HUCKABAY & BAUM brand baseball bats were manufactured from 1933 to 1937 by Harold G. Baum in his wood shop on the family farm in Monroe City, Illinois. Baum's stepfather, William B. "Huck" Huckabay, was the salesman as well as co-founder. The bats were sold to individuals in the local area, and to baseball teams throughout metropolitan St. Louis. Total production was estimated at between 500 and 750 bats, with fewer than 100 examples remaining today.

The steep hills and deep hollows around Monroe City were heavily forested. Ever since Monroe City's inception as 'James Mill' in 1798, the trees were cut to support the growing town. Many buildings in town are made from our native wood. Throughout the 1800's, a steady stream of wagons hauled firewood to steamboats docked on the Mississippi. Even before 1812, flour and cornmeal were hauled from the James Grist Mill in barrels made from Monroe City oak trees, destined for New Orleans and further shipment to international ports.

Grandpa set up a complete woodworking shop in a 30' x 40' shed originally built by his grandfather, Gustav Hirsch. He installed an overhead driveshaft powered by a Ford Model A gasoline engine. The driveshaft, in turn, powered woodworking equipment including saws, lathes, drills, and sanders. Belts on pulleys dropped from the shaft to each piece of equipment. A hand clutch engaged each belt when you wanted to use any piece. He converted a chicken house on the farm into a lumber kiln. He installed a wood-fired boiler with circulation pipes to dry lumber stacked on racks inside the chicken house.

Ash, oak, and hickory trees grew abundantly on the farm. Huck would scout the woods for quality trees. Grandpa felled the trees, cut them into logs, and pulled them to the wood shop with a team of horses.

Grandpa sawed the logs into "blanks" about 3" x 3" x 39" in size. After drying in the kiln, the blanks were ready to be turned into baseball bats.

He used two lathes to "turn" the bats. For rough shaping, he re-engineered a duplicating lathe originally used during WWI to make gunstocks. Two blanks at a time were mounted on this lathe. A "pattern bat" was selected and the lathe automatically roughed out two new bats. Three different patterns were used- one for each class of bat.

A finishing lathe was used to turn the bat to its final shape and size. We still use this gray Craftsman lathe in my Dad’s workshop. After the lathe end blocks were sawed off, a rough sander was used to smooth the surface and round the ends . A finishing sander removed the last imperfections from the hard wood. The “HUCKABAY & BAUM” brand was burned in. Shellac with a drop of linseed oil was rubbed on. A sander with a cork belt buffed the shellac which “set” to a hard finish from the heat generated by the cork. Grandpa made the cork belts from 6” sanding belts that had worn smooth. He covered the belt with glue and spread ground cork across the entire surface.

“GEARED TO HIT” was the first model produced. Grandpa made the GEARED branding iron. He formed a plaster mold that accepted impressions of the gear and letters. A casting was produced into which molten iron was poured. The finished iron was flat and round with a beveled edge. It was about 4" in diameter and was attached to a wooden handle. The brand was heated with a torch immediately before burning each bat. The first one made was a “mistake” iron. It had the “M” in BAUM turned upside down. Dad said there was hell in the house when Grandpa saw the results of his first brand. All that work with a glaring mistake! He re-made the iron with a correct M, but turned out bats bearing both brands.

Diane Miller stated that the very first bat was a GEARED TO HIT that carried the BAUM name only and featured a thicker gear. We have not yet seen any examples of this brand.

The “WATERLOO WALLOPER” model was introduced later. This branding iron was professionally made. It was rectangular in shape and electrically heated which made it much easier to use. Bats with the WALLOPER brand are much more professional in appearance. This iron was mounted on a stand. Each bat was rolled across the brand, resulting in a higher quality impression.

"Waterloo" refers to the mailing address of the farm. Monroe City lost its last Post Office in 1906. All HUCKABAY & BAUM bats were made in Monroe City.

"I hit a lot of home runs with that WALLOPER!" -- Herb Wolf, on the Monroe City- class bat he owned.

The whereabouts of the WALLOPER iron were unknown for many years. Dad said he threw it away, along with the correct GEARED, in the early 1960's when he tore down the wood shop. Against great odds in 2006, my son Mark Baum, a great-grandson of Harold G. Baum, found the WALLOPER iron in an old scrap pile on the farm.

In college at the time, Mark decided to get rid of the scrap pile back in the hollow. He wanted to clean up the mess and make some money from record high scrap metal prices. He hauled away several trailer loads. It was tedious, hard, and dirty work. One afternoon, near the bottom of the pile, he grabbed a chunk of metal and tossed it toward the trailer. It came up short and rolled across the ground. Later, as he picked it up to throw it onto the trailer, he saw to his great surprise that it was the WATERLOO WALLOPER branding iron. Remarkably, that’s where his his Grandpa had thrown it 40 years earlier! Made of brass, the brand itself was in near-perfect condition. The heavy cast iron base was in very good condition. It carried the manufacturer’s name "THERMO". The electrical switch was completely intact. The wiring and heating elements were badly rusted but still clearly showed how the brand was heated. The work rest around the brand and its supports had completely rusted away. Mark didn’t immediately tell me that he found the brand. He and his Grandpa worked in secret to restore it. They replaced the bat rest and its supports. They sprayed it with a fresh coat of silver paint. Mark gave it to me as a surprise birthday present in January 2007!

Three basic styles or "classes" were produced. All, except custom bats, were from 34" to 35" in length. Weight varied from 23.8 oz. to 35 oz. Because the bats were hand-turned on a lathe, great latitude was available for turning the final bat. As an identification aid, I have named and quantified the classes. Maeystown Class bats average around 25 ounces in weight; Woodville Class bats average around 30 ounces; Monroe City Class bats average around 35 ounces. The Ethel Altes Stumpf bat is a clear example of a custom bat. It is a Maeystown Class bat, shortened to 30.5" and aggressively lathed to reduce weight by 3 ounces. At right is a Class Table showing Minimum/Maximum dimensions of extant examples. Below is a Dimension Table of selected bats, with a 2010 MLB Rule 10.1(a) comparison column.