The unmarked white building that serves as the headquarters for C&H Baseball is nestled deep in a Bradenton, Fla., industrial park amid tool manufacturers and cabinet-making operations.
From the outside, there's nothing to indicate C&H's status as a major supplier of portable batting cages, fielding screens, backstop netting, wall padding and other equipment to major league teams.
But it's rare that any new big-league facility goes up without C&H leaving its mark. Operators of existing stadiums often turn to C&H to re-do the backstop netting that protects fans from balls and to re-pad backstop walls to cushion catchers who run into the wall pursuing foul balls. And since the company serves as a distributor for pitching machines, tarps, bases, home plates, field markers and radar guns, it's often a one-stop subcontractor for ballpark builders. C&H is even handling the installation of a volleyball court as part of its contract for Petco Park, the future home of the San Diego Padres.
 |
| C&H Baseball handles everything from foul-ball netting to portable batting cages. |
"We're one source and that alleviates headaches for a general contractor," said Danielle Huff, who owns C&H with her husband, Rob. "The last thing he wants to worry about is calling a vendor about a piece of netting when he has larger issues to deal with. Instead, he can just call us."
It's a far cry from the company's early days as C&H Welding, located near McKechnie Field, the Pittsburgh Pirates' spring training facility. In 1968, a Pirates hitting coach wandered into the shop with some rough drawings for a portable batting cage that would enclose the batter's box and prevent foul balls from flying into the stands during batting practice.
The exact details are sketchy. Bill Virdon, the Pirates' hitting coach that year, said it wasn't him and neither he nor longtime Pirates officials remember who was responsible for the idea. But by the early 1970s, C&H was providing batting cages and fielding screens to nearly every big-league club.
Bob Green, an engineer and Rob Huff's father, bought the welding shop in 1992, changed its name to C&H Baseball and broadened manufacturing to include backstop nets, batting tunnels, wall pads and a portable batting cage for teams with lower budgets. In 2000 Green sold the company to the Huffs.
C&H has worked on more than 100 parks since 1996 and now averages 25 to 30 new installations or renovations a year. Its recent projects have included Pittsburgh's PNC Park, Miller Park in Milwaukee and Cincinnati's Great American Ball Park. The company has nine employees.
The Huffs would not reveal annual revenue but say they charge $40,000 for a typical project, which includes backstop netting, wall padding, batting cages and screens.
Business recently expanded into football. While working at PNC Park, C&H was referred to the Pittsburgh Steelers, who were looking for a company to install goalposts, along with the netting to catch balls sailing through the uprights, at Heinz Field.
These days, C&H has returned to its aluminum roots, manufacturing mostly metal products out of its 6,000-square-foot building and turning to other companies for materials. Netting, driven by advances in the shrimping industry, has become thinner yet stronger in recent years, giving fans a clearer view of the field.
"The shrimping folks are always looking to improve fuel efficiency on the boats and they use less fuel dragging a thinner net," said Rob Huff, who played professional golf in Europe and was building golf courses in Idaho when he and his wife bought C&H.
Though the portable batting cages are just part of C&H's business, their 35-year history gives the company credibility as it's expanded.
"I have coaches tell me all the time that they've had a cage for 20 years and never had to do anything to it other than replace the tires," Huff said. "We're very proud of our cages, but that's just one part of what we do."
Pete Williams is a writer in Florida.
