[sphere and ash]

Originally Posted by Mark

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.

There was quite a bit of innovation in bat design around the time of H&B’s launch. Spalding was producing the mushroom knob that had been invented by Jack Pickett, and Wright & Ditson was producing the Lajoie double knob bat, for which it had a patent pending. H&B introduced a “ball balanced“ bat in answer to its competitors, but it doesn’t appear to have gained wide use and H&B doesn’t appear to have done anything else in response.

Spalding was still producing a willow bat in the early 20th century.