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Local company featured in ESPN the magazine and on E360
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By Daniel McGonigle
Argus Managing Editor
Perhaps it began as it does for many hitters; grabbing bat after bat after bat to see how it feels when you hold it, swing it, make contact.
You stand, ready for the pitch to make its way. You envision hitting the ball out of the park...you dream that it is in front of thousands of cheering fans for your favorite team, the Yankees, Cubs, Twins, Diamondbacks. You swing. It feels good in your hands. You make contact. The ball carries. You’ve found the perfect bat.
So it was for Anthony Burruto.His perfect bat? A Miken.
Burruto, 13, was recently featured in the print edition of ESPN the magazine. He was pictured on the cover, prostetic legs and all, holding a Miken bat.
Burruto, who was born without his tibula and fibula and has both legs amputated, likes to play baseball. It is what he’d like to do when he grows up. His bat of choice is a Miken, and when his father called up the company a few months back, Miken sent the young athlete a few bats.
“One of our dealers in Florida called and said ‘this kid loves our bats,’” said Miken business manager Jim Hoscheit. “So we sent some to him.”
When it came time for the photo shoot to take place for the ESPN article, Burruto wanted to be holding his favorite bat.
“It worked out perfect,” said Hoscheit. “He likes our product and ESPN was there doing a story so it’s a good way to get some national attention for our products.”
Hoscheit has appreciated the buzz the article has created around the company and its products.
“It’s been a great promotional piece for us,” he said. “It’s really cool this small town company gets featured in ESPN the magazine.”
A feature on Burruto will also air on E-360 sometime in June or July.
The company
Miken Sports was formed in 1998. The company employs seasonally anywhere from 65-100 people.
Miken is strong in the market of slow pitch fastball, but the company has been making in-roads into the fast pitch softball and baseball markets.
“That is our biggest growth opportunity,” noted Hoscheit. “We’ve been in baseball about two and a half years.”
A bond was formed
When Burruto’s father called Miken, he spoke with Hoscheit. The pair quickly struck up a friendship. It was after Burruto’s father said to Hoscheit: “you don’t know what it’s like to have a son with prostetic limbs.”
“Well,” replied Hoscheit... “ironically I do.”
Hoscheit lost both arms 23 years ago in a farming accident. The ESPN story touched him in a way few can relate.
“I told him he’s always welcome to come to Caledonia and to take a tour and to keep his head up,” said Hoscheit.
Hoscheit too stuck with his love for sports and played football throughout his high school and on his freshman team in college. He knows first hand the challenges Burruto will face, but knows, first hand as well, that he too can overcome them.
“He’s a good kid and is interested in sports like I was when I was his age. I told him if he ever needed to talk I was there for him.”
World wide recognition
Kelly Kretschman, of Indian Harbour Beach, Fla. a graduate of the University of Alabama ’01, will be using a Miken bat during competition. Kretschman was a 2000 Olympic team alternate and 2004 Olympic team member, Kretschman makes her second-consecutive season on the team roster after a year absence. She came back strong in 2007 hitting .474 (18-for-38) with 13 RBIs and 15 runs scored. Kretschman played in all nine games of the 2004 Games and was the only one on the roster to hit at least one single, double, triple and homerun for a .333 average.
“She’ll be swinging our bats,” said Hoscheit.
Miken bats are sold world-wide, however the market for the product is the strongest in Canada and the United States.
For more information visit www.mikensports.com.
You can contact Daniel McGonigle at
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