I always look forward to playing night baseball games in my league, as well as coaching my high school team. No matter what happens during the day, I can deal with it knowing that at night I’ll be involved with baseball – either playing or coaching. I look forward to everything but not to lugging the equipment around. Nothing is more frustrating for me as a coach than carrying three, four or five bats around, talking, walking, and at the same time having to pick bats up off the ground when they fall loose out of my hands. Then after the game, needing to account for everything I brought and making sure I didn’t leave something behind somewhere. If I put all the bats, helmets and gloves in one bag, then everything would be accounted for. I decided to go out and purchase one.
Do You Need an Equipment Bag?
Like all baseball equipment, I found degrees of quality and durability that went from the low to the high end. I wasn’t ready to spend a lot on an equipment bag, just enough to do the job and protect the gear inside. Then, one day, I looked at bags in my local sporting goods store, the kind of store that stocks just about make and model, and was pleasantly surprised by one particular backpack I saw. I tried it out, asked some questions, and decided to buy the DeMarini Voodoo Rebirth Backpack, and have been thankful for it ever since!
What I liked about the DeMarini bag was that it wasn’t just for storing helmets, bats and gloves. Today we all carry around a lot more stuff than we used to, and we need to have all of it with us. One of the features that impressed me was that DeMarini seemed to have thought of almost everything: there’s a zip up pocket for my keys and other valuables, a separate pocket for my cell phone that’s fleece lined, and a third, outer compartment I could use for my shoes or my cleats.
The DeMarini Voodoo Rebirth Backpack didn’t look very big, yet the inside was very spacious. The main compartment is roomy, enabling me to fit several pairs of helmets and gloves. I put a pair of bats into the vertical sleeves outside on either side of the storage compartment. There’s also another sleeve for bottled water for those games where there’s no water available.
The base of the bag is made with water resistant padding, so placing it on the ground in any weather isn’t a problem for me. Woven onto the top of the bag, not separate, is a sturdy fence hook. I realized why it’s called a backpack. Coming with padded shoulder straps, the weight was easier to carry without causing friction against my shoulders. 
I had to see this bag for myself to realize how different it is from most other bags. It can carry so much as to defy logic by being so compact at just 13 inches X 12 inches, and 20 inches in height. The materials are sturdy, and the bag is double stitched, and made with neoprene, so it lasts a long time.
Gear bags are one of those pieces of equipment that you don’t see the organizational benefits it gives you, until you start using it. I’m no longer bogged down with bats, balls, helmets and gloves, and after using the bag, I can’t go without it. It makes the transition from off field to on field so much easier, and was worth every bit the low price.
What About a Bag for Carrying More Equipment?
If you need to carry more than just a couple of bats, and you need a bag for several players on the team, as well as baseballs, gloves and helmets, DeMarini makes a larger bag that also is compact in appearance but designed to carry even more equipment. This bag is especially good for carrying around catcher’s gear.
The Momentum Wheeled Bag by DeMarini has a very large main compartment in which you can carry bats, but it also has 4 padded bat sleeves on the outside for extra room. The inside also has fleece lined pockets for valuables (things that tend to
get lost like car keys and cell phones). Also on the inside is an interior shelf to separate players’ gloves and cleats from the other gear.
It’s compartmentalized and extremely roomy. If there’s a lot of equipment being transported outside and inside the bag, a sturdy handle, as solid as a luggage handle, pulls it on wheels from the car to the field and back. One thing we all get concerned about are quality zippers, and this bag has massive #10 zippers around the main opening.
This product, like the backpack gear bag, are inexpensively priced even though they are made incredibly sturdy.
