Bernie-based company took a swing and has connected

A row of beautifully designed bats are on display at a tent sale conducted by the MoBat Company at last month's Babe Ruth Baseball World Series in Cape Girardeau. The company has plans for a similar display at this week's Bernie Wood Bat Tournament at Bernie High School.

Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com

At last month’s Babe Ruth Baseball World Series, when the teenage athletes weren’t competing on the Capaha Field diamond, it was a safe bet that they were flocking en masse up the hill at a display of vibrantly adorned wooden bats.

“This is a metal bat tournament,” David Keathley said, “and we sell wooden bats. We’ve done very well today.”

Keathley and his son, Garrett Keathley, operate the MoBat Company out of Bernie, and periodically, they will have a tent display of their product, which captivates players of all ages, particularly younger players, as much as a new pair of Nike Travis Phantoms (ask your kid what those are).

If (and that is a BIG if) the Bernie Wooden Bat Tournament is played today and Saturday at Bernie High School (weather permitting), the Keathleys plan on walking across Bowman Avenue in Bernie and setting up a display for athletes and their families to ogle over.

“If a player wants to go somewhere (big to play),” David explained, “they’ll have to use a wooden bat.”

Garrett is the sixth generation of the Keathley family to be “in the wood business,” according to David. The family originated as a tool handle maker out of “an old grist mill” in Wayne County, and at one time, supplied wooden bats to the United States Army for the soldiers to use in recreational games.

David works with Old Hickory Bat Company out of Tennessee, as well as a mill in Pennsylvania through the different stages of creating a bat.

At the Bernie facility, the Keathley’s dry the green lumber, which is shipped from the Pennsylvania mill, and later in the process, create what the young players love, which is a super cool, uniquely designed bat, that just also happens to be of top-notch quality.

“We use better wood,” David said of his choice of hard maple that is utilized.

David began tinkering in the business when Garrett was a little league player, and he created bats for his son “and some of his friends.”

“We started out very small,” Keathley explained.

However, that isn’t the case any longer, in part, thanks to the energy brought on by Garrett, who joined the business in 2019 following his graduation from Three Rivers College.

“He has brought everything that you see (at the display),” David said proudly of his son.

Garrett has taken the company globally through the beauty of the internet.

The company sells bats on its eBay store, as well as markets the product on Facebook and Instagram. TikTok videos are looming on the horizon.

“He does everything with the MoBat (business),” David said of his son. “The colors, everything.

“I’m just here helping out.”

Garrett “never took an art class” at Dexter High School, but you couldn’t tell that from the display of beautiful products that the company markets.

Countless bats, created from the vivid imagination of Garrett, including the top-selling “Jawbreaker” bat design, mesmerized the Babe Ruth players, who came to Cape Girardeau from around the globe. Who wouldn’t want a bat that looks like a pencil or maybe a hot pink bat with white paint splatters?

At one point, a player from Aruba came up and told the Keathleys that he had been using a MoBat for years that his coach had purchased in the States and taken with him back to the Caribbean.

Keathley said he has done business in Puerto Rico and a player from Australia purchased a bat at the tournament.

“We are as much about promoting it,” David said of selling a high-quality product that can help people, “as we are getting rich off it.”

That was evident at the Cape Girardeau event.

A teen from the state of Washington called his coach over as he looked over the bats and said, ‘These are great prices.’

“We want to keep it that way,” David said. “Because I’ve been there.”

David used to drive Garrett all over the Mid-South for tournaments and he knows how expensive the sport of baseball can be for a family.

“This is our life,” David said.

At 59 years old, David has turned a lot of the business over to Garrett, but he still “works out on the floor” and has no plans to step away and not be involved to some degree.

“I never even think about retirement,” David said. “What better business to be in than something you love and being around people you love?

“We love the game.”