Reinforced under US Patent of Leonard Smalley

The safe way to play baseball without changing the balance,
feel, weight, or appearance of a wood baseball bat.

It should be noted that because of various injuries to younger players, the city of New York has banned the use of aluminum bats for their youth groups under the age of eighteen. The state of New Jersey is also trying to do the same, not to mention many teams throughout the US that are also eliminating aluminum bats. Doesn't this pose some very important questions, such as why?

Could it be that the ball comes off an aluminum bat faster thereby going past the infielder for a hit instead of him catching it for an out? Could it be that he hits a home run or extra base hit because of a larger sweet spot? Could it be the pitcher gets hit because the ball comes off the aluminum bat faster, giving him less time to react? Could it be that the profit margin is much higher for the manufacturers and sporting good shops selling aluminum bats?

Since the game of baseball was created and the major leagues were formed, the baseball bat has been made of wood. For over a hundred years, the number of home runs and hits, as well as batting average etc., have been kept and entered into the record books. What about the famous "Crack of the Bat" sound. Do we want to change and tarnish the history and records or our national pastime? Of course we don't!

So, the only alternative is to make the bat of choice (wood) stronger without changing balance, feel, weight, or appearance. I think that my patent is about the only way a wooden baseball bat can be made safer without changing its characteristics. 99.9% of the Safety Bat is made of one piece of wood. Its balance and weight are not changed and most importantly, there are no internal fillers so the ball is always struck by wood. Tests have shown that the bats are stronger and more durable.

Both myself, Leonard Smalley LLC (the owner of the patent) and Mark Milich of MDS Baseball Bats (the manufacturer), know that we have made a stronger wooden bat and know we can reduce the number of injuries from bats breaking. If we can reduce the number or serious injuries to our children and bring back the wooden baseball bat to the game, we will have accomplished what many say could not happen.

Sincerely,
Leonard Smalley

Reinforced wooden baseball bat - US Patent 7448971

A reinforced baseball bat includes a single piece of solid, non-composite wood having a tubular handle portion diameter at a distal end, a tubular handle portion at proximal end having a small diameter than the diameter of the barrel portion, and a tapered tubular throat portion between the tubular barrel portion and the tubular handle portion. The reinforced bat further includes a pularity of grooves circumferentially disposed about the single piece of solid non-composite wood. At least one reinforcing member is circumferentially disposed within each of the plurality grooves. The reinforcing member includes at least one elongate polymetric strand securably disposed within each on of the plurality grooves. A sealent is disposed within the plurality of grooves, covering the at least one polymetric strand or strands disposed therein.