Gary Malec
| Gary Malec | |
|---|---|
| Born | Gary John Malec Jr. December 31, 1980 Wildwood Crest, New Jersey, U.S. |
| 🏫 Education |
|
| 💼 Occupation |
|
| 📆 Years active | 2010–present |
| Known for | Co-founder of Birdman Bats |
| 🏡 Home town | Wildwood Crest, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Television | Labor of Love |
| Title | CEO of Birdman Bats |
| 🌐 Website | birdmanbats.com |
Gary John Malec Jr. (born December 31, 1980) is an American actor, athlete, businessman, entrepreneur, model, and reality television contestant. Malec is the chief executive officer of Birdman Bats, a privately owned sporting goods manufacturing company located in Redwood City, California. They specialize in manufacturing birch and maple baseball bats. In addition, they also make baseballs, bottle openers, hats, hoodies, keychains, raglans, snapback hats, stickers, t-shirts, softball bats, whiskey glasses. As of 2020, it is one of thirty-five licensed baseball bat suppliers for Major League Baseball (MLB) and Minor League Baseball (MiLB) players. It is also a bat supplier for baseball leagues throughout the world, including Australia, China, Japan, and Korea.
Birdman Bats was founded on June 1, 2016 by four individuals. The founders are brothers Gary and Mark Malec, former college teammate Cody Silveria, and former professional baseball player Lars Anderson. Gary and Mark moved to San Francisco, California in the early 2010s and started their company in the garage of a warehouse. Ryan Kalish, a former teammate of Anderson's with the Boston Red Sox, is also one of the other co-owners of the company.
He is a contestant on the first season of Labor of Love.
Early life
Malec was born on December 31, 1981 in Wildwood Crest, New Jersey to Marian Malec and Gary Malec Sr. Gary attended Wildwood High School and Wildwood Catholic High School, where he played soccer and golf. Malec attended William Paterson University from 1999 to 2004 and Widener University Delaware Law School from 2004 to 2006.
Career
Birdman Bats
Gary and Mark Malec grew up playing baseball in Wildwood Crest, New Jersey and would later move to San Francisco, California. Gary would move there in 2010 and Mark would follow in 2013.[1] In May 2011, they started their boutique baseball bat company in their backyard and opened a warehouse in the industrial section of South San Francisco, California. They turned the garage of the warehouse into a workshop and would make bats for themselves using power tools.[2] Gary Malec is the chief executive officer of this Bay Area startup company, blending his passions of baseball and mathematics into a business. Mark Malec is an artist who received a scholarship to attend Savannah College of Art and Design and is also a former professional baseball player. Cody Silveria is the Director of Operations and also one of the co-founders. Gary and Silveria played baseball at City College of San Francisco in 2011–2012.
Gary Malec produced the first bat on his hand-wired lathe in 2011 for his brother Mark, who at the time was playing college baseball and struggling at the plate. Months earlier, Mark drew a cartoonish half-man, half-bird sketch in an art class. Gary would recover Mark's notebook and find the doodle, which he would make into a sticker and put onto the first Birdman bat. That drawing sparked the company name, Birdman Bats. The logo is meant to serve as a reminder to play baseball like a kid for the love of the game. Mark helped the Gloucester County College Roadrunners win the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III World Series in Tyler, Texas by scoring the winning run, completing a 4–0 sweep. He said that it was the most fun he ever had playing baseball.[3] Mark batted over .400 for most of the season, finishing with a .392 batting average.[4] That sticker would become the company logo, creating brand recognition around the game. Lars Anderson is a former professional baseball first baseman and currently a co-owner and marketing manager of Birdman Bats. Anderson joined in 2016, when he was in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization at the time.[5] He liked the logo immediately.
The Tulsa Drillers, the AA-affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers, began using Birdman bats in 2016. On November 15, 2016, Gary Malec and Birdman Bats received a cease and desist letter from the office of the Commissioner of Baseball Rob Manfred just shortly after they were first used. Malec saved the letter in an email because they were starting to get recognition. Birdman Bats was certified by the Major League Baseball Commission as an official bat on January 19, 2018. To get certified, Birdman Bats went through the following process: They paid the legal licensing fee to the office of the Commissioner and then they obtained a hefty blanket insurance policy. First, two test bats are sent to the PFS TECO Corporation Testing Laboratory in Cottage Grove, Wisconsin. Birdman Bats are one of thirty-five bat manufacturing companies officially licensed by MLB. Malec submitted Birdman Bats to the World Baseball Softball Confederation and received approval in 2016. This allows the bats to be used in the European Baseball Championship, the Olympic Games, the World Baseball Classic, and professional leagues in Japan and Korea. In addition, Birdman Bats are also licensed in the Chinese Professional Baseball League, the Confederation of European Baseball, and the Australian Baseball League.[6] The first Birdman bat used in a Spring training game was by 2015 World Series Champion Terrance Gore.[7]
Labor of Love
He is a contestant on the first season of Labor of Love.[8][9][10]
Personal life
Gary enjoys cars and playing the bass.
References
- ↑ https://www.sfgate.com/news/media/Birdman-bats-hit-the-majors-1405786.php
- ↑ https://video.foxbusiness.com/v/5780025438001/
- ↑ https://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/sports/three-local-players-help-gloucester-county-win-junior-college-world-series-in-texas/article_d8441419-078e-5878-ae77-07e12ec8ee6f.html
- ↑ https://www.njcaa.org/sports/bsb/2009-10/div3/teams/GloucesterCountyCollege/leaders.html
- ↑ https://sports.yahoo.com/were-going-through-a-death-two-exballplayers-coming-to-terms-with-life-after-baseball-163320994.html
- ↑ https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/peninsula-baseball-bat-maker-gets-a-shot-in-the-show/168137/
- ↑ https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/jenkins/article/Birdman-Bats-MLB-players-feel-the-love-for-Bay-13499092.php
- ↑ https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/labor-of-love/cast/1426352/
- ↑ https://deadline.com/2020/04/fox-labor-of-love-kristin-davis-propagate-full-picture-1202909245/
- ↑ https://decider.com/2020/04/15/labor-of-love-fox-dating-show/
This article "Gary Malec" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Gary Malec. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
