Ball bat with concentrated weight load and method of making same

In a hollow metallic ball bat having a hollow generally cylindrical tapered bat barrel defined by a wall having a handle end and a ball striking end with a ball striking zone located adjacent the ball striking end and a hand grasp zone of smaller circumference than the ball striking zone located adjacent the handle end, the improvement comprising a concentrated weight load incorporated into the bat barrel immediately adjacent the ball striking end of the barrel and spaced axially outwardly of the ball striking zone to preclude the concentrated weight load from interfering with flexing of the wall of the bat barrel when the ball striking zone strikes a ball, said concentrated weight load including a hardenable material placed in the bat barrel when in a flowable state and a plurality of discrete particles of material having a greater specific weight than the hardenable material generally uniformly distributed throughout the volume of said hardenable material.

The method of forming a hollow metal bat consisting of the steps of forming a hollow one-piece bat barrel with a ball striking zone adjacent a closed outer end of the bat barrel and a hand gripping zone adjacent an inner end of the bat barrel and incorporating a concentrated weight load internally of the bat barrel with the inner end of the weight load being spaced outwardly from the ball hitting zone to prevent the weight load from interfering with flexing of the wall of the bat barrel in the ball hitting zone when the bat strikes a ball in the ball hitting zone to obtain maximum ball velocity and distance, said step of incorporating the concentrated weight load internally of the bat barrel including the steps of leaving the inner end of the bat barrel open, and inserting the concentrated weight load through the open inner end of the bat barrel, orienting the concentrated weight load in the outer end of the bat barrel in spaced relation to the ball striking zone.