Shirley Bat Company Copes With Mlb Shutdown, Eyes New Markets

Click here for the latest coronavirus news, which the BDN has made free for the public. You can support this mission by purchasing a digital subscription. The crisp connection between bat and ball was one of the chief selling points for a Shirley company as it returned to spring training sites in Florida and Arizona to market its bats to major-league and minor-league baseball players. By all accounts, Dove Tail Bats was having its share of success as one of approximately 35 bat makers certified by Major League Baseball. [Our COVID-19 tracker contains the most recent information on Maine cases by county] “We got pounded with orders at spring training,” said Paul Lancisi who, with his wife Theresa, owns the 10-year-old business located along Route 15 south of Greenville. Much of that sales-oriented momentum stemmed from the company’s most prominent slugger in 2019, New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso. Alonso won the annual Home Run Derby during the All-Star Break and went on to be named National League Rookie of the Year after hitting an MLB rookie-record 53 home runs. “The bump was enormous because of what he did and also because of [fellow Mets’ All-Star] Jeff McNeil [who also swings Dove Tail Bats],” Lancisi said.