1906 Banana Bat in auction

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1906 Banana Bat in auction

Postby mikesglove » December 28th, 2010, 5:39 am

A rare 1906 era banana bat owned by the family of major leaguer Billy Sullivan is coming up for auction this spring at Robert Edwards Auctions.
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Billy Sullivan at age 95 in 1965 with his banana bat given to him by inventor Emil Kinst.
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The idea behind this patented bat was to enable the batter to more easily hit the ball to the side of the field he wished and also keep the ball in play instead of foul tipping. This was accomplished by curving the barrel so the ball could be struck at different angles and also running longitudinal grooves along both the handle and barrel to expand the sweet spot of the bat. The concave section was also flattened somewhat to gain a broader hitting surface. Kinst made 400 of the bats and gave them out to various players in an attempt to have them accepted. The MLB rules committee quickly put a stop to that and would not approve the bat for use.
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Being a woodworker, I was interested in this design because it couldn't be turned on a lathe like a normal bat. Today a bat like that could be made in minutes with computer assisted machinery. Back in 1906, there may have been machinery with specialized molding heads to shape curved blanks with maybe the handle and knob touched up on a lathe. There is a book, "Banana Bats and Ding Dong Balls" by Dan Gutman that has other wacky sports inventions.
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Re: 1906 Banana Bat in auction

Postby bing » December 28th, 2010, 8:38 am

I think they might have used steam to bend a straight piece of wood. The same way the handles of an adze would be made.
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Re: 1906 Banana Bat in auction

Postby mikesglove » January 1st, 2011, 12:44 am

Yes, steam is a definite possibility, never thought of that.
Here is an earlier version of the bat in this 1890 patent by Emil Kinst. Same basic idea but missing the grooves and flat spot on the barrel. Seems to be more like the picture of the bat up for auction.
1890 kinst.jpg
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Re: 1906 Banana Bat in auction

Postby Kenny Wel » January 1st, 2011, 10:37 am

Not that I am a batting champ, but it seems to me that striking a ball with a curved bat would be even harder that an straight bat. Not only does one have to be able to make contact with the ball in the curved sweet spot, but the bat has to be held so that the bat comes through the strike zone on a level plane so that the curve does not face up or down. If hitting a baseball is the hardest thing in sports, I think this bat would make it harder. I mean, I have a hard enough time getting my driver face square up with a golf ball sitting still on a tee!

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Re: 1906 Banana Bat in auction

Postby mikesglove » January 1st, 2011, 3:26 pm

I agree completely. Your golfing analogy is apt. The 1890 patent description mentions the advantages of the curved barrel in putting different spins on a struck ball much like a hook or slice in golf. The patent description goes on to describe the difficulty of fielding a ball with so much side to side movement.
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Re: 1906 Banana Bat in auction

Postby Kenny Wel » January 1st, 2011, 5:23 pm

Of course, pitching has changed since the time of the banana bat, as had batting. Few players took full swings, so if you can imagine swinging with the intention of just putting the ball in play, it may be easier to make contact with the curved bat. Of course, I wouldn't be able to do it regardless of the period!

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Re: 1906 Banana Bat in auction

Postby softball66 » January 2nd, 2011, 6:53 am

Fine use of golf analogy for the banana bat as golf club makers are creating drivers now where you can alter the club face to help your accuracy, say you desire a fade on a particular hole, then you make the adjustment of the club face before you tee off. I think Taylor Made is the company doing this, maybe others.
And, to accomplish the above accurately described methods with the banana bat, one would not use our typical batters' swing of the modern era. Body and arms angles would have to be learned and I'm sure players like Keeler did this successfully this way along with stance and positioning. But using this bat still would have been difficult for even some of the accomplished batters of its day.
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Re: 1906 Banana Bat in auction

Postby Kenny Wel » January 2nd, 2011, 9:32 pm

It would be fun to see a current major leaguer take some swings and put the ball into play. Someone like Ichiro or Wade Boggs in his day.

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