A split grip baseball bat for use in training batters to hit breaking or off-speed pitches with proper form comprises a barrel shaft with optional foam attachment on a distal end forking into two handles on the proximate end, the two handles each comprising a longitudinal axis not concentric to the longitudinal axis of the barrel shaft. The two handles may be welded onto a non-standard barrel shaft, or alternatively, clamped onto the barrel shaft of an existing bat, and may comprise a U-shaped, L-shaped, or horseshoe-shaped curvature.

A method of making a ball bat may include forming a bat frame with a handle and an inner barrel structure, providing spacer elements extending radially outwardly from the inner barrel structure, and forming a barrel shell having a main barrel and a tapered section. An inner diameter in the tapered section may be equal to an outer diameter of a first one of the spacer elements. The method may include mechanically locking the barrel shell to the bat frame by passing the handle through the barrel shell and moving the barrel shell toward the inner barrel structure until the barrel shell contacts the first one of the spacer elements. A gap is maintained between an outer diameter of the inner barrel structure and the barrel shell. The barrel shell may deflect during a hit to create a trampoline effect, while the inner barrel structure limits the deflection.

A method of making a ball bat may include forming a bat frame with a handle and an inner barrel structure, providing spacer elements extending radially outwardly from the inner barrel structure, and forming a barrel shell having a main barrel and a tapered section. An inner diameter in the tapered section may be equal to an outer diameter of a first one of the spacer elements. The method may include mechanically locking the barrel shell to the bat frame by passing the handle through the barrel shell and moving the barrel shell toward the inner barrel structure until the barrel shell contacts the first one of the spacer elements. A gap is maintained between an outer diameter of the inner barrel structure and the barrel shell. The barrel shell may deflect during a hit to create a trampoline effect, while the inner barrel structure limits the deflection.

A ball toss and retrieval toy provides for entertainment and exercise by children. The toy takes the form of a bat and has an open end for tossing the ball from the toy. The toy also has a cord and reel mechanism that attaches the ball to the bat, allowing for retrieval of the ball from a fixed position. The reel mechanism includes a release mechanism that allows the cord to play out as the toy is operated in a toss operation similar to a fishing casting operation. The ball can then be reeled in by the reel mechanism, which may include a mechanical crank or may be motorized.

Representative embodiments of the present technology may include a ball bat with a handle, a barrel attached to or continuous with the handle along a longitudinal axis of the bat, and a reduced-durability region positioned in the barrel. The reduced-durability region may include two adjacent stacks of composite laminate plies, wherein the stacks are spaced apart from each other along the longitudinal axis to form a first gap therebetween. A separation ply may be positioned in the first gap between the stacks. The separation ply may include a non-woven mat material. At least one cap ply element may be positioned around an end of one of the stacks. In some embodiments, an axis of the first gap is oriented at an oblique angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the bat.

To provide a bat gripping structure that enables a batter to achieve a proper grip, a grip structure is provided in which the bat is in the “top” position during the take-back of batting, in order to accomplish the swing “to put the bat outwardly from inside” along a line of the bottom hand, a locking structure that enables a lower region (bottom grip) of the grip portion to be gripped at the grip portion of the bat under the palmar grip is employed to provide the grip structure effective to lock the palmar grip of the bottom hand, so that a proper swing to “put the bat out from inside” may be achieved and the angular velocity during the bat swinging is increased. Also, the bat structure is also provided in which by adding a weight ΔM (10˜100 gr) to the bat head H of the bat having the grip structure of the kind referred to above, the batting energy at the sweet spot is improved to enhance the impact having the maximum batting effect.

A ball bat, extending along a longitudinal axis. The bat includes a barrel portion, an end cap and a handle portion. The barrel portion is formed of a fiber composite material and includes a proximal region having a continuous single wall construction, a central region and a distal region. The central region includes at least first and second central region walls longitudinally extending from the proximal region, and a distal region includes first and second distal region walls longitudinally extending from the central region. The central region walls and the distal region walls form a first inner barrel wall and an outer barrel wall, respectively. The barrel walls are spaced apart by a first separation. The first separation is unfilled and longitudinally extends over the central region and the first distal region wall. The end cap and the handle portion are coupled to the distal and proximal region, respectively.

A ball bat, extending along a longitudinal axis. The bat includes a barrel portion, an end cap and a handle portion. The barrel portion is formed of a fiber composite material and includes a proximal region having a continuous single wall construction, a central region and a distal region. The central region includes at least first and second central region walls longitudinally extending from the proximal region, and a distal region includes first and second distal region walls longitudinally extending from the central region. The central region walls and the distal region walls form a first inner barrel wall and an outer barrel wall, respectively. The barrel walls are spaced apart by a first separation. The first separation is unfilled and longitudinally extends over the central region and the first distal region wall. The end cap and the handle portion are coupled to the distal and proximal region, respectively.

A composite ball bat includes multiple failure planes within a barrel wall. By including multiple failure planes in a barrel wall, the bat exhibits a drop in performance when subjected to rolling or other extreme deflection, with no temporary increase in barrel performance. Because the barrel performance does not increase, the ball bat is able to comply with performance limitations imposed by regulatory associations.

A device (e.g., an article of athletic gear) comprising a post-molded expandable component, which is a part of the device that is configured to be expanded or has been expanded after being molded. This may allow the post-molded expandable component to have enhanced characteristics (e.g., be more shock-absorbent, lighter, etc.), to be cost-effectively manufactured (e.g., by using less material and/or making it in various sizes), and/or to be customized for a user (e.g., by custom-fitting it to the user).