US3534962A - Baseball game with manually batted disk - Google Patents

Description

Oct.20, 1970 H. SINGLEMAN 3,534,962

BASEBALL GAME WITH MANUALLY BAT'IED DISK Filed Feb. 14, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 w w INVENTOR.

9 ALFRED H- SINGLEMAN BY LL Km, Dam, Km, swllww ws h United States Patent O 3,534,962 BASEBALL GAME WITH MANUALLY BATTED DISK Alfred H. Singleman, 38 Morris St., Albany, N.Y. 12208 Filed Feb. 14, 1968, Ser. No. 705,470 Int. Cl. A63f 7/12 U.S. Cl. 273-90 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A baseball game adapted to be played by two participants to simulate an actual baseball contest comprising a flat playing surface with a plurality of bumpers mounted on the surface to indicate the player positions of a team, a plurality of posts to define the outfield boundaries of the field, a flat bottom disk adapted to be engaged by a rotatable bat member and a horizontal member having 9. depending flexible portion at a spaced distance from the playing surface so that the disk is frictionally engaged when passing thereunder preventing the disk from rebounding.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Baseball games have been proposed in the past, many of which simulate a baseball playing field. Devices of the pinball type have been employed in which a ball is propelled by means of a spring-loaded ram, the ball coming to rest in a trap to indicate whether a hit or an out has been made by the batter. Other games employ complicated batting and pitching mechanisms which are operated by spring-loaded assemblies. Some games employ slots or openings around the perimeter thereof to determine whether a ball propelled by a batting mechanism is a hit or an out. Other games employ members which are shiftable around the playing surface so as to change the angle at which the ball will drop into a hole or opening in the surface, While others employ a pitching mechanism in the vicinity of the pitching mound which would interfere with the ball as it passes through the infield after it is struck.

Baseball games presently available use a ball with various types of batting and pitching assemblies for playing the game. Since the ball is round it cannot come to a direct stop to simulate a play in an actual game of baseball, for example, a bunt or an out. It cannot come to a direct stop in the outfield area or the dirt area of the playing surface to register a scratch or infield hit or an out.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION My improved baseball game contemplates the provision of a generally fiat playing surface having a plurality of members simulating player positions of a baseball team disposed around the playing surface at the positions normally occupied by the fielders of a baseball team and mounted in such a manner so that a disk propelled thereagainst, when struck at a given angle, will rebound to form the many combinations of plays encountered in a baseball game. Also disposed around the outfield portion of the playing surface are a plurality of posts mounted on the playing surface which provide a means for mounting thereon a horizontally extending member defining the left, center and right field boundaries of the baseball field. The member has mounted thereto a depending resilient portion for trapping the disk so as to determine the type of hit scored when the disk is trapped thereunder.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a baseball game which overcomes the various difliculties and disadvantages heretofore encountered. Thus, the invention herein provides a baseball game which tests the skill of participants for pitching and batting the disk such as en- 3,534,962 Patented Oct. 20, 1970 countered in an actual baseball contest. Further, the baseball game herein requires only a single rotatable member mounted to the playing surface by which a participant manipulates the member so as to contact a disk propelled by a second participant in the direction of home plate. There are no complicated batting and pitching mechanisms required or other assemblies for trapping the disk other than the slotted openings provided around the periphery of the playing surface. Since the disk has at least a flat bottom surface it is capable of coming to rest on any portion of the playing surface so as to simulate plays actually encountered in a baseball contest which heretofore could not be accomplished by baseball games pres ently available. The baseball game is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and may be played by at least two members to compete in a competition of skill.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the accompanying drawings a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated, in which:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the entire playing surface with bumpers positioned around the infield and outfield to simulate the players of a baseball team and a disk illustrated in dotted lines being propelled toward home plate with a rotatable member mounted adjacent thereto having batting means for contacting the disk;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view in elevation taken along the line 22 in FIG. 1 showing the batting member mounted on the playing surface;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view in elevation taken along the line 33 of FIG. 1 illustrating a peg removably mounted in an opening adjacent the playing surface to indicate the number of innings;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 44 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 5-5 of FIG. 1 showing the structure of the resilient member mounted around the periphery of the baseball field simulating the fences in an actual baseball field; and

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5 taken along the line 66 of FIG. 1 illustrating how the disk is trapped by the resilient member.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings and principally to FIG. 1, the baseball game is generally indicated by the numeral 10. The playing surface 12 is defined by the boundaries 14 and 16 similar, respectively, to the chalk lines along the first base and third base portions of a baseball playing field. Disposed around the periphery of the playing surface and simulating an outfield fence, i.e., the left field, center field and right field fence, is horizontally extending member 18 which is mounted in spaced relation to the playing surface by a plurality of posts 20, which are mounted in fixed position by any suitable means, for example, screw 22. Also, horizontally extending member 18 is mounted to posts 20 by screw 22. It is obvious that any suitable means may be utilized for mounting the horizontal member, such as an additional screw, a rivet, glue or the like. Further, suitable channels and slots may be provided to mount the posts to the horizontal member and to the playing surface. Horizontal member 18 includes a relatively fiat base portion 24. A flexible portion 26 is received in a relatively U-shaped clamp 28 formed integrally with the base portion 24. Clamp 28 is compressed so as to rigidly aflix flexible portion 26 thereto.

Posts 20 are formed having a realtively flat lower surface 29 and an upper beveled or tapered surface 30 so that horizontal member 18 is disposed obliquely to the playing surface when mounted thereon with flexible portion 26 extending in the direction of the tapered surface 3 30, as most clearly shown in FIG. 5. The ends of posts are formed such that the forward end 31 has a height slightly greater than the height of the disk 11 and the rear or trailing end is substantially smaller than the height of the disc 11 so that when the disc passes beneath the horizontal member 18 the disk will pass thereunder and be trapped by flexible member 26, as seen in FIG. 6. Horizontal member 18 is provided with a horizontally extending washer having a beveled lower surface 33 which is complementary to the upper surface of post 20 so that fastening means or screw 22 will pass through aligned openings in horizontal member 18 and post 20 in a vertical direction as shown most clearly in FIG. 5. Washer 32 may be made of wood and extend substantially the length of horizontal member 18, or individual washers may be used. Obviously, a washer is not required since all that would be necessary is to suitably fasten the horizontal members and posts in fixed position, such as by gluing.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, flexible portion 26 is formed having an enlarged or thickened end portion which is received in U-shaped clamp 28. A relatively thin flexible body portion is formed integrally therewith so that disk 11 when passing under member 18 will cause flexible portion 26 to frictionally engage disk 11 thereby stopping the forward motion of the disk so as to readily determine the type of play scored by the batter. Posts 20 are spaced around the outer perimeter of the playing surface in such a manner as to provide a plurality of spaces of varying degrees of difliculty for a disk to be trapped therein thereby determining the type of play encountered when a disk passes thereunder. In this respect, space 34 would then be a home run, space 35 a single, space 36 a triple, space 37 a double, space 38 a home run, space 39 a single, space 40 a triple, space 41 a double and space 42 a home run. In actual fact, the areas defined by spaces 34-42 are the areas in which the same type of hit is generally encountered in an actual baseball contest. Positioned outside the playing surface and outside space 30 is mounted bumper 44. When disc 11 strikes bumper 44 it is determined to be a foul ball which is caught by the outfielder and scored as an out. Similarly, bumper 46 mounted outside the playing surface and adjacent space 42 is a foul out. Bumpers 48, 50 and 52 represent, respectively, the positions that would be played by a left fielder, center fielder and right fielder of a baseball team. When disk 11 strikes either of the bumpers 48, 50 or 52 it is determined to be a fly out by the batter. Bumpers 54, 56, 58 and represent, respectively, positions that would be played by the first baseman, second baseman, third baseman and shortstop. Bumpers 54 and 56 are positioned obliquely with respect to boundary or right field foul line 14. Similarly, bumpers 58 and 60 are positioned obliquely with respect to boundary or left field foul line 16. The surface of bumpers 54-60, respectively, facing the home plate area 62 is slightly arcuate, as seen in FIG. 1, so that when disk 11 strikes a bumper it will rebound in such a manner as to simulate an action play in a baseball game, for example, the disk striking bumper 58 may rebound to strike bumper 56 and such a combination will result in a double play if a base runner were on first base, or base runners were on first and second, or first, second and third bases. All of the bumpers mounted on the playing surface are similarly mounted as posts 20, i.e., employing a screw or screws 22. Further, all of the bumpers may be mounted in any suitable fashion, such as by gluing, riveting or by providing a slot.

Bumper 64 is positioned behind home plate 66 to simlate the catcher of a baseball team. Thus, when disk 11 contacts bumper 64 it is determined to be a strike. Bumpers 67 and 68 define the area which is considered a ball when disk 11 is pitched and does not strike bumper 64. When the disk passes outside the zone defined by bumpers 67 and 68 it is scored as a wild pitch if a base runner is on first, second or third base. The areas defined in dotted lines adjacent the first and third base lines of the playing surface indicate a hit by means of a bunt when disk 11 stops therein.

A peg 70 having a square head 71 is employed to simulate a base runner. The peg fits into openings 72, 73 and 74 depicting runners positioned at first, second or third base. If the disk should strike a base runner, i.e., head 71 0f the peg, the base runner is declared out and the batter is positioned as a base runner at first base.

As seen in FIG. 1, a plurality of openings are provided outside the playing surface for determining the number of outs and the number of innings played using a peg to maintain the count for the appropriate inning. As seen in FIG. 3, it is convenient to provide a peg similar in structure to that used for a base runner, the peg having an elongated shaft 76 with a square head portion 71. Shaft 76 fits into the openings for maintaining the status of an inning, i.e., the number of outs and the inning actually played. Outside the playing surface and along boundary 16 are three openings provided with three pegs similar to those shown in FIG. 3. These are used as the base runners.

The batter is simulated by rotatable member 80 and comprises a vertical shaft 82 having a hand engaging head portion 84 mounted on the outer end of shaft 82. A bat member 86 is rigidly mounted to shaft 82 through an opening formed at one end of bat member 86 as shown in FIG. 2. Bat 86 may be formed having threads to be threadedly received by shaft 82, or it may be swaged on or held in position by lock screws or any other suitable means. Bat member 80 may be made from a unitary piece of material such as wood, metal, plastic or the like. Flange portion 88 is formed at the other end of shaft 82 and is of lesser diameter than the main portion of the shaft. Flange portion 88 is provided with a diameter suitable to be received in opening 91 on playing surface 12 for rotatably mounting bat member 80. Bat 86 extends a spaced distance above the playing surface by shoulder 89 formed on shaft 82 and acts as a bearing surface to prevent frictional engagement with the surface and to facilitate rotation of bat member 80. Bat 86 extends a distance beyond home plate 66, as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 1, so that bat 86 will strike disk 11 only within this area. In FIG. 1 bat member 80 is shown mounted in position in a similar fashion as a left-handed batter would be positioned in an actual baseball contest. Similarly, when bat member 80 is positioned in opening 90, the bat member will simulate a right-handed batter in the proper position.

Disk 11 is formed generally cylindrical in shape having flat upper and lower surfaces. It may be formed from any suitable material such as plastic, either thermoplastic or thermosetting, or it may be made of wood, pressed wood or metal. I have found that a disk made of nylon, i.e., a polyamide material, serves suitably to simulate a baseball for my improved game. This material is sufliciently rigid and yet will rebound when striking the bumpers mounted in fixed position to the playing surface. As described above, the rebounding aspects are important to obtain combination plays as in an actual baseball contest. The flat upper or lower surfaces provide the means for stopping the disk on the playing surface thereby obtaining plays that ordinarily would not occur where a round object is employed as the ball. The disk also provides a relatively easy means for pitching the disk in a shufiling action toward the bat member 80 while exhibiting relatively easy control of the disk by the participants.

Having described the various elements of my improved baseball game, the following description illustrates the manner in which the baseball game is played.

Two participants, a pitcher and a batter, engage in the contest for a period of nine innings unless the game results in a tie in which case the content continues until a winner is determied similar to that of an actual baseball contest. A participant is positioned to operate bat member 80. A second participant is positioned directly opposite bat member 80 to pitch or shufile the disk thereby simulating a pitcher in an actual contest. Disk 11 is propelled toward home plate by the second participant and is shuffied along the playing surface toward home plate. This may be accomplished by a finger motion, push or shove by the hand of the second participant. As the disk approaches home plate the first participant engages operating head 84 of bat member 80 so as to rotate bat 86 in an attempt to strike and contact disk 11. When disk 11 is struck by bat 86 the manner in which disk 11 is propelled will determine the type of hit made, i.e., an out, single, double, triple, or the like.

The rules by which the game is played may vary slightly from the rules of an actual baseball contest, however, the rules by which a play is scored are substantially the same as an actual baseball contest. For example, if disk 11 is struck and passes into any of the openings defined between posts 20, it is scored as a home run, single, triple or double. If disk 11 strikes any of the bumpers mounted on the playing surface or a peg representing a base runner, an out is scored. If disk 11 should strike any of bumpers 54-60 in a combination with a runner on base, as discussed above, it is scored as a double play. If the disk should stop Within the dotted circles on the grass of the infield, it is scored as a hunt; or if the disk should stop before hitting any of the bumpers 54-60, it is scored as an infield hit.

From the foregoing description of my improved baseball game it is apparent that the game provides the exercise of a high degree of skill by the participants and substantially simulates an actual baseball contest. The type of play ensuing when the disk is hit by the bat is not left to conjecture and is easily scored by the participants. A disk is used rather than a ball so that an actual simulated baseball contest can be better achieved. The game is designed to simulate a pitching and catching combination with the batter in position such as actually occurs in a baseball contest. A ball is not suitable for simulating the actual game since the ball cannot come to rest to define an action play as in an actual baseball game. The use of a disk is a major factor in simultating an actual baseball contestthe round surface of the disk simulates a ball while the flat surface simulates an action play ensuing after it is struck. There is no pitching mechanism to obstruct the disk either when it is pitched or hit by the bat. The game is controlled by the participants and not by a mechanism. Thus, the objects of the invention are accomplished and the disadvantages encountered in similar games are overcome.

It is obvious that many changes in materials and structure may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A baseball game adapted to be played by two participants to simulate an actual baseball contest comprising: a disk of predetermined height having a relatively flat bottom surface and substantially round outer surface, a relatively flat playing surface having boundaries defining a baseball infield and outfiield, a plurality of bumpers mounted on the playing surface spaced around the infield and outfield to indicate the player positions of a baseball team, a plurality of posts mounted on the playing surface and aligned with respect to each other to define the outfield boundaries of the playing field, the posts being spaced from each other a predetermined distance to determine the scoring positions of the game, a horizontal member mounted on the posts and spaced from the playing surface a distance such that the disk can pass thereunder without contacting the member, the horizontal member including a depending flexible portion mounted thereto a spaced distance from the playing surface so that the disk, when passing under the horizontal member, is frictionally engaged by the f exible portion thereby preventing the disk Cit from rebounding, a rotatable bat member removably mounted for rotation having a vertical shaft portion with a hand engaging head member mounted at its upper end and a radially extending bat mounted on the vertical shaft at one end thereof and disposed a spaced distance from the playing surface so as to prevent frictional contact with the playing surface when the bat member is rotated.

2. A baseball game as set forth in claim 1 where the disk is made of a relatively rigid plastic material.

3. A baseball game as set forth in claim 1 wherein openings are disposed around the infield substantially equidistant from each other and adapted to receive a pegged member having a relatively square head portion to simulate a base runner.

4. A baseball game as set forth in claim 1 wherein the plurality of bumpers includes four spaced rigid members having a generally home plate facing surface with rearwardly disposed portions for contacting the disk, the bumpers being positioned obliquely with respect to the boundaries of the playing field.

5. A baseball game as set forth in claim 1 wherein the bat member includes a vertical shaft having a flange formed at its lower end for mounting the bat member for rotation, the flange having a shoulder to provide a bearing surface to maintain the bat a spaced distance from the playing surface and to facilitate rotation thereof.

6. The baseball game adapted to be played by two participants to simulate an actual baseball contest comprising: a disk of predetermined height having a relatively fiat bottom surface and substantially round outer surface, a relatively flat playing surface having boundaries defining a baseball infield and outfield, a plurality of bumpers mounted on the playing surface spaced around the infield and outfield to indicate the player positions of a baseball team, a plurality of posts mounted on the playing surface and aligned with respect to each other to define the outfield boundaries of the playing field, the posts being spaced from each other a predetermined distance to determine the scoring positions of the game, the posts having a beveled upper surface mounting a longitudinally extending horizontal member obliquely to the playing surface, and a longitudinally extending washer having a length substantially equal to the longitudinally extending member and provided with a complementary beveled lower surface and means for mounting the washer, horizontal member and posts to the playing surface in fixed position, said horizontal member being mounted on the posts and spaced from the playing surface a distance such that the disk can pass thereunder without contacting the member, a rotatable bat member removably mounted for rotation having a vertical shaft portion with a hand engaging head member at its upper end and a radially extending bat mounted on the vertical shaft at one end thereof and disposed a spaced distance from the playing surface so as to prevent frictional contact with the playing surface when the bat member is rotated.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,008,898 11/1911 Fulton et al. 273-89 1,539,610 5/1925 Tracy 273-89 1,703,009 2/ 1929 Kiesling 273-89 1,994,685 3/1935 Callejas 273--89 2,468,194 4/ 1949 Hall.

2,694,574 11/1954 Baker 273-89 2,749,122 6/1956 Barrett 273-89 3,009,452 11/ 1961 Barber et al 273--89 XR RICHARD C. PINKHAM, Primary Examiner P. E. SHAPIRO, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 273-126, 127

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