Patent ID: 8512174

Claim:
A ball bat extending along a longitudinal axis, the bat comprising: a tubular bat frame including; a first frame piece having a gripping portion integrally formed to a transition portion, the transition portion having a distal end region, and a second frame piece having a proximal end region, the distal end region of the first frame piece being coupled to the proximal end region of the second frame piece, one of the distal and proximal end regions overlapping and contacting the other of the distal and proximal end regions, an outer surface of the transition portion and an outer surface of the second frame piece collectively forming a ball impact area of the bat, each of the outer surfaces representing at least 30 percent of the ball impact area, the overlapping distal and proximal end regions being the only overlapped region of the ball impact area the overlap of the distal end region of the transition portion and proximal end region of the second frame piece forming a ball impact overlap region, the outside diameter of the ball impact area remaining substantially the same along the length of the ball impact overlap region, the bat having a center of percussion, and the mid-length of the overlap of the distal and proximal end regions being positioned within plus or minus three inches of the center of percussion of the bat.