Baseball equipment maker plans
LWR training facility, plant
By RICHARD DYMOND
LAKEWOOD RANCH --
The owners of C&H Baseball Inc., which has had a 40-year history of manufacturing baseball field equipment in Bradenton, plan to open a 16,000-square-foot indoor baseball training facility in Lakewood Ranch.
The facility, which will include six rental batting cages, is part of a proposed $2 million manufacturing plant, which will replace the firm's plant at 2215 60th Drive E., said Danielle Huff, who owns the company along with her husband, Rob.
"We feel there is a need for the indoor facility, but this will also be an opportunity to showcase our products, which we ship all over the world," Danielle Huff said.
The cages are rectangular structures made out of netting in which a pitching machine or a pitcher can deliver a ball to a batter.
In the 1960s, C&H Welding was located close to downtown Bradenton and was the first company to manufacture the rolling cages that go behind home plate in baseball stadiums.
The company name was changed to C&H Baseball and Metals by a subsequent owner.
The Huffs, who bought the business in 2000, call it C&H Baseball Inc. The company C&H Baseball Inc. has become an industry leader for designing and installing the padding on baseball stadium walls and the backstop nets that go behind home plate in major-league and minor-league stadiums and for college fields, said Danielle Huff.
"Our netting is in stadiums from major league down to high school," Danielle Huff said. "Our installers travel all around the country. We also install the padding on walls, wind screens and Astroturf." The company also will supply stadiums products needed to maintain fields, the Huffs said.
The Lakewood Ranch baseball training facility will include Astroturf and mechanical pitching machines. The machines can be rented for a half hour or an hour, but the Huffs are not sure yet what the fee will be.
"We don't have the fee structure nailed down," Danielle Huff said. "It will be by hour or half-hour increments. We will also offer memberships where you can purchase a monthly ticket so kids can use the facility unlimited for the month. We will also have a small sitting room for parents where they can watch practice or work on their laptops at an Internet connection."
The plant and indoor baseball facility will be located in the new Business Commerce Park, about halfway between state roads 70 and 64 on Technology Terrace off Lakewood Ranch Boulevard.
"Most fields are so busy," Huff said. "We have a 10-year-old son, Graysen, and we see how his teams struggle to find time to have batting practice."
If Manatee County planning commissioners approve the C&H Baseball plant and baseball facility at an upcoming meeting, the Huffs hope to break ground in September and be open to the public six to 10 months later.
"We are hoping we can market to northern baseball teams that come down to practice because they are iced in," Danielle Huff said.
A possible business neighbor of C&H Baseball Inc. might be Toy Box Storage.
Owners Ron Calhoon and Elizabeth Thomason hope planners will approve their 45,950-square-foot facility that would house classic cars, motor coaches and other recreational vehicles.
What makes the project unique is that the units are not rented, they are purchased by individuals, Calhoon said.
Richard Dymond, Herald reporter, can be reached at 708-7917.
