Jack White gets into the baseball bat business with Ian Kinsler

Jack White, Ian Kinsler and Ben Jenkins. (Warstic)

Nope, that picture above isn’t ex-White Stripes rocker Jack White with his newest band. As much as White is prone to come out of nowhere with a new side project, he’s up there holding a baseball bat because baseball is his latest business venture.

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White, a Detroit native, and Detroit Tigers second baseman Ian Kinsler announced Monday that they’re the newest backers of Warstic, a baseball bat and sports apparel company founded ex-minor league player Ben Jenkins, who spent a season in the Philadelphia Phillies organization.

After baseball, Jenkins got an MFA in art and technology and started his own design/branding firm. In 2011, he got back into the baseball business and now he’s toeing the line between baseball and design with Warstic, which makes field-ready equipment for pros and amateurs. Warstic sells wood and aluminum bats, plus batting gloves, pine tar, glove hammers, work-out clothes and more.

In announcing his investment in Warstic, White said this a statement, via Rolling Stone:

“I discovered the Warstic company through my love of design,” White said in a statement. “I was drawn to…the simplicity and harshness of the designs. Most baseball bats and equipment in the sports world do not impress me much, but I think that there is a lot of room to explore aesthetic ideas in just baseball alone that can bring beauty and purpose to the weapons that athletes use to accomplish their goals.”

“Warstic is incredibly inspiring to me,” White said, “and I think we can make beautiful objects for not only professionals, but also young children just beginning to understand how important the tools of the trade are to their passion for competition.”

Kinsler is obviously using Warstic equipment. But he’s not the only pro player. This is the first season Warstic bats have been approved for use in MLB and we’ve already seen Josh Donaldson, George Springer and Mitch Moreland swinging them.

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Beyond the on-the-field products, Warstic sells its own line of more fashion-friendly baseball clothes that have — as White said — a certain aesthetic behind them.