Bat making becomes a business for Yuhas
His hobby becomes Shore Bat Co.
BY TIM MORRIS Staff Writer
It was supposed to be just a hobby, making wooden bats for his son, Matt. But, it quickly turned into something more, and now Freehold Borough's Vic Yuhas is a small business man, owner of the Jersey Shore Bat Co. He operates his small business out of his garage where he makes the bats himself.

Above and below: Freehold's Vic Yuhas carves out one of the bats his Jersey Shore Bat Company produces in his garage. Yuhas has been in business since 1998. All bats are turned and finished by hand in his Park Avenue shop.

"I never intended for it to be an actual business," Yuhas said. "Every year it gets bigger."

It all started, Yuhas recalled, five years ago with a trip to Cooperstown, N.Y., home to the Baseball Hall of Fame. His son Matt's traveling team was playing in a tournament there, and while he was in Cooperstown, Yuhas took a tour of a baseball bat factory. That set in motion an idea that would unexpectedly turn into a business.

After the initial success with his son, he was soon making bats for his son's friends and his brother Tony Yuhas' sons. Word-of-mouth kept the customers coming and it became a full-time job for Yuhas. Thus, the birth of the home-based Jersey Shore Bat Co.

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Yuhas is the first to admit that his timing couldn't be more perfect.

"Adult leagues have gone to wood, Freehold Township softball league has gone to wood," he pointed out. "The ABCL and Jersey Shore League are all wood. New York went to wood for high schools.

"No one is doing this within 50 miles," he added. "It's a no-brainer."

Besides making individual customized bats, he's making bats for teams. When Freehold Township softball went wood, most players turned to Yuhas. There was some early experimentation. He noted that many went for lighter, thinner bats that aren't as durable. By midseason the experimenting was over and hitters went with heavier bats.

Yuhas is the oldest of the famous Yuhas brothers, Vic, Tony, Vinny and Mike. All were blessed with right arms that could throw very hard. Vinny went on to play for the Kansas City Royals and Mike pitched in the Montreal Expos organization. Although he had a lively arm himself, Vic didn't have the control his brothers had and wasn't cut out to be a pitcher. But he could hit. He starred at Marlboro High School (before Manalapan opened, the Yuhases are from Englishtown) and then went on to play college baseball for the famed head coach Paul MacLaughlin at Brookdale Community College, Lincroft, where one of his teammates was future major leaguer Denny Walling.

All of Yuhas' bats start off as 3x3 pieces of wood — either ash, maple or hickory. He has a wood supplier in Binghamton, N.Y., who supplies him with those blocks. When he gets a new supply, these blocks can go to the ceiling.

Within a half-hour, Yuhas will turn that block of wood into a baseball bat custom made to your specifications.

Using his lathe and a design pattern, Yuhas cuts out the size and shape of the bat and the weight. When that is done, he works on the handle, according to the size the person wants (2½ inches around is the maximum for a baseball bat).

Batters are trending toward lighter bats with average weight-to-length ratio; 33 inches in length, with the weight being 31 ounces.

The first bats that Yuhas made were tested out by his son at indoor batting cages or nearby at the Freehold Intermediate School with Vic doing the pitching. This was the best way to test a bat's durability.

Yuhas prides himself in making bats that won't break. His bats have 12 percent moisture, which maintains its flexibility without surrendering the wood's strength (lighter bats with less moisture break easily).

"I make an inexpensive, durable product," he said. "The more moisture in the wood, the more dense and heavier the bat."

Business is constantly picking up for Yuhas, who also makes baseball bat racks, but that doesn't mean he's looking to turn his company into a giant factory, turning out cookie-cutter bats for sale to sports stores. He wants to keep it a hands-on small business because he likes dealing directly with his customers and making the bats himself.

"It's personal, one on one," he pointed out. "I like that."

For more information about the Jersey Shore Bat Company, visit the Web site at www.jerseyshorebats.com.