Batter up: Titan Bat Company to open shop for community tour

The Titan Bat Company is ready for the big leagues.

Trampas Young has been making baseball bats for close to a decade. On Saturday, April 15, he opened up the business for the community to tour. It was also an opportunity for baseball fans to see its new batting cages.

The event begins at 1 and runs until 7 p.m.

The first 50 people in attendance will receive a discount on a membership, which also includes 35% off a custom baseball bat. They will also receive a free hour rental of a batting cage.

Titan Bat Company will welcome local businesses to celebrate alongside them. There will be food trucks. The Science Project will debut a new IPA named "Ground Rule Double," and live music will take place from 2 until 4 p.m.

It all started with a miniature bat that Young had to dig out of the trash.

Trampas Young, who started Titan Bat Company 10 years ago, makes baseball bats in his Logansport facility on Tuesday, April 11, 2023. Titan bats get the Titan touch.

He was making it for his son but was unhappy with how the project was going. His grandfather, Bob Winegardner, made him retrieve the bat and continue work.

So Young completed the bat and gave it to his son.

"He loved it," Young recalled. "I didn't think anything of it but his friends started coming over to the house and asking ‘can you make me a red one? Can you make me a blue one?’"

Young started to consider that if he had a larger lathe to use for woodworking then he could make his son a real bat.

He began looking and found one for sale in Kokomo. He reached out and negotiations began.

Young was a preacher at the time and Christmas was nearing. His church lacked funds to adopt a family for the holiday. He decided to take the money he had set aside for a lathe and use it to help give a family in need a joyful Christmas.

His mother was moved by Young's sacrifice. She started to hunt for a lathe that she could surprise her son with for Christmas. She looked online and found one for sale in Kokomo.

That lathe was being held for a preacher in Logansport, the seller told her.

"That's my son," she exclaimed.

Trampas Young, who started Titan Bat Company 10 years ago, makes baseball bats in his Logansport facility on Tuesday, April 11, 2023. After the logo is added the bat is dipped and hung to dry. The final touches of color are then added.

Young got his lathe for Christmas.

"I was totally shocked," he said.

Young said if his grandfather hadn't taught him to finish what he started then this Saturday's event might not be happening.

It was Winegardner's influence that kept Young going. He said his grandfather was a master who could look at a piece of woodwork and duplicate it perfectly. When he moved into a nursing home, Young would bring him bats to inspect. His grandfather loved talking to the doctors and nurses about the craft of woodworking.

Winegardner's photo hangs in the Titan Bat Company and his 1928 lathe resides there as well.

What his grandfather made look easy was a bit of a challenge for young. Working on a full-sized bat for his son included a lot of trial and error. He spent two weeks trying to learn how to carve it. When he solved the puzzle, it took four hours to make the bat.

Some of his Trampas Young's prized bats hanging in the showroom.

Like the mini bat before it, his son loved it. And all his friends and teammates wanted a bat, too.

He made the bats for fun. His wife asked if he had considered starting a business.

They started jotting down possible business names and came across the word "titan."

"I looked it up on Google and it said ‘a very powerful and important person’ and to me there is nobody more important in my life than Jesus," Young said. "I wanted to exemplify him through our bats. And being a carpenter—Christ was a carpenter—I wanted to make elite bats, not something you would see in the store, but I would say the Lamborghini or the Under Armor of bats. I wanted to make the very, very best."

It had been two decades since Trampas Young had seen his brother's friend, Todd Stephens.

Stephens had a clipping of a news story about Young and his bats that had been published in the Pharos-Tribune.

Trampas Young, holds the first bat he made with skills learned from his grandfather.

He found Young and asked for a bat. Young made him one. Then Stephens came back and asked for two bats. Young made him two.

"And then he came back asking for four and 12 bats," Young said.

Finally Stephens admitted to Young that he had been showing Young's bats off to different people.

"People are saying these things are just incredible," he told Young. "Have you ever thought about starting a business?"

"We partnered up and we’ve been hitting home runs ever since," Young said.

The pair have also been joined by additional owners Phil Williams, Dan Rose and Sherard Clinkscales.

But before they could really get going, they needed a new lathe because four hours per bat wasn't going to work, Stephens said.

The machine they needed was in Upstate New York. It had been used to make parts for staircases. Young's father-in-law, Glen Vigar, helped convert the machine to make bats.

Suddenly, Young was making a bat in three minutes time. Sanding it down took Young 10 to 15 minutes by hand, however.

"That's why his forearms are so big," said Stephens. Young could easily be mistaken for John Cena.

The pair now use a CNC lathe, which leaves bats only needing a small amount of sanding.

"This has allowed us to scale our business to where we are today," Stephens said.

"Eventually we will get another CNC as we keep growing."

The science of bat-making

Blank bats sit on a temperature- and humidity-controlled shelf in the shop.

Does Young ever miss those good old days of four-hour bat making? Does he ever pick up a billet of wood and start hand carving, just for old time's sake?

No.

Three-minute bats and minimal sanding is quite alright by him.

Young gets his wood from Upstate New York. The wood used in bats must be kiln dried and have a certain moisture content. People in the community often offer him wood, but Titan Bat Company currently has no way to properly prepare the wood for shaping.

"There's a science," said Stephens. "If it's too wet (the wood) will break too easily. If it's too dry the same thing."

They modulate the temperature in the building because the wood can gain or lose an ounce in weight.

A baseball player can easily detect that ounce when trying out a bat.

"They pick it up and they go ‘no, it's too heavy,’" Stephens said. "They won't swing it."

Young likes to work with birch wood the best. Older players traditionally want ash baseball bats. Maple is also a popular option.

They use scraps of wood to make award bats and trophies. Sawdust is given away for use as garden fertilizer.

Painting is the longest process. They will dip the bats in paint and hang them to dry and then put a clear lacquer finish over the top.

They do team colors, team logos and work with Tina Buch, owner of Kokomo's Tate's Laser Engraving, to customize bats with names and even a player's signature.

The bat is first formed on a CNC router that was specially designed to make bats.

"We’re excited to have it be noisy in here and full of people," said Stephens.Titan Bat Company has been in its location for five years. He said Saturday will be the first opportunity that will have had to open up the building to the community.Families can pick up a membership that includes six one-hour batting cage sessions. They hope to host quarterly clinics that will feature college baseball coaches and former professionals.

Family has played a large role in bringing this moment to fruition for Young. He calls his stepfather his right-hand man. Vigar has helped on construction projects and also takes care of the yardwork.

Young's adult children helped set up the batting cages.

"My boys and my parents have been amazing helping me out, setting equipment up," said Young.

And love of his grandfather hovers over it all.

The Titan Bat Company is located at 2135 Stoney Pike. Bats can be ordered online at titanbats.com.

Address: 2135 Stoney Pike, Logansport

Phone: 317-670-8380

Website: www.titanbats.com

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