32 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {punchline} in America’s storied national pastime. Gary’s obsession with baseball dates back to his earliest memories growing up on New Jersey’s Cape May Peninsula. “Since I was little, I was drunk on baseball,” he says. “There are photos where I’m barely able to walk and I’m carrying around a bat and a ball.” As he tallied up innings from Little League into high school, his love of the game only intensified: “There’s nothing like crushing a baseball. The feeling you get when you barrel it up!” And then there’s that other proclivity—he’s a maker by nature. “I like to build things. I’ve always been very mechanical and hands-on,” he says. “I used to take my toys apart with my dad’s screwdriver, and I’ve been building cars since I was 15.” When he was 18, Gary recalls buying a $20 bat to play in a wood bat-only league. “It was like hitting a ball with a wet newspaper,” he grimaces. Trying out a handcrafted bat made by a teammate’s father came as a revelation. “I wanna do that,” he remembers thinking. “It was so much nicer. That’s what really sparked my interest in making a wood bat.” The second floor of a Redwood City warehouse looks like it’s been swarmed by a colony of bats. “They hang upside down just like the animal,” quips Gary Malec, as the arresting sight comes into view. But unlike their homonymous nocturnal flying counterparts, this kind of bat is associated with fly balls, line drives and grounders—and rather than sleeping, they’re hanging upside down to dry. Welcome to a very different kind of bat cave. Established in 2011, Birdman Bats specializes in handcrafted wood baseball bats that are surging in popularity with both major leaguers and enthusiasts alike. As founder, Gary essentially serves as Birdman’s team captain, leading the charge to become an influential player
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