Historic Homers: El Paso company’s baseball bat used in epic MLB feat

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — When employees at Overfly Sports crafted a baseball bat for St. Louis Cardinals rookie Joshua Báez earlier this year, they never thought he would go on to accomplish the unimaginable!

Overfly Sports is a custom bat-making company that’s based in El Paso. It manufactures more tan 30,000 baseball bats every year for players in the major and minor leagues.

It has locations in the United States and Mexico. The majority are made in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, while a smaller percentage is produced in El Paso.

The shop has made custom baseball bats for Báez for six years throughout his time in the minor leagues.

When it was his turn to debut in the majors, he wanted a special engraving on his bat.

“We engraved major league debut on the knob. And that one bat, one bat, was sent to him about two weeks prior to his debut. So he held on to it and was saving it for that day,” Kurt Gross, owner of Overfly Sports, said.

Gross never imagined Báez's baseball bat would be in the national spotlight!

During a thrilling game against the Chicago Cubs, the 23-year-old went on to make history. Báez became the first player in MLB history to hit three homers in his first three at-bats.

The family was at dinner when the game unfolded as text messages started trickling in.

“Our group chat within the company started blowing up,” Gross said.

The accomplishment is one the Gross family still can’t fully comprehend.

“I mean, it was amazing to see that come to fruition. To see him succeed the way that he did in a historic manner in his debut was beyond anyone's imagination,” Gross added.

“We couldn't really believe it. Like, it was kind of like, is this is this fake? It’s almost—I mean, the odds of that are unreal,” added Will Gross, an employee at Overfly Sports.

While the specific baseball bat Báez used was manufactured in the Mexican facility, Overfly Sports is proud to say it played a small part in making history happen.

“We're proud to be making major league bats here in El Paso; that's something that we don't take for granted. We love telling everybody that we're here and we're from El Paso, and it's just a little bit of history that's made in Major League Baseball. But we're proud to say that it was done here in El Paso,” Kurt said.

Báez's thrilling rookie season came to a premature end thanks to an injury. Kurt said Báez's baseball bat won’t be going to the Hall of Fame because the player decided to keep it.