36 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {punchline} Mark’s teammate was like, ‘Hey I want one,’ and my other friend said, ‘Hey, I want one,’ … and spiral, spiral, spiral.” At this point, Gary ticks off a series of pivotal events that got the ball rolling—and the bats swinging. Meeting up with Half Moon Bay native Cody Silveria, who signed on as Birdman’s batmaker. Connecting with Red Sox player Lars Anderson, who became both an investor and fervent Birdman evangelist. Social media posts with All-Star Manny Ramirez added more heat, and in 2016, a Kickstarter campaign raised enough money to buy a CNC machine, pallet of wood and laser engraver. Two years later, Birdman earned official MLB approval with a letter of recommendation from now-SF Giants manager Gabe Kapler. And 2019 marked the move to the Redwood City warehouse. As one baseball season followed another, more and more players caught on to the Birdman Bat craze. “The industry is so tight,” Gary points out, “so the brand has really grown organically.” Among the early buzz builders: former Dodgers (polarizing) outfielder Yasuil Puig. “He hit five home runs in 24 hours and put one of our bats in Cooperstown in the Hall of Fame,” Gary relays. He also credits Giants players Pablo Sandoval, Hunter Pence and Austin Slater with having outsized influence, along with Ozzie Albies of the Atlanta Braves. “Ozzie has 15 home runs with Birdman this year,” he cites. “He’s such a great ambassador for us.” And then there’s Redwood City’s own James Outman. “He’s a big-time rookie sensation center fielder for the Dodgers, and he uses our bat.” So what’s the winning for-
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