Just a short drive south of Beachville, the place where North America’s first recorded baseball game took place, ABO Baseball has emerged as Oxford County’s latest addition to America’s beloved pastime.
This is why the company has been bustling with activity over the past month.
The Tillsonburg-based bat maker became only the fourth professional certified bat supplier in Canada. Major League Baseball approved the company at the end of January to produce bats for both minor and major leagues across North America.
“It’s kind of crazy. … I was just in my shop (working) and now I’m talking to Major League Baseball coaches, which is like a dream come true really,” Trevor Oakes, owner of ABO Baseball, shared about his certification on Jan. 21.
Last year had 35 certified bat suppliers for the majors, but with Oakes and another supplier joining in, that number rises to 37 for the 2020 season. With nearly 800 professionals – each roster featuring 26 players – plus thousands more across various levels of minors, there’s always a high demand for bats.
While Oakes is just beginning to get his bats into the hands of pro players, he knows it’ll be an emotional moment when one of his bats connects with a big-league hit.
“I told my kids, ‘I’m going to cry that day.’ That will be the day when it all sinks in. The thought kind of blows me away a little bit. But at the same time, I’m so busy I don’t have time to enjoy it, so I can’t wait till that one day where I can just take off and just soak it all in.”
Oakes grew up playing baseball in Tillsonburg until he turned 16. He switched to slo-pitch at age 25 and then went back to hardball at 40, playing for two years with both the Tillsonburg Red Sox and then the Tillsonburg Old Sox in an over-35 league.
In 2017, while playing with the Old Sox, he started making bats.
After breaking two bats one summer, he decided it would be smarter to buy a lathe from Kijiji and head over to Townsend Lumber in Tillsonburg to make his own.
Developing a talent for it, Oakes connected with people in the Intercounty Baseball League and London Majors star Cleveland Brownlee.
He even began receiving orders from places like California, Texas, Florida and as far away as Kuwait and Australia before reaching his two-year milestone. Oakes aimed to make bats for professional players within five years-he’s clearly ahead of schedule.
“Obviously my dream is to get some big names swinging these bats – and it will happen,” he stated. “I don’t want to be famous; I want the bats to be famous. I want them known everywhere more than people know me. I’ll talk to everybody all day long about baseball and baseball bats, but it’s not me. We’re just making them.”
Oakes kept crafting bats while holding down his full-time job at Toyota. He managed a few hundred bats made in 2017 followed by around a thousand in 2018 and then over 1,300 in 2019.
In April 2019, he left Toyota behind and opened up ABO Baseball full time while also providing batting cages, baseball simulator Hit Trax along with merchandise offerings.
The name ABO pays tribute to his children-Audrey and Brandon-and incorporates his last name Oakes.
Deb Simmonds joined ABO as co-owner this past September. The location on Tillson Street opened its doors in November under her management.
This month Oakes is heading out to Arizona as teams kick off their spring training for eight meetings including discussions with both Chicago teams-the White Sox and Cubs-as well as Kansas City Royals.
“When I started this that’s what I said: ‘All I want to do is make baseball bats and watch baseball.’ I remember my first tournament demo: having my tent set up while games were happening around me thinking ‘This is it; this is my gig now; this is amazing.’ And every time I’m involved like that-regardless of what level-it feels like such a great day. I’m hanging out under sunny skies while baseball’s being played.”
“This is amazing.”
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