RIDGWAY, Ill. -- Dinger Bats is a baseball staple in Southern Illinois. Players of all ages across the region use their bats including the Thrillville Thrillbillies, as well as high school and junior high players.
Some of the best and brightest stars in Major League Baseball use their wooden bats and they are handmade right in our backyard.
Ridgway, Ill., the popcorn capital of the world, but these days the pop comes from baseball bats.
The father and son duo sell 30,000 bats a year.
"I think we turned our first bat 21 years ago, and there’s been a lot of ups and downs along the way, but here we are," said Dinger Bats CEO, Kyle Drone.Â
Outside, the Dinger Bats warehouse may not look like much, but just a few steps through the door, it is a world of craftsmanship. CEO, Kyle Drone got the idea to make bats during his time as a bullpen catcher for the Double A Cubs in Jackson, Tenn. The players he worked with complained about the quality of their bats, so he took matters into his own hands.
"I kind of came up with an idea and pitched it to some of the guys as 'if I made some of the bats would you try them out?' and they said they’d try anything at this point, and so I called dad the next day and pitched it to him."
Kyle’s dad, Randy has a countertop business and has worked with wood his whole life, but not with baseball bats, so he took his best swing.
"Every time I was out on a job, some obscure place, I would see an article about the quality of bats after he mentioned that, and one thing led to another, so I just ordered a lathe, and that was basically our business plan. He wanted to go into the bat business, and that was enough for me, so we started and here we are today," said Dinger Bats Partner, Randy Drone.Â
21 years later, a college dream is now Drone’s living. Dinger sells 30,000 bats a year, and players like Kyle Schwarber and Jazz Chisholm Jr. sport their bats on the major league diamond.
"There’s a running joke that some of my buddies that coached or played, never made it to the big leagues, and we did, so we kind of give each other a little grief over that, but the intention was to try and make the best bat possible, and get some of these guys taken care of," said Kyle Drone.Â
With every generation comes change. Today’s baseball players are flashier. Kyle Drone’s creative side separates Dinger Bats from the rest.
Drone added, "Once we got into it, and realized that it was pretty cool to do...it’s really gone well. Pink has been huge this year let’s put it."
Like many small businesses, Dinger Bats is still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. But Drone is hopeful that the company will only continue to grow in the years to come.
"The sky’s the limit really, I mean I think we’re only touching on a little bit of what we can potentially be."
