Can you pay 50,000 yen for a grass baseball bat?
In recent years, “luxury bats” of around 50,000 yen have swept the grass baseball world.
It was Mizuno’s “Beyond Max Legacy”, commonly known as “Legacy”, which was released in December 2020. The price is 49,500 yen (tax included).
Rubber softballs are the standard for grass baseball balls. It was known that it was harder to get a flight distance than a hard ball, and it did not get much points when it came to high-level games. As a countermeasure, the spread of “composite bats” for softball bats has increased over the last 20 years. It is a bat that uses a soft and highly repulsive material such as urethane for a part of the metal bat, mainly the part that the ball touches.
The main reason why softballs do not fly is that when hit with a general metal bat, the ball cannot withstand the impact and is deformed or has an irregular shape. In that respect, if it is a soft substance such as urethane, the deformation is reduced and the high repulsion gives a long flight distance. Since Mizuno released “Beyond Max”, which can be said to be the originator of compound bats in 2002, other manufacturers have developed “flying bats” one after another regardless of whether they are compound or non-composite. Bats, which collect the best of each company’s technology, have been increasing in price, and the amount has reached around 50,000 yen. Legacy is a touch that Mizuno, who developed Beyond Max, poured the latest technology and realized further “flying”.
Luxury grass baseball bat that takes the prestige of each company
The standard soft bat for general use (used by junior high school students and above) used in grass baseball is in the 10,000 yen range. Even for professional models, the market price was around 20,000 yen. Nowadays, it is not uncommon for high-grade products from each manufacturer to cost around 50,000 yen. In addition to Legacy, ASICS “Legato Zero” is 52,800 yen (tax included), Zet “Black Canon-X” is 47,300 yen (tax included), and SSK “MM18” is 49,500 yen (tax included). It is in good condition.
Perhaps because of the shrinking market due to the declining baseball population and rising prices of raw materials, the price of baseball equipment continues to rise overall, but it is still 50,000 yen. Reiwa Japan, where the average monthly allowance for male office workers is 38,710 yen (2021, according to Shinsei Bank research). It is not an amount that can be easily paid. Even so, “flying luxury bats” are selling mainly to men who are addicted to grass baseball. In particular, the legacy is often regarded as the definitive edition at the moment, and if you are a person who plays grass baseball as it is, you may not have seen it at least once in the game even if it is not your own. Is it?
