DRESDEN — The four leaves of a four-leaf clover stand for faith, hope, luck and love.
And all four apply to baseball, said Brandon Wheeler, who started Clover Bat Company in Dresden last year. The four words are emblazoned on each bat he produces.
"Baseball players have a ton of faith in the game, themselves," he said. "Love, everybody loves baseball, you need that luck with it, and everyone hopes to hit a home run or make the game winning play."
Wheeler graduated from Tri-Valley High School in 2003 after a high-school career that included baseball, basketball and football. He started playing baseball at the age of 4, and still plays for Zanesville's Senior Pioneers. More than 30 years later, he could see his career starting to wind down and he began looking for ways to give back to the game.
He does some coaching, helping out at his alma mater, but he was searching for other ways to share his love and passion for the game.
A trip to Louisville, Kentucky, and the Louisville Slugger Museum provided inspiration.
"Walking around, I thought it would be awesome to make bats. I've used so many bats, broke so many bats in my baseball career, it would be awesome, even if I was just making them for myself," he said.
YouTube provided the education and the search began for a lathe. Wheeler was deflated to find that new lathes cost thousands of dollars, but a used one appeared on Craigslist, complete with replicator.
Reasoning that if it didn't work out he could always sell the lathe, Wheeler drove to the Cleveland area to pick it up and Clover Bat Company was born.
The name came from his wife's uncanny ability to find four leaf clovers, whether out for a run or playing with the couple's two children.
Each bat starts off as a billet, a long cylinder of maple or ash. Apart from bats meant for display, every Clover Bat is Major League Baseball quality. Wheeler spends hours at Keim Lumber in Charm hand picking billets that meet the league's exacting specifications.
The grain for a major league bat must be parallel and it can't twist more than an inch over the length of a 34-inch bat. Even the billets meant for bats that will never feel the sting of a fastball are hand selected.
"I want to be able to give people major league level wood at cheap prices," Wheeler said. Maple, ash and birch are the only woods approved for major league use.
His bats are made to each order's specification, from barrel length, transition length of size and shape of the knob. For a prime grade bat, ash is $95, birch is $100 and maple is $105.
The bats are made from Ohio-grown wood, and Wheeler has been working with Ohio companies for the finishing touches as well. The stains are from Dresden and Company, and the grips are from VukGripz of Canton. He is talking with local artists for custom-bat designs.
The young company already has the support of local baseball players, including the Muskingum Valley Old Timers. Clover Bat will supply the team bats for the Junior and Senior Pioneers' 2022 season.
Each of those bats, and every bat made by Clover Bat Company, has a four-leaf clover sealed into the knob to bring a little faith, hope, luck and love to every batter.
For more information, visit the Clover Bat Company Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/cloverbatco/, or email cloverbatco@gmail.com.