With the help of a local craftsman, Case Western Head Baseball Coach Matt Englander has been gifting custom bats to his seniors at the end of the season.
CLEVELAND — Most days, you can catch Johnny Smatana at his shop, Johnnyville Woods, in downtown Cleveland.The shop itself is small in size but big in character. There’s little real estate on the walls, but everything has a meaning. It makes for a “perfect Groundhog Day every day," according to Smatana, as he works on his hobby-turned-profession — creating custom baseball bats.
Smatana's bats are different than others on the market because of the intentional, meaningful detail they display. The ability to put a message, as it's written on paper, directly engraved into the bat is what got the attention of Case Western Head Baseball Coach Matt Englander. For more than a decade, he's been gifting custom bats to his seniors at the end of the season.
"These players have played for him, all these seniors, and to get something like this from a coach, it's incredible," Smatana said.Watch live and local news any time:
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