The best laid plans of mice and men as a NY business trip scheduled to coincide with the Nats last weekend in New York against the Mets seemed perfect until Joaquin dropped the rain on the East Coast and the game got cancelled so a follow-up phone call to David Chandler seemed like a great idea on a rainy Friday.
The timing seemed perfect to see David Chandler and craftsmen finish up 2 Bryce Harper bats that David started overnight (not 2AM) and were awaiting paint, and we got to see a finished Carlos Correa playoff bat and a soon to be finished Kris Bryant playoff bat. All cut by hand the old-fashioned way as they did back 90 years ago in Louiville Kentucky making a Babe Ruth bat at the H&B bat factory on a similar machine. Chandler does have one automated bat machine imported from Italy like his competitors have, but when that broke down, he had to go back to the hand craftsmanship of bygone years. Chandler said he likes that method but is limited to finite hours in a day, and each custom bat takes a few hours—-start-to-finish.
One thing we noticed on this trip to the Chandler Bat factory is on the same Main St. in Norristown Pennsylvania a block away is the Santangelo Café. Probably one of FP Santangelo’s distant relatives. 😉. We didn’t have time to eat there but of course checked it out on Yelp.
David Chandler is also planning an expansion in their factory to add an indoor artificial turf field and more batting cages that will be available for rent and perfect for a weekend trip for the TalkNats community in March 2016. It’s only a little more than 2 hours from Washington DC up I-95 to Rt 476.
In the video, you will hear about bat physics, measurements, and the passion of a bat craftsman. Chandler is a former custom furniture maker who always had a love of the game of baseball, and he felt that with some techniques he learned he could build a bat better than any other MLB approved manufacturer on the market. He turned Chandler Bats into a dream come true. Players believe in Chandler and trust him for the edge found in the magic of these special accoutrements. Some players carry these bats in special bat humidors and special bulletproof cases. Talk about turning heads as you head into the stadium and pass through security.
David Chandler also has some great philosophical quotes on life and baseball, “It’s all about confidence….we instill confidence in the player [with our bats]. A confident hitter is a successful hitter. If you think you’re gonna go out and fail, you will. If you think you’re going to go out and make that pitcher pay when he makes a mistake, you will, you will succeed.”
Chandler gets it and in his free time he coaches his own children. His 9 year old is a pitching phenom as he showed us some impressive video.
From Bryce’s personal Instagram:
https://instagram.com/p/zDXZ3dgIUJ/?taken-by=bharper3407
The Instagram photo below from September 14th of Bryce’s shipment of Chandler CC13’s prompted the post below after Dan Kolko’s on-air comments on these Chandler bats.
https://instagram.com/p/7n7kToAIe3/?taken-by=bharper3407
Hope to have some more Chandler videos uploaded soon. Enjoy the video and worth watching start to finish.
