Founded in 1979, Baden Sports (pronounced BAH-den) is a 3rd generation family-owned sporting goods company located in Kent, WA, just 10 miles southeast of Seattle. The History Passionate sports players and fans, founder E.C. Schindler and his son, Michael Schindler, were unsatisfied with the quality of balls available on the market; players deserved a better experience. By learning every detail about how a ball is made and through rigorous testing, they started producing sports balls that were like nothing the market had seen; balls of high quality and great value. Passion for a Better Game With innovation as its driving factor, Baden asked, "How do we make the game better for the player?" Baden's first major innovation in sports was creating the women's sized basketball, becoming the first athletic ball manufacturer to produce the women's ball, adopted by the NCAA in 1984. Since this achievement, Baden has innovated countless technologies for basketball, volleyball, soccer, football, baseball, and softball, including Axe baseball and softball bats, a line of ergonomic bats, which are changing the face of the game. That same question and approach is how Baden views the start of any new product. Baden doesn't create "me too" products, but carefully analyzes each component of a ball or sports accessory, looking to optimize it for as close to perfect a user experience as possible for the player. What We Stand For Baden's goal is to give our customers an authentic experience, whether they are using one of our products in play, or interacting with one of our team members directly. Baden's vision statement, mission statement, and core values represent what Baden stands for and what is central to everything we do. VISION The sporting goods brand most trusted for world class quality and innovation MISSION To anticipate and satisfy what our customers want and to respond with speed, quality, innovation, and authenticity.