Trying to uncork one

By Mike Trask (contact)

Friday, Aug. 3, 2007 | 7:30 a.m.

In a New Jersey garage Michael Fiess is doing the unmentionable. He's taking a drill press to the business end of Rawlings bats, stuffing the lumber with cork and shipping the merchandise around the country.

And the 25-year-old has the nerve to call himself a baseball purist.

Few people know about Fiess' one-year-old business, the Internet-based Corked Bat Dugout. Publicity has been minimal and only about 200 people have purchased bats.

"We're not encouraging cheating of any kind," he says during his first phone interview.

No, he's just selling illegal bats, marketed for "training purposes."

"What are they going to train you to do?" asks Tim Chambers, head coach at the College of Southern Nevada, a member of the Scenic West Athletic Conference, one of the few college leagues using wood bats. "The only reason to put cork in a bat is to hit the ball farther."

Or just to have fun, Fiess said.

He's planning on expanding on the three models available and finding a way to get the lumber sold in some East Coast stores. He says producers for the Spike television show "Pros vs. Joes" contacted him about using the bats.

They'd have to. Fiess appears to be the only person in the world selling corked bats. Or at least the only person willing to admit it.

Since the 1970s, five Major League ballplayers have been suspended for getting caught swinging a corked bat. Most recently was Sammy Sosa in 2003. Infamously, Albert Belle got busted in 1994 and a relief pitcher climbed through air conditioning ducts to switch out the evidence.

The sneaky pitcher was Jason Grimsley, whose home was raided last year by federal agents looking for evidence that he distributed human growth hormone .

Speaking of illegal drugs, Mike Easler, the Las Vegas 51s hitting coach, said a corked bat is no small-time offense.

"It would be in the same company as steroids," he said. "It's cheating. It's very taboo to even talk about it."

Easler has been in baseball for nearly 40 years, including playing on the Pittsburgh Pirates 1979 World Series team. He finished his career with a .293 batting average and the nickname "Hit Man."

He sees no true value in hacking with a corked bat.

Maybe it doesn't help a professional slugger who can hammer the ball 500 feet over the tall Cashman Field wall. But to a former college player, struggling to adjust from the huge sweet spots on aluminum bats to the hard wood variety, it could be tempting.

Easler has seen many college long-ball artists f ounder with a "real" bat.

"It's probably those guys who are buying them," he said, half - joking.

But the hard maple used for bats in the modern era often breaks . And a broken bat exposing cork, saw dust or super balls would be embarrassing at best.

The New York Yankees' Graig Nettles found that out the hard way in 1974 when his bat shattered, sending rubber balls bouncing across the infield.

"I think if a kid was doing that there would be a lot of risk," CSN's Chambers said.

Surprisingly the SWAC doesn't have anything on the books banning the use of a corked bat. Obviously, Chambers said, an exposed corker would face consequences.

The same would go for someone corking an aluminum bat. Chambers has heard of guys trying to put tennis balls in the barrels of the hollow bats.

The co-founder of Corkedbatdugout.com admits his bats occasionally break. The customer can get a new one for half-price.

Breaks or not, business is pretty good. He can make eight of the beauties in an hour and sell them for $35 to $55.

"Coaches do buy it," he said. "Parents buy it. A lot of parents will even buy it for science projects."

He swears he doesn't know for sure whether the bats have found their way into a batters box on game day.

He doesn't play anymore. His amateur career ended in high school and now his days are spent as a software engineer.

Although he doesn't do battle on the diamond, he does battle with the moral implications of selling a tool custom made to give an unfair advantage.

"It's something we struggle with," he said. "I don't want these used in a game. I really don't want to encourage people to cheat. Unfortunately, I'm sure it does happen."