A baseball or softball batting practice device has a rope trackway along which a pulley carriage is adapted to travel freely. A simulated baseball or softball is suspended by a length of nylon cord from the carriage. A batter strikes the ball to cause the carriage to travel along the trackway and endeavors to hit the ball again as the carriage returns toward the batter along the trackway. In a preferred embodiment the ball has a solid cork center core and a molded urethane elastomer shell surrounding the cork core. One end of the nylon cord extends through and is wrapped once about the core and embedded in the urethane shell.
A batting aid device comprises an elongated handle and a resilient head member integrally secured to one end of the handle and which head is preferably composed of natural rubber or a synthetic elastomer having a Durometer Shore Hardness between about 55 and about 65. The device is utilized in batting practice or training by holding the handle and directing the head toward the batter while the batter swings the bat to make contact with the resilient head.
A ball batting aid consisting of a spherical ball made of an expandable elastomeric material having a finite length of braided rope secured thereto, the ball being formed so that there is no air pocket within the confines thereof. An enlargement is placed on one end of the rope located in the central portion of the ball and when the ball is formed, the elastomeric material is expanded into the space between the braids of the rope to effect a securement of the material to the rope.
A ball device wherein one end of a resilient cord is integrally fused by a vulcanization process to the central interior of a resilient ball, thereby providing an improved toy ball device which will withstand heavy and prolonged use by children and by adults. In one embodiment the embedded end of the cord may be knotted. In another embodiment the cord may be woven throughout its length and the embedded end may enclose an inner core member.
Baseballs and softballs are comprised of a spherical core and a two-piece cover. The core consists essentially of a single spherical mass of partially blown ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer having 12 percent to 30 percent by weight of polymerized vinyl acetate units therein. Foam is in the center of the core which gradually reduces in cell size radially outwardly to a skin having a density substantially equal to the density of said copolymer.
A slingshot-like tether toy which includes a handle and a ball which are connected by a single elastic cord having a stop formed or fastened between the handle and the ball. The elastic cord is adapted to pass into a slot in one edge of the handle with the stop engaging a handle surface adjacent the slot to tension a portion of the cord as the ball is drawn back prior to release. Upon release, the stop disengages the handle, and the ball continues its travel towards the target. The entire elastic cord acts as a tether to return the ball to the user.
