The present invention provides a lightweight glove for baseball or softball that may include an elastic backfinger to provide a conforming fit to the wearer's hand. In general, the elastic backfinger may replace existing, often leather backfingers, the back panel, the liner, and/or other elements of traditional gloves glove with the elastic material, combination of elastic materials, or combination of elastic and inelastic materials.

A bucket caddy stably holds a bucket or container above a horizontal support surface or ground for easier access to the contents of the bucket or container. The bucket caddy has a retainer with slots into which at least three legs are movably joined. The legs each have a shelf surface and a hook (U-shaped or crimped) or upstanding wall disposed at their proximal ends. When splayed apart, the shelf surfaces point radially inwardly toward the retainer with their top surfaces in a common plane onto which the bottom of the bucket may be positioned. The hooks receive straps or elastic bands, each of which has a fastener at its opposite end adapted to join a portion of a rim of the bucket. Length-adjustable means are associated with straps that are not elastic. Alternatively, belts or screws provide three point connection between the legs and the sidewall of the bucket. After the bucket or container is separated from the caddy, the legs rotate so that their central axes are parallel or substantially parallel to one another in a storage configuration. A hook and loop fastener tape wraps around the legs in the storage configuration.

A batting training aid includes a base, a vertically-extending brace or leg supported by the base, and a plane attached to an upper end of the brace via a joint. The brace allows for adjustment of the height of the plane, while the joint between the plane and the brace allows the plane to roll, pitch, and/or yaw to mimic optimal swing planes for different pitch locations/angles and batter heights. The training aid can incorporate a batting tee for tee work and/or a resistive medium to approximate contact during dry swings. A guide bar can be provided above the plane to prevent a hitter from swinging down on the ball. Sensors can be incorporated into the training aid to measure one or more swing metrics, such as bat speed; data collected by the sensors can be transmitted to external devices such as smartphones, tablets, personal computers, and the like.

A jaw protection panel or guard is formed with a shape that includes a body that is symmetrical in one or more different lines or planes of the body. This symmetry enables the guard to be secured to either side of a helmet in order to provide enhanced protection to the side of the jaw and face of the wearer of the helmet without the need for multiple guards configured for exclusive use on one side of the helmet.

The present disclosure provides an annular hand positioning shaft to be secured around a handle of the baseball/softball bat between a knob and a barrel. The hand positioning shaft has a longitudinal axis and a bottom end portion. The annular hand positioning shaft may be formed from a shaft member and an elongate closure member. The annular hand positioning shaft may include upper and lower hand receiving portion and a hand separation ridge. The upper and lower hand receiving portion includes plurality of upper and lower axial finger positioning ribs spaced apart along the longitudinal axis. The bottom end portion may define an axe handle base including an upper domed surface protruding radially outward. The annular hand positioning shaft may further include upper and lower palm pads configured to receive a portion of a palm of the upper hand at a predefined location along the longitudinal axis.

A sports signaling system comprises a manager unit and a player unit. The manager unit comprises an input device, a wireless transmitter, and a processor. The player unit comprises a wireless receiver, an output device, and a processor. The player unit is embedded in a chest protector worn by a catcher of a baseball game or a softball game. The chest protector comprises a shield protecting the player unit. The shield is made of a polycarbonate material. In one example, an entirety of the player unit is between an inner layer of the chest protector and an outer layer of the chest protector. The player unit does not contact the catcher.

There is a hand held device for controlling a scoreboard comprising a housing having a plurality of faces comprising front face, a right side face, a back face, a left side face, a bottom face, and a top face. There is a display screen coupled to the housing wherein there are a plurality of buttons coupled to the housing. There is also at least one face of said plurality of faces is curved.

A baseball or softball bat includes a barrel extending from a handle having a knob. A cap defining a chamber partially filled with gel is attached to an end of the barrel or the knob for dissipating vibrations created when the bat strikes an object.

The Spherical Cage Pitch Training Device with Spinning Ball is a pitch training device or apparatus in the form of a spinning ball that can simulate any ball requiring gripping by the hand. In use, it is attached to a three-dimensional resistance means. The purpose of the pitch training device is to provide strengthening, rehabilitation, and/or correct body motion mechanics training to improve pitching quality, speed, strength, and body mechanics. This enables training, exercising, and rehabilitation of proper body motion mechanics for improving the act of pitching and increasing the performance (speed and/or accuracy) of the act by enabling weighted ball training wherein the weight of the ball is connected to and maintained in the center of the ball and the center of mass of the weight is maintained in the center (physical, geometric, and/or dimensional) of the ball.

A machine implemented method for simulated sports training includes the steps displaying a simulated environment having one or more virtual objects of a sporting event; displaying to a user a moving object in the simulated environment in accordance with object path data representing an object path and conditions of motion of the moving object as a function of time; correlating soundscape data to the object path data, the soundscape data being dependent on both object path of the moving object in the object path and the conditions of motion; and outputting sound to the user based on the correlated soundscape data either before or during displaying to the user the moving object, thereby providing spatial auditory clues for assisting tracking eye movements of the user to train the user to anticipate or recognize a trajectory of the moving object.