Newsworthy Notes
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Some clients have requested information from other vendors and some clients even have their own products which you might find valuable.  I will provide links to these as I am made aware of them.  E-mail me at brdecloss@cagesplus.com if you have suggestions, ideas, and/or comments.

8/28/07 -- This is the target date for the airing of the Weekend Makeover TV segment showcasing our cage.

8/17/07 --  We'll be at the Cal Ripken World Series.  We're one of the sponsors, it should be fun.

6/20/07 -- We're going to the College World Series and will be a vendor at The Omaha Baseball Show.  We are going to put up 4 of our cages and some other vendors will use us to demonstrate their products.  We hope to make it out to at least one college game.

6/14/07 -- We're going to Gainesville, Florida to do a "Weekend Makeover" TV shoot.  It will air in July, 2007 on the Women's Entertainment Network.  The episode is for backyard sports.  We will put up our cage and demonstrate it.  It should be fun.

6/02/05 -- After seven years, we have made a business decision to only carry #21 netting.  The inventory control, storage costs and price increases on the #15 were getting too expensive.  Hopefully fewer choices will make it easier on the client.  Ok, it will be easier on me too!

3/08/04 -- Our current authorized dealers are:  Astoria Net Shop, Webball, and JGB Sports.

3/01/04 -- Our new shopping cart using MIVA is up and running.  Give me your feed back, I'm still learning how to set it up.

1/24/04 -- About ready to install a new shopping cart from MIVA.  It has unlimited number of items.  It's a very sophisticated system.  Still learning about it.  Hope to have it up in a few days.  If there are things you don't see on the shopping cart that you want, let me know I'll see if I can get them.

1/09/04 -- First annual World Baseball Coaches Convention in Mohegan Sun, Uncasville, CT.  Check out our pictures.  The Mohegan Sun Casino and Resort was spectacular.  Got to see and hear Gary Carter and Brett Butler.  Bought and read Brett Butler's book Field of Hope, good reading.  Organizers expect it to double in size next year.  Unrelated to this event, but a great book to read, David Halberstam's The Teammates.  It's about Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky, Bobby Doerr, and Dom DiMaggio and their time with the Boston Red Sox.  The book starts out in early  October 2001 with Johnny Pesky and Dom DiMaggio making a 1,300 mile trip to see Ted Williams, who is dying.  Great reading about some great players during a great age of baseball.

1/05/04 -- If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then I should be really flattered!  More and more companies are copying our idea of a portable cage.  Of course I still think ours is the best and we try to provide the best customer service possible.  We're not large so we can move quickly.  We will continue to offer the best possible prices for families.  We're into our sixth year, I guess others are starting to take notice that we're here to stay.  Hope you have a great 2004.

1/02/04 -- Another great ABCA show in beautiful San Antonio, TX.  Check out our Alamo and Riverwalk pictures.  Oh, yes our booth pictures too!

3/14/03 -- We now have a golf insert or it can be ordered as a stand alone product too.  We don't have it on the order page yet.  Several have asked about a net that can be used for golf practice.  Call for prices.  The insert runs about $150, just net and Hooks to attach to existing batting cage, shipping runs about $15.  The stand alone golf tunnel runs about $250, includes all poles, cut down to 5' lengths, so it is very portable.  Shipping will be about $25.  I'll try and get that up on the ordering page and shopping cart soon.  If you don't see it, call for details.

3/10/03 -- Zooka now on our ordering page and online shopping cart.  We are offering some pretty good prices for the Zooka, even better for a package deal:  cage + machine.  Check it out.  Bata is coming soon.  It is a much more expensive machine than Zooka.  We can offer about $200 off the MSRP for the Bata-2.

2/13/03 -- Will be adding pitching machines soon -- Zooka and Bata.  Check back soon for product description and prices.

2/04/03 -- Netting supplier is now almost all 100% Dupont 66-728.  With about 500,000 pounds of netting on the floor, about 400,000 was Dupont, 100,000 was Honeywell.  When Honeywell is gone, will be completely Dupont.  Both are excellent quality and the differences are not that discernable.

1/07/03 -- Another great ABCA trip in San Diego.  Check out our pictures on the Snapshots page.

10/16/02 -- We're going to ABCA again this January, 2003.  Our booth number will be 916.  Come to San Diego and look us up.  We'd love to chat with you.  We just made a video of our assembly process along with some hitting by players from Little League through college.  We'll have it at the convention.  It should be a great convention.

8/18/02 -- Just a reminder.  All our netting is made in the USA.  I visited our netting supplier in late June.  They used to split about 50% Dupont and 50% Honeywell.  I believe they are almost 100% Honeywell now.  It is the same nylon used to make air bags:  Type 6, Nylon, which has high tenacity, low abrasion, and good flexibility.

6/15/02 -- I'm hearing stories about animals chewing on the netting again - even with the black netting.  Here are some suggestions to prevent and help this, some are less expensive than others (read "cheap", if you like).  Use clothes pins to hold the net off the ground when not in use.  Use "S" hooks, crimped on the bottom edge of the net, so they will stay.  When the cage is not in use or when mowing, lift up the net and hook the "S" hook on a square high enough to keep the netting off the ground by a foot or two.

1/06/02 -- ABCA was an outstanding convention.  We had a great time and it was a tremendous opportunity.  See some of the pictures we took on our Snapshots page.

10/27/01 -- Prices dramatically reduced on all cages.  Not sure how long this will last, most likely through Christmas.  Visit us at the ABCA Conference in Orlando, Jan 3-5,2002.  Our booth will be 1618.

8/22/01 -- About the animals eating the bottom edge of the netting on some cages.  My netting supplier says it's squirrels!  He is not sure how they will react to the black latex vinyl dipped netting, but the blue netting did attract them for some reason.  He is not sure why.  The pepper mixture might do the trick as mentioned in the 6/01/01 comment.

7/22/01 -- I plan on going to the ABCA Convention in Orlando January 3-5, 2002.  Plan now to go, look us up.  It should be a great event.  Check out their web site:  American Baseball Coaches Association

-- It is important to remember not to attach the netting to the frame or the ground anywhere.  I can use lighter weight netting because of my design.  Since the netting is not attached to the frame or ground it can give upon impact by a ball.  If balls scooting under the netting is happening more frequently than you like, try using poly rope, weighted rope, or even EMT.  Anything to add a little extra weight to the net, but make sure it is not anchored to the ground.  Anchoring the netting anywhere increases the chances of it tearing.

6/01/01 -- I received an e-mail from a client who bought a cage in March, 2001.  They noticed recently that some animal has been gnawing at the bottom edge of the netting and chewing holes in the netting.  I received a couple of e-mails such as this.  Do any of you know of a solution?  We're not sure if this is a squirrel problem or what.  Any suggestions would be appreciated. 

One response I received suggested a pepper spray mix that you can "paint" or spray on the bottom edge of the netting.

5/26/01 -- I now have the #21 in stock.  Its bursting strength is rated at 200 lbs. per cord or 800 lbs per mesh.  And quoting Henry Ford, "You can get any color you like as long as it's black."  Sorry but the new dip my netting supplier uses, a latex vinyl, only comes in black.

-- A few clients have asked about ways to keep the netting on the ground.  Here are several suggestions I've both received and offered:  poly rope, manila rope, chain, coax cable, PVC, and EMT.  The EMT is cheap, but may be a bit too heavy.  You certainly wouldn't need it around the entire cage as it would make it difficult to enter the cage.  Another alternative is leaded rope.  I have access to leaded rope and if there is a favorable response, I will try and add that to our product line.  One problem is it is heavy so it adds to the shipping cost, which I am trying to keep down.  It's not cheap either, I think it may run around $55, $65, and $75, for a 50', 60', and 70' cage respectively, plus shipping.

-- One of my clients in Southern California also sells a wooden bat, made from Maple not Ash.  It has gotten pretty good reviews.  His web site is:  http://www.TuffBats.com.  Check it out.

-- Here is a rather inexpensive pitching machine and battery operated:  http://www.zooka.com