Continuing the discussion from The legality of deterring mailbox baseball:
Reading about mailbox baseball, an activity that I did not know about but that seems to be rampant in rural USA, got me wondering about baseball bats. Baseball is not often played in Europe, so I ignore the customs outside the pitch. Am I right assuming that you only need one baseball bat per game? So, how many do you have in a typical game setup? Does every dude in a game own his own bat, or do you share?
When you walk home after the match, do you carry the bat or bats in the open or do you stow them away in a bag, so as not to look dangerous or menacing? Or is looking menacing the point?
Are there regional (North/South, rural/urban…) differences?
Same question for the ball and the glove, though they do not look so menacing by far.
For context: When I was a kid football (soccer) balls were not cheap, at least not the proper ones. So we only had one in my group. It’s OK, you only need one per game. And the owner was treated with some deference and was not chosen last when the sides were set up.
Well, if it’s pickup, people will probably bring their own bat(s) if available, with them being loaned as needed. It’ll probably be a mix of wood and metal in any case. I’ve never known anyone to have a bag, though obviously some people will. At any pro level, a player will have a bat specced specifically, including length and weight, and will have a few available in case of breakage. Again, a pickup game will only have one ball (though again many people might bring a couple) while the average lifespan of a ball in the pros is probably a dozen pitches. Gloves, again, need to be sized and there are differences in glove type for position, but that’s likely to be whatever somebody has.
In any case, while pickup baseball is not unknown, amateur play is more likely to be softball. The term “beer league softball” exists for a reason.
The pros all have their own bats, made to their specs. Weight and length are the main parameters. When I was a kid, I owned my own bat and used it for more than a decade. I think most kids did. And I would walk home with the bat slung over my shoulder and the glove hanging from it. Again, I used the same glove forever, but then the pros do that too. The pros regularly break their bats (kids don’t usually hit the ball hard enough to do that) so they will use several during a season. And occasionally lend them out to a teammate who wants to try a lighter or heavier bat.
Balls are a different matter. The pros use many dozen in a game. They are always hitting them into the stands and they are replaced any time they get the slightest scuff mark. As kids, we kept the ball forever. Eventually the cover fell off and we recovered it with black tape.
I do not mean pros, but kids.
Are bats expensive? I guess there is some range, but I am asking about what a normal amateur would buy.
You can get a youth bat for under $50, and fancy composite bats can go for a few hundred. A typical amateur who is just playing around is going to be nearer the bottom of the cost curve. As noted, they last a long time if they’re not used by a pro baseball player. Pros are also barred from using fancy bats, they use a single piece of wood turned to a bat shape.
Baseball bats are carried openly. A kid on their school team is likely to have a backpack for their assorted gear (a bat or two, a glove, uniform, helmet, and pads for a catcher), and there are a couple of tall pockets on the side for bats, but they protrude up and are easily visible. A kid who’s playing casually is likely to carry it slung over their shoulder, like @Hari_Seldon described. Even though a bat would make an effective club, they’re not usually viewed as threatening: Someone seeing a youth carrying a bat is likely to assume they’re on their way to or from a game, and think nothing more of it. It helps that baseball is on the nonviolent end, as sports go: Football players are more likely to be intimidating, even though they don’t have any weapons as standard equipment.
I teach middle school, and we have school softball and baseball teams. I believe that the school has a couple of bats and helmets that they rarely loan out, but it seems that most kids provide their own. They definitely do if they’re at all serious and play outside of school. Kids drop their bags off in various classrooms. This general style is more common (and I remember kids having them decades ago), but this style is growing in popularity among the kids who are more serious about it; most who have one seem to have a travel team logo and their name and number embroidered on it. And then a few just have a generic duffel bag with a bat sticking through the zipper.
To build on this: until a few decades ago, everyone used wooden bats for baseball. As noted above, they’re usually pretty durable when used by kids, but pro players regularly (and usually unintentionally) break their bats. A kid might have gotten years out of a wooden bat, while players in the major leagues might go through dozens of bats in a season.
But, for amateurs (including players in high school and college), aluminum or composite bats are now the norm, unless they’re playing in a league which prohibits them. Major League Baseball (the top level pro league in the US), and I believe the professional minor leagues, as well, only allow wooden bats.
I would be alert if some teenagers were openly carrying bats in my vecinity, seems like a cultural thing. It is not usual round here. When in a backpack like @Darth_Sensitive linked to I would rather assume they just want to play. Reminds me of the bags my classmates used to carry field hockes sticks. Come to think of it, they can be used as clubs too, but the bag completely enveloped them and they were usually carried casually over the shoulder. I suppose it is in the eye of the viewer. And context.
For youth sports, most players have their own bat, their own helmet, and an equipment bag, starting at age 7. They MUST have their own mitt. Bats are anywhere from $35 (wal*mart special) to $500+. You get into travel baseball, and the costs go up. OK, you’re not going to find a $500 bat used in an in-house Pinto (7-8 yr old) game; you’ll find those at the 13u travel games.
Our league provides 4 helmets to each in-house team, but the teams (even t-ball) rarely need 3. We also provide catchers gear (including a catchers mitt with more padding) and a few “team bats”, though the players tend to use each other’s bats because they look cooler. At the upper levels, the catchers tend to have their own equipment (especially for softball - girls don’t want to put on someone else’s sweaty equipment! Ew!) Some equipment bags are elongated, so that the bats will fit entirely in them; some are more like standard backpacks, where the bats go into outside pockets and stick out. Catchers equipment bags are wheeled. Yeah, as a kid, I threw my mitt onto the bat and carried it; you never see that any more.
Even at the 10u level for travel teams, you’ll see players with multiple mitts (one for outfield, one for infield, maybe a first-base mitt), multiple bats depending on field conditions. For travel, catchers all have their own equipment (shin guards, chest protector, helmet). The technology on the bats is beyond me, but it’s moving fast enough that the approving organizations can’t keep up with it. Tournaments will say that bats can’t have a width more than X, or have to be approved by this organization or that organization, and it is very common to see a manager question the other team’s equipment. A good umpire has them line it up before the game and checks.
wow they still sell the old whiffle ball sets… in various sizes now but the basic set is still at the same price as 1982…We bought one or two of these every summer … and since in Indiana most of the gyms were indoors we used them in schools also … I rarely hit a real baseball until high school
What is that? 
Just now, looking up “baseball bat” on Amazon, I am surprised to see how many of them are listed as being for “self defense”!
What’s Wiffle Ball? It’s a very lightweight plastic ball and bat, used by people (usually kids) who want to play an informal baseball-like game in the backyard. Because the ball is so lightweight, it can be caught with one’s bare hands and isn’t likely to break any windows.
Thanks, sounds logical. See, I did not lie when I said I was clueless wrt to baseball.
And, a true Wiffle Ball has slots on it, but only on one side; with some practice, you can get some interesting curves when pitching a Wiffle Ball, depending on how you grip the ball.
Whiffle balls also make great practice balls for hitting off of a tee - you can whack the hell out of them, and they don’t go far.
heres the rules and such … but we always played regular baseball …
People I know who carry bats in their car/truck for protection drill a 1/2 inch or 1 inch whole down the center of 3/4s of the length of the bat, pour lead into the hole, then cap the end with shavings/sawdust/glue. I’d hate to get bopped in the noggin with one of those.
Actually more like 4 pitches. A few years ago, I watched a lot of Mariners games and noticed how often the catcher threw the ball away.[*] And being the nerd I am, started to count how many pitches each ball was used for. It was rare that a ball was used for more than half a dozen pitches.
The balls in major league games are all prepared ahead of the games by the umpires. They have some special mud or mud-like substance they rub into the balls. They have to prepare around 100 balls per game. Not sure what they do if they run out before the game ends.
[*] There’s a person, the ball boy (usually a teenage boy), who keeps the balls that have not yet been played. You’ll see him periodically run out to the home plate umpire to give him 3 or 4 new balls. The balls that are tossed by the catcher are used in team practices, I believe.