, he swings a model 706. For the majority of Madison's bats, like the "271" he carved out in his garage last week, he goes by Louisville Slugger model numbers, an industry standard, he said.

Eventually the bats, and the process became more streamlined. He started experimenting with different types of finishes, including using automotive paint for its durability and shine. When Brad would show them off, the instant response was, "How can I get one?"

"It's funny, they all wanted one," Mike Madison said. "We didn't go into this with business in mind; we did it for the kids."

He started making custom bats for all-star teams and for travel ball squads. The word spread as the completely customizable bats — complete with names, team logos and corresponding colors — started to impress the baseball community. His wife, Tracy, built a website and in came the bigger orders, like the 50 he just made last week.

The family was in business.

Seeing the field, taking the next step

There is one problem with Madison's craftsmanship, though. The Little Leaguers always play with their Madison bats, but adults are sometimes so impressed with his creations that they live up on walls and trophy shelves.

Not in the Gold Sox dugout. Madison made 13 bats for the collegiate wood-bat summer league team, a baker's dozen of different types of wood and colors, with a team logo on the barrel. They're show quality, but they get treated like any other piece of equipment.

It's a resounding endorsement.

"He's making the bats these guys are swinging out here," said Jim Stassi, an assistant with the Gold Sox, a former AAA player and arguably one of the best high school baseball coaches in north state history. "And they're as good as the Louisville Sluggers and DeMarinis."

Praise like that is why Madison Bat Company is growing, even if it's just in little increments. It was recently contacted by a company that saw that "MADISON USA" logo on bats in Texas and became interested in going into business, he said.

Bat mania has swept this already baseball-centric family. Bats sit in each corner of their living room. On television, the family looks at the bats more than the players during games. Company hats line the countertops.

A plumbing foreman by trade, Madison would love to see his bats take off, eventually make enough capital to be licensed for use in the MLB and spend his retirement as a professional bat man.

"Who knows what will happen?" said Gold Sox manager Jack Johnson. "It could flourish, he makes good wood."

Until then, Madison is content in his backyard workshop — one man with one lathe with a passion for baseball bats.