what did they do?
Let's put together a more specific list of what kinds of bats might otherwise have proliferated. Aside from maple bats, what else was out there that was being made by Spalding, Wright and Ditson, Hanna et al that wasn't produced by H&B? double knobs? some sort of special surface treatment? Once the length, width, and shape of the bats became standardized by organized baseball, you weren't going to see banana bats or other exotic bats.
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