Longtime MSBL Members Manufacture the Perfect Holiday Gift
By Steve LaMontia, Director of Communications
Do you want to put a little ‘sizzle’ into your holiday giving? We found just the gift! But this great gift for the barbeque and baseball aficionado begins with an MSBL World Series back story.
Brett Mandel is the league president of the Greater Philadelphia MSBL and has been the organizer of the Victus Bats World Series entry of the MSBL World Series since 2008, though originally under different names. Mike Mullen, now living in Bend, Oregon remains a member of that team. Why is this important? Over a few refreshing drinks and an occasional hot tub visit with teammates throughout the years, ‘Baseball BBQ’ was born.
“We started talking about this concept around 2013 then Mike joined us in 2016 and discussions heated up again in the hot tub, pardon the pun,” stated Mandel. “One of our teammates is a lawyer and Mike is into product development so we decided to start this business. We kicked off originally in April of this year but covid impacted a successful unveiling so we decided to wait until summer. The response has been amazing!”
Mike has been in the product development field for the past 15 years but the positive response to the engraved barbeque tools and accessories has been so overwhelming that Mike now takes the reins full time to get the product out the door.
“We have a turnaround of only two days,” said Mike. “We can get the bat handles engraved and the product assembled and out the door in plenty of time for Christmas. There are many of late nights involved but it’s important to get them out the door and to do it right. These are quality products and not just a novelty.”
Brett, Mike and others are in this together as partners but Mike is the ‘ground zero’ head of day-to-day operations. Mike’s baseball passion has always been there, but started to make an impact in his life with Easton developing baseball gear a few years back.
“I have always wanted to stay involved in the baseball world. I have played in MSBL leagues since 2002 with stops in Denver and San Diego along the way. When our hot tub discussions in Arizona started getting more serious about Baseball BBQ, I thought the product was unique and had a lot of potential. I was hooked. It took a year to get a prototype together and obtain manufacturing agreements but it has been well worth the effort. If it weren’t for the MSBL World Series, this concept would have never seen the light of day.”
The uniqueness of the barbeque tools are the fact they use specific baseball bat handles for the tools and you can have anything you want burned into them. They also personally design cutting boards and clothing and may unveil addition products down the road.
Added Mandel, “These tools feel just like going up to the plate. They feel great in your hand while you visualize hitting a gapper while flipping a burger.”
We won’t go into pricing or details here. That’s not the story. We encourage you to go to their website at baseballbbq.com to check everything out. They are also offering 15% off for all MSBL members! Brett, Mike and their supporting cast of partners are steeped deep in their MSBL roots from around the country as part of the 35-over division Victus team and can hopefully add a little twinkle to the eyes of their fellow MSBL family members.