ICONIC “GREEN EASTON” BASEBALL BAT RETURNS TO ROUSE OMAHA’S JOHNNY ROSENBLATT STADIUM

THOUSAND OAKS, CA. (October 1, 2020) – Easton Diamond Sports, the industry leader in baseball-softball product innovation, today released a video featuring the return of the most storied bat in the game with a nostalgic twist. With the power of animation, Easton not only brings the performance of its new B5 Pro Big Barrel BBCOR baseball bat to life but does so in an original multi-generational story which links the past to the present by bringing some of the magic of the original B5 Pro and Rosenblatt Stadium’s heyday to life.

Rosenblatt Stadium, also known as “The Blatt”, was home to the NCAA Division I College World Series from 1950 to 2010. Despite efforts to save and renovate Rosenblatt Stadium, a decision was made to build a new downtown stadium, which became TD Ameritrade Stadium, and The Blatt was largely demolished in 2012. The “Infield at the Zoo” memorial, maintained by Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, is all that remains of the stadium today. The original B5 Pro, which debuted in 1978, was the choice of so many players and teams that made it to the College World Series tournaments in the late 70s and throughout the 80s, including national champions and iconic players that went on to legendary professional careers. When Easton decided to bring back The Green Easton with a retro look and all-new tech, during a time when not only the innovation warranted it but also with baseball activities finally beginning to return around the world, the idea to go back to Rosenblatt Stadium as a setting for the story was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“A special bat like the new B5 Pro Big Barrel deserves a special launch, and what better way to celebrate the achievement of bringing back one of the most iconic bats in the game than to do it by simultaneously revisiting the one place that helped create the original bat’s legend?,” said Easton VP of Marketing and Ecom Austin Hurwitz. “When we visited the Rosenblatt Stadium memorial, it already looked like a movie set just waiting to be cast. The original bat set a standard for the industry and broke so many College World Series records at The Blatt. Now the new bat gets to be part of that history in a way, while setting out to make some history of its own with today’s elite college programs and some of the most talented players in the country.”

The storyline in Easton’s video follows a son who discovers some of his father’s artifacts and memorabilia in their garage at home. As we find out, his father was a member of Cal State Fullerton’s national championship in 1979 and he saved mementos from his journey to victory at Rosenblatt Stadium which include his original B5 Pro baseball bat. Both the son and his father are transported to The Blatt’s present day site, where his father takes his original bat and hands his son the new B5 Pro. In doing so, both the father and stadium return to their age in 1979 and father and son find themselves in the lineup together at the height of the excitement in the 1979 College World Series.

The 2021 B5 Pro Big Barrel -3 BBCOR is the best performance, feel and sound that Easton has ever engineered in a 1-piece aluminum BBCOR bat, and its design is a modern remix of the original’s classic look. The Green Easton is back, and now available for purchase in stores and online.

 

2021 Easton B5 Pro Big Barrel -3 BBCOR Baseball Bat: BB21B5

THE GREEN EASTON IS BACK! First introduced in 1978, the original B5 Pro Big Barrel bat boasted the largest barrel aluminum bat ever made to that point in time for a larger sweet spot. And after 40 years in the making, all of Easton’s innovations have produced a new breakthrough worthy of the B5 Pro Big Barrel name. The new B5 Pro features a ringless barrel with varying wall thicknesses. This premium Advanced Thermal Alloy Construction (ATAC) produces a bigger sweet spot and smoother feel for B5 Pro than any other bat of its kind. And, combining its construction with Easton’s Speed Cap™, the B5 Pro also provides a more flexible and responsive barrel. Additionally, the bat’s Natural Pro Balance Swing Weight results in a balanced feel for both speed and power. Its Extra-Stiff ATAC Alloy Handle transfers maximum energy into the ball for a more professional feel and performance, while its VRS™ Handle Insert reinforces the handle to reduce vibration and create an even more solid feel. The B5 Pro also has a premium grip, which provides the ultimate combination of cushion and tack. Not only is the 2021 B5 Pro the best performance, feel and sound that Easton has ever engineered in a 1-piece aluminum BBCOR bat, the bat’s design is a modern remix of The Green Easton’s classic look. THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING. AGAIN.

 

Product Features

• ATAC Alloy – The most premium alloy in Easton’s product line, allows for the thinnest alloy walls in order to maximize barrel performance
• Ringless barrel design that utilizes different layers of alloy across the barrel, in order to create an even bigger sweet spot and smoother feel on a 1-piece aluminum bat
• Extra-Stiff ATAC Alloy handle was built for maximum energy transfer. With a more professional feel and performance.
• VRS™ handle insert reinforces the handle to reduce vibration and create an even more solid feel
• Speed Cap™ provides a more flexible and responsive barrel
• Natural Pro Balance swing weight results in a balanced feel for both speed and power
• Premium grip provides the ultimate combination of cushion and tack, for pure performance
• Certification: BBCOR

 

The Green Easton, The Most Iconic Bat Ever, Is Back

Via Baseball America By Tim Newcomb on October 1, 2020

While there’s plenty of nostalgia associated with the return of Easton’s famed B5 Pro Big Barrel bat, dubbed the “Green Easton” after its original 1978 release, there’s also ample technology built into the remade 2021 version, enough technology Easton hopes the new B5 Pro can have the same impact as during its first decade.

“If you look at the list of all the guys who used Easton in Little League and all the way through college, it is a good list of guys,” says five-time MLB All-Star and World Champion Luis Gonzalez, who swung the bat through college. “Easton was the mark everybody wanted to have.”

Click here to get your Green Easton TODAY

Easton, an arrow-making company born in 1922, made one of the first-ever aluminum baseball bats in 1969, but then really took over baseball in 1978 with the launch of the B5 Pro Big Barrel, a 2-5/8” barrel diameter that changed the game by dropping weight, offering up -3, -4 and even a -5 version. By using a higher-strength alloy with thinner walls, Easton took the weight out of the bat without sacrificing durability, creating the B5 Pro Big Barrel first as a -4, four ounces of weight less than the length. Instead of players topping out at a 31-inch or 32-inch bat, the dropped weight from the 71/78 aluminum alloy allowed players to step up to a 33 or 34 while swinging the largest barrel yet made.

And it was popular. When the bat launched in 1978, eight of the nine players on the College World Series-winning team swung it. When Little League approved aluminum, Easton became the bat of choice. And before Easton was a major brand name, the silver body with the subdued green — Pantone 3415C — had players simply asking for the B5 Pro by its color, quickly becoming known as the Green Easton, from Gonzalez to Bo Jackson and Tino Martinez to Mark McGwire.

“When the Easton bat came out, that was the thing to have,” Gonzalez says. “We grew up in a community where we didn’t have a lot of money. To have that bat and go up to the plate with a Green Easton, you were an established ballplayer. It drew fear to everyone, (if you had) that green and silver.”

That same engineering know-how that gave Easton a unique perspective in the late ‘70s and ‘80s has moved into the 2021 version, a one-piece aluminum model using a a high strength alloy that allows Easton to vary the wall thicknesses at different stages in the barrel, all without rings to stabilize it. “This design will provide a very unique feel on contact for players compared to other 1-piece models,” says Dan Jelinek, Easton President and industry veteran. “It will provide better feel and more power across the entire barrel with an optimal sound. There are many subtleties our engineers have learned over the past 40 years that we didn’t know in 1978.

The ringless design with varying wall thickness produces a larger sweet spot with more barrel flex and smoother feel for the BBCOR bat, Easton says. Research shows players prefer a stiff handle, so the extra-stiff ATAC alloy handle meets player requests while handling more energy transfer. A handle insert reduces vibration.

Easton still features a range of bats, from a two-piece composite to composite handles and aluminum barrels, but Jelinek says the following for a one-piece aluminum has never wavered. “With this trend in one-piece, stiff aluminum bats and the history of this bat being what it was, the lightbulb just went off for all of us that we really have a platform to build on here,” he says. Add in the current trend of classic heritage styles across multiple industries performing well and Easton had a chance to retell the B5 Pro Big Barrel story, “how it changed the game and how it is relevant today.”

Martinez, four-time World Champion, two-time MLB All-Star and high school teammate of Gonzalez, says he remembers picking it up for his freshman year in high school after making varsity. “It was just a great bat,” he says. “I didn’t think about the engineering at all, I just picked it up. I’m serious, I picked it up and I crushed the ball with it. I found the barrel of the bat every single time. I don’t know what it was, it was tapered perfectly from handle to barrel, it wasn’t top heavy. It had the perfect balance. When I got to the Minor Leagues and started using wood bats, I tried to pick one with the same type of feel, without too thin a handle or too thick a barrel.”

He wasn’t the only one who felt that way. Martinez hit third his junior year, with Luis Gonzalez hitting second in the same high school lineup. “I would grab another bat in the on-deck circle with a donut, but when he was done hitting,” Martinez says, “I would go pick (the Green Easton) up and use the same bat.”

The 2021 version, which became available for pre-sale in September, brings back that original silver and green colorway, initially targeting the high school and college market. “There is no one technology on the market that appeals to every player,” Jelinek says. “However, we do think the new B5 Pro’s combination of high performance with simplistic classic design will appeal to a very large segment.”

SHOP NOW

About Easton:

Easton is the world's leading manufacturer of baseball and softball equipment, and the most iconic brand in these sports. Headquartered in Thousand Oaks, CA, Easton Diamond Sports, LLC. manufactures bats, ball gloves, apparel, bags, batting gloves, helmets, catcher's equipment and related accessories. The company's commitment to innovation and game-changing technologies propelled Easton to the No. 1 bat position, including breakthrough technologies with aluminum and composite materials. As a result of this commitment to R&D and its storied brand heritage, Easton has long-standing relationships with Little League Baseball, USSSA Baseball & Softball, USA Baseball & Softball, hundreds of NCAA collegiate teams and numerous professional baseball and softball players. For more information, please visit: https://www.easton.com/.