US20030158004A1 - Hitting practice training equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

Hitting practice training equipment is disclosed having an hitting instrument such as a bat paddle or racket, an apparatus for propelling a game piece such as a ball or puck in front of an individual holding the hitting instrument, and a transmitter remote from the hitting instrument for initiating the propelling apparatus to propel a game piece in front of the individual. The propelling apparatus includes a receiver for receiving signals transmitted by the transmitter to initiate a game piece being propelled in front of the individual. The individual actuates the transmitter when they wish to initiate the operation of the game piece propelling apparatus, and may send different signals from the transmitter to propel a game piece in a different manner for each of the different signals. The individual may also activate the transmitter using voice commands. When the receiver in the propelling apparatus receives a signal from the transmitter an adjustable timer is started and a few seconds later a mechanism is actuated that forwards a game piece from a replaceable magazine containing a plurality of game pieces into a propulsion mechanism to propel the piece toward the individual. The propulsion mechanism contains a pair of rollers for contacting opposite sides of a game piece. The rollers are actuated by motors connected in a circuit with a transportable energy source (e.g. battery) and the motors are energized only after the timer is started, thereby prolonging battery life, and are de-energized after a game piece is propelled in front of the individual. Other idler rollers are allowed to selectively contact the game piece to control same as it is propelled. When the game piece is propelled by the rollers of the propulsion mechanism the individual attempts to hit the piece.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
• This invention relates to sports training aids and more particularly to a system for hitting practice for games such as baseball, tennis, table tennis, hockey and street hockey.[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
• Many youngsters, as well as adults, are interested in improving their skills in games such as baseball, tennis, and table tennis, hockey and street hockey. Because of this interest, machines have been provided on a commercial basis for pitching game pieces, it's such as balls, to a hitter. The hitter positions himself or herself in a hitting cage and the machine then pitches a plurality of game pieces in sequence to the hitter. The hitter pays for this by inserting coins into a coin operated mechanism or by paying a cashier.[0002]
• There are at least three (3) problems with the commercial hitting practice equipment described in the previous paragraph. One problem is that the hitter cannot control when successive game pieces, such as balls, are propelled to the hitter. Another problem is that the hitter has to travel to the site of the hitting practice machine.[0003]
• To overcome the above described shortcomings of commercial hitting practice equipment, relatively inexpensive hitting practice equipment is available in which a bat contains a transmitter and switch that is activated when the batter wants a ball propelled to them. The switch is activated by the batter holding the bat, and a signal is transmitted to a receiver in a ball propulsion unit that initiates the operation of the propulsion unit to propel a ball. The main problem with this prior art apparatus is that all the elements that make up the transmitter, including battery holder and cover, batteries, switch and transmitter are subjected to a lot of mechanical shock and failure of these elements is experienced far too often.[0004]
• Thus, there is a need in the prior art for improved hitting practice equipment that can be selectively activated by the batter using a transmitter and receiver when they want a game peace, such as a ball, to be propelled to them to be hit, and the transmitter is not subject to the mechanical shocks of prior art apparatus.[0005]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
• The needs of the prior art are satisfied by the present invention. Improved hitting practice equipment is provided that can be selectively activated by the hitter using a transmitter and receiver when they want a game piece propelled to them to be hit, and the transmitter is not subject to the mechanical shocks of prior art apparatus. The improved hitting practice equipment is portable even by pre-teenagers so that an individual operating the equipment can practice anywhere including the individuals yard or a friend's yard.[0006]
• In accordance with the teaching of the present invention the improved hitting practice training equipment has a hitting instrument, such as a bat, racket or paddle, an apparatus for propelling game pieces, such as balls, in front of an individual holding the hitting instrument, and a transmitter located remote from the hitting instrument for initiating the apparatus to propel a game piece in front of the individual. The game piece propelling apparatus includes a receiver for receiving signals transmitted by the transmitter to cause a game piece to be propelled in front of the individual. The individual touches a switch on the transmitter to actuate the transmitter when they wish to initiate the operation of the game piece propelling apparatus, and a few seconds later a game piece is propelled in front of the individual to be hit using the hitting instrument. When the receiver in the propelling apparatus receives a signal from the transmitter an adjustable timer is started and a few seconds later a mechanism is actuated that forwards a game piece from a replaceable magazine containing a plurality of game pieces into a propulsion mechanism to propel the piece in front of the individual with the hitting instrument. The propulsion mechanism contains a pair of rollers for contacting opposite sides of a game piece that is forwarded from the magazine.[0007]
• The rollers are actuated by motors connected in a circuit with a transportable energy source (e.g. battery or battery eliminator) and are energized only after the adjustable timer is started, thereby prolonging battery life, and are de-energized after a game piece is propelled toward the individual. When the game piece is propelled by the rollers of the propulsion mechanism the individual attempts to hit the piece, whether it be in the air or on the ground.[0008]
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
• The invention will be better understood on reading the following Detailed Description of a preferred embodiment of the invention in conjunction with the drawing in which:[0009]
• FIG. 1 shows the preferred embodiment of the invention of a bat, a ball pitching machine, and a home plate with a built in transmitter;[0010]
• FIG. 2 shows a front view of a rear portion of the ball pitching machine;[0011]
• FIG. 2A shows a representative front view of a front portion of the ball pitching machine used to create specific types of pitches;[0012]
• FIG. 3 shows a side view of the ball pitching machine;[0013]
• FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of the transmitter and receiver circuitry; and[0014]
• FIG. 5 shows an alternative embodiment of the invention.[0015]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
• The subject invention may be utilized in a number of games including, but not limited to, baseball, tennis, table tennis, hockey and street hockey. However, in the following detailed description the embodiment described is for baseball.[0016]
• FIG. 1 shows a hitting[0017]practice equipment device10 in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention.Device10 comprises a bat11, apitching machine12 that propelsballs13 toward a batter/individual holding bat11, and ahome plate14 with a built in transmitter (not shown) that includes activation switches15a-15fthat are operated by the batter touching and operating one of switches15a-15gwith bat11. In both professional and non-professional baseball batters often touch the home plate in front of them as they are preparing to receive a pitch and this action is repeated with the present hittingpractice training equipment10.
• More particularly, switch[0018]15ais labeled “fastball” and when this switch is operated a fastball pitch is propelled toward the batter. Switch15bis labeled “curve ball” and when this switch is operated a curve ball pitch is propelled toward the batter. Switch15cis labeled “slider” and when this switch is operated a slider pitch is propelled toward the batter. Switch15dis labeled “riser” and when this switch is operated a riser pitch is propelled toward the batter. Switch15eis labeled “sinker” and when this switch is operated a sinker pitch is propelled toward the batter. Switch15fis labeled “slowball” and when this switch is operated a slowball pitch is propelled toward the batter. Finally, switch15gis labeled “random” and when this switch is operated random pitches of the above listed types are sequentially propelled toward the batter.
• Once the batter is ready to receive a pitch they touch one of switches[0019]15a-15gonhome plate14 with the broad end of bat11 and, responsive thereto, a radio frequency (RF)signal16 is transmitted topitching machine12 where it received by a radio frequency (RF) receiver (not shown) insidemachine12 and a pitching sequence is initiated. Both the transmitter and receiver are described in detail with reference to FIG. 4. After receipt ofRF signal16 an adjustable timer is started in the receiver that times a period in the range of one to five seconds at the end of whichperiod pitching machine12 propels aball13 toward the batter with bat11. The batter then attempts to hitball13. More particularly, there is a three position switch58 on pitching machine12 (FIG. 3) labeled “Beginner”, “Intermediate” and “Expert”. When this switch is set at Beginner there is a delay of five seconds before theball13 is propelled; when this switch is set at Intermediate there is a delay of three seconds before theball13 is propelled; and when this switch is set at Expert there is a delay of one seconds before theball13 is propelled. Alternatively, the time delay may be of fixed duration, or a control may be provided by which the delay is continuously variable between roughly one to five seconds.
• [0020]RF signal16 is a pulse train with there being one pulse when the batter has selected a fastball by operating switch15a,two pulses when the batter has selected a curve ball by operating switch15b,three pulses when the batter has selected a slider byoperating switch15c,four pulses when the batter has selected a riser byoperating switch15d,five pulses when the batter has selected a sinker by operating switch15e,six pulses when the batter has selected a slowball by operating switch15f,and seven pulses when the batter has selected random pitches by operating switch15g.Theball13 may be a hard ball or a soft ball generally provided for baseball games. The ball may also be a hollow ball made of plastic, foam or another material and having a light weight and constructed to limit the speed of the ball and the distance of travel of the ball. This ball is advantageous when the batter is a child generally less than ten years old.
• Prior to using hitting[0021]practice training equipment10 the batter positions and adjustspitching machine12 so it propels balls into a hitting zone abovehome plate14. Details ofpitching machine12 are given with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.
• While a radio frequency transmitter and receiver are disclosed herein, an ultrasonic transmitter and receiver or an infra-red emitter and receiver may be utilized with departing from the teaching of the invention.[0022]
• In addition, the transmitter may include a microphone, such as a neck mounted microphone, and include voice recognition circuitry and software. The batter speaks one of the word(s) “fastball”, “curve ball”, “slider”, “riser”, “sinker”, “slowball” or “random” which the voice recognition circuitry recognizes and causes the corresponding number of RF pulses to be transmitted, as described above, to cause[0023]ball13 to be propelled as requested by the batter. Voice recognition circuitry and software are well known in the art, are used in many fields from telephone information services and word processing dictation software to simpler versions such are now used with cell phones where a caller speaks a pre-programmed persons name and the phone number for that person is automatically dialed. Accordingly, no further discussion is given here of the voice recognition circuitry and software to implement this feature.
• Although a baseball pitching machine is the preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be appreciated by persons of ordinary skill in the art that other embodiments are within the scope of the invention. For example, the apparatus of this invention can be adapted to propel game pieces such as, but not limited to, table tennis balls, tennis balls, hockey pucks, tennis balls, table tennis balls, hockey pucks and street hockey balls to a player holding a hitting instrument used to hit the game pieces.[0024]
• In FIG. 2 is a front view of the rear portion of game[0025]piece propelling apparatus12 which in the preferred embodiment of the invention is a ball pitching machine. The front portion is shown and described with reference to FIG. 2A.
• The[0026]apparatus12 includes a base member20 and ahousing21 pivotably attached on a horizontal axis to the base member. The pivotal attachment is better seen in FIG. 3 and is used to elevate the pitching angle of aball13. The base member20 is adapted to be supported on a support surface such as the ground but may also be placed on an elevated surface. The base member20 is adapted to hold a transportable energy source such as a battery orbatteries22. However, a small AC-DC converter (not shown) with a jack to plug it into base member20 may be utilized in lieu ofbatteries22. These converters and how to use them are well known in the art.
• The[0027]housing21 is provided with ahollow passage23 in which aball13 to be propelled is inserted. There is a pair ofmotors24a&band a pair of actuators such asrollers25a&battached to the shaft of each of the motors that are mounted on the left and right side ofpassage23. Therollers25a&bare preferably made from a resilient material and are preferably extended into thehollow passage23 to grip the opposite ends of theball13 in thepassage23 and to propelball13 from thepassage23 in accordance with the rotational speed of therollers25a&b. Themotors24a&band therollers21a&bmay be considered as a “propulsion mechanism”.
• The[0028]ball13 inpassage23 is normally not in contact withrollers25 but when a ball is to be pitched a motor driven piston (not shown in FIG. 2, but shown in FIG. 3) is actuated that pushesball13 inpassage23 into contact withrollers25a&b.Thenrollers25a&bcontact the ball and propel it fromball propelling apparatus12 toward the batter andhome plate14 at a speed determined in accordance with the rotational speed of therollers25a&b.
• In order to cause one the fastball, curve ball, slider, riser, sinker, slowball or random pitches, idler rollers that are shown in and described with reference to FIG. 2A are brought into minimal contact with a[0029]ball13 being propelled. These idler rollers are not shown in FIG. 2 so that the above described “propulsion mechanism” may be better seen and understood.
• The top of[0030]ball propelling apparatus12 has anopening26 into which is inserted a removable, preferably transparent,magazine27 filled withballs13. While eightballs13 are shown inmagazine27 in FIG. 2 the actual number of balls, fewer or greater, is determined by the length of magazine. By having a replaceable ball magazine a number of magazines may be utilized.
• Gravity causes[0031]balls13 to move downward inmagazine27 so there is always aball13 inpassage23 until all balls have been pitched. When a ball is to be pitched, the batter activates the transmitter inhome plate14 by touching switch15 as previously described.
• After receipt of the[0032]RF signal16 in RF receiver (not shown in FIG. 2, but shown in FIG. 3) a timer is started in the receiver that times a period in the order of three seconds at the end of which period amotor31 operated piston30 (not shown in FIG. 2, but shown in FIG. 3) in pitchingmachine12 is actuated that pushesball13 inpassage23 into contact withrollers25.Rollers25a&bcontact the ball and propel it fromball propelling apparatus12 toward the batter andhome plate14 at a speed determined in accordance with the rotational speed of therollers25.
• FIG. 2A shows a front view of a[0033]front portion51 of theball pitching machine12. It is a representative depiction of the operations performed and those skilled in the art can make numerous changes and provide the desired operation.Front portion51 may be deleted for embodiments of the invention other than baseball and table tennis where a ball, puck etc. do not need any “spin” placed thereon, such as in hockey. After aball13 is propelled byrollers25a&bit travels throughportion51 between idler rollers54a-das shown. Ones of idler rollers54a-dare selectively moved a small amount to barely touchball13 as it passes between idler rollers54a-dto create a drag on the ball that causes all pitches except a fastball. For a slider, sideidler roller54bis caused to touchball13 to thereby cause rotation of the pitched ball that causes it to curve away from the batter. For a slow ball, idler rollers54a-dare all caused to touchball13 to thereby slow it down. For a riser, top idler roller54cis caused to touchball13. For a sinker, bottom idler roller54dis caused to touchball13.
• To bring idler rollers[0034]54a-dinto minimum engagement with a propelledball13, these idler rollers are positioned and turn freely on shafts (not shown). Each roller and associated shaft are attached to one ofmovable base plates55a-d.Each baseplate is in turn connected to one ofsolenoids56a-d.As each of these solenoids is operated the base plate to which it is connected is moved, thereby moving the idler roller mounted thereon into a position where the edge of the roller will minimally contact aball13 as it is propelled past the idler rollers. This minimal contact causesball13 to spin as it travels and the previously described pitches are created.
• In FIG. 3 is shown a side view of game[0035]piece propelling apparatus12 which in the preferred embodiment of the invention is a ball pitching machine.
• As described with reference to FIG. 2[0036]apparatus12 includes a base member20 and ahousing21 pivotably attached on a horizontal axis to the base member20 at apivot member28. Pivot member may be loosened to change the angle of elevation ofhousing21 to adjust the upward pitching angle of aball13 and is then re-tightened. The base member20 is adapted to be supported on a support surface such as the ground but may also be placed on an elevated surface. The base member20 is adapted to hold a transportable energy source such as a battery orbatteries22 but a small AC-DC converter may be utilized in lieu ofbatteries22.
• As previously described[0037]housing21 has ahollow passage23 in which aball13 to be propelled is inserted. There is also a pair ofmotors24 and a pair of actuators such asrollers25 attached to the shaft of each of the motors. Therollers25 are preferably made from a resilient material and are preferably extended into thehollow passage23 to grip the opposite ends of theball13 in thepassage23 and to propelball13 from thepassage23 in accordance with the rotational speed of therollers25.
• The[0038]front portion51 ofball pitching machine12 has idler rollers54a-d,movable base plates55a-dandsolenoids56a-dthe collective function of which is to create certain types of pitches that have already been described with reference to FIG. 2B so are not repeated here.
• The[0039]lowest ball13 is inpassage23 and is normally not in contact withrollers25 but when a ball is to be pitched, asolenoid31 with piston30 attached thereto is actuated. Piston30 pushesball13 inpassage23 into contact withrollers25.Rollers25contact ball13 and propel it fromapparatus12 toward the batter andhome plate14 at a speed determined in accordance with the rotational speed of therollers25.
• As described previously there is a[0040]magazine27 ofballs13 inserted intohole26 and gravity feeds these balls intopassage23.
• To cause this to happen,[0041]RF receiver29 receives the pulsetrain RF signal16 transmitted fromhome plate14 and initiates a pitch following a period in the order of one to five seconds, as determined by the setting of three position “Beginner, Intermediate, Expert” switch58 as previously described with reference to FIG. 1, at the end of whichtime period motor31 driven piston30 is fully actuated and pushesball13 inpassage23 into contact withdrive rollers25 to be pitched. The batter has this time to bring bat11 to their shoulder in preparation of hitting theball13 to be pitched.
• Also as previously described, depending on the type of pitch selected by a batter, a pulse train from one to six pulse long is transmitted by the[0042]transmitter32 in home plate14 (FIG. 1) and is received byRF receiver29 inball pitching machine12. Logic circuitry associated withreceiver29 decodes the number of pulses and actuates ones of idler rollers54a-dto create the selected pitch.
• In FIG. 4 is shown a simplified block diagram of the[0043]transmitter circuitry32 located inhome base14 and thereceiver circuitry29 located inball propelling apparatus12.
• As previously described,[0044]transmitter32 is located inhome plate14 along with a transportable energy source such as a battery or batteries, but a small AC-DC converter may also be utilized in lieu of batteries. The transmitter is used to transmit apulsed RF signal16 toreceiver29 inpitching apparatus12 when a batter wishes to initiate a pitch of a selected type, as previously described.
• In one embodiment,[0045]transmitter32 includes anoscillator33 for producing signals at a particular frequency such as approximately thirty-two megahertz (32 MHz). Theoscillator33 may be crystal controlled. The signals fromoscillator33 may be amplified byamplifier34 and the amplified signals are applied to antenna viaantenna matching circuit35 to be transmitted. When a batter touches one of switches15a-gonhome plate14 to initiate a selected type of pitch, the selected switch15 causeslogic circuit47 to apply power tooscillator33 in a pulsed manner and thereby causes apulsed RF signal16 to be transmitted. For example, if switch15fonhomeplate14 is operated by a batter, indicating that they want a slowball to be pitched, six pulses are output fromoscillator33. This pulsed operation is previously in this description.
• [0046]RF receiver29 in pitching apparatus has a tunedantenna37 that receives the pulsed 32MHz RF signal16 transmitted by the transmitter inhome plate14. By having a tuned antenna extraneous signals will not trigger the pitch of aball13.RF amplifier38 amplifies the received RF signal. Using the example in the previous paragraph, the received RF signal has six pulses indicating that a slowball is to be pitched. The presence of the amplified, pulsed RF signal is detected at 32MHz detector39. The number of pulses in the pulsed 32 MHz signal is detected bylogic circuit48 and startstimer40 that times a period of between one and five seconds, as selected by three position switch59 inball pitching machine12, as previously described. At the end of the timed period driver41 outputs a signal that actuatesmotor31 to thereby causes motor driven piston30 to pushadjacent ball13 between the tworollers25 to be propelled towards the batter andhome plate14 as previously described.
• As[0047]ball13 is propelled byrollers25a&bit passes between idler rollers54a-d(FIGS. 2 & 3). Responsive to the number of pulses in the received RFsignal logic circuit48 causes ones ofsolenoids56a-dto be actuated, thereby moving idler rollers54a-d,all as previously described, to provide the type of pitch indicated by the batter using switches15a-gonhome plate14. These idler rollers54a-dare actuated just prior toball13 being propelled.
• In an alternative embodiment of the invention the invention may be used to propel table tennis balls toward a player who wishes to practice their table tennis ball returns. Such a player is figuratively shown in FIG. 5 holding a table tennis paddle. For table tennis and other games, such as tennis, there is no home plate so the transmitter must be positioned in a different location. The transmitter is relatively[0048]small container45 with seven buttons thereon (corresponding to switches15a-gon home plate14) that is mounted on the players belt, or on a player wrist with a strap, both as shown in FIG. 5. With their free hand the player actuates ones of the buttons on the transmitter when they wish to initiate a ball being propelled toward them.
• While what has been described here in the preferred embodiment of the invention, it should be understood that numerous changes will be apparent to persons of ordinary skill in the art and may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The invention is, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the claims.[0049]

Claims (30)

What is claimed is:

1. Hitting practice training equipment for use by an individual, said equipment comprising:

a game piece to be hit by the equipment user as part of said hitting practice;

means for propelling the game piece;

means for striking a game piece propelled by said propelling means to impose a force by the striking means against the game piece,

a transmitter being separate from the striking means and the hands of the individual and used to transmit a signal that causes a game piece to be propelled by the propelling means, said transmitter being operated by the individual using the training equipment.

2. The invention in accordance withclaim 1 further comprising a receiver for receiving the transmitted signal, the receiver causing the actuation of the propelling means to propel a game piece to be hit by the individual using the striking means.

3. The invention in accordance withclaim 2 wherein the signals are transmitted on a wireless basis to the receiver.

4. The invention in accordance withclaim 3 wherein the game piece is a ball, the striking means is a baseball bat and further comprising a home plate that contains the transmitter, the transmitter being actuated to send the transmitted signal by touching the home plate.

5. The invention in accordance withclaim 4 wherein after the receiver receives the transmitted signal it delays causing the actuation of the propelling means to propel a game piece for a short period of time.

6. The invention in accordance withclaim 2 wherein the transmitter is located on the individual apart from the striking means and the hands of the individual and the individual actuates the transmitter to transmit the signal that causes a game piece to be propelled by the propelling means.

7. The invention in accordance withclaim 6 wherein the signals are transmitted on a wireless basis to the receiver.

8. The invention in accordance withclaim 7 wherein after the receiver receives the transmitted signal it delays causing the actuation of the propelling means to propel a game piece for a short period of time.

9. The invention in accordance withclaim 8 wherein the propelling means is intended to propel the game piece toward individual with the striking means.

10. The invention in accordance withclaim 2 wherein after the receiver receives the transmitted signal it delays causing the actuation of the propelling means to propel a game piece for a short period of time.

11. The invention in accordance withclaim 10 wherein the signals are transmitted on a wireless basis to the receiver.

12. The invention in accordance withclaim 11 wherein the game piece is a ball, the striking means is a baseball bat and further comprising a home plate that contains the transmitter, the transmitter being actuated to send the transmitted signal by touching the home plate.

13. The invention in accordance withclaim 3 further comprising means for selectively controlling the transmitter to transmit ones of a plurality of signals that the receiver and propelling means respond to and propel a game piece in a different manner for each one of the plurality of signals.

14. The invention in accordance withclaim 13 further comprising voice activated means that responds to the individuals voice for causing the transmitter to transmit the ones of the plurality of signals that the receiver and propelling means respond to and propel a game piece in a different manner for each one of the plurality of signals.

15. The invention in accordance withclaim 2 further comprising means for selectively controlling the transmitter to transmit ones of a plurality of signals that the receiver and propelling means respond to and propel a game piece in a different manner for each one of the plurality of signals.

16. The invention in accordance withclaim 15 further comprising voice activated means that responds to the individuals voice for causing the transmitter to transmit the ones of the plurality of signals that the receiver and propelling means respond to and propel a game piece in a different manner for each one of the plurality of signals.

17. The invention in accordance withclaim 2 further comprising:

voice activated means that responds to the individuals voice for causing the transmitter to transmit different signals that the receiver and propelling means respond to and propel a game piece in a different manner for each one of the different signals.

18. The invention in accordance withclaim 92 further comprising means for selectively controlling the transmitter to transmit ones of a plurality of signals that the receiver and propelling means respond to and propel a game piece in a different manner for each one of the plurality of signals.

19. The invention in accordance withclaim 18 further comprising voice activated means that responds to the individuals voice for causing the transmitter to transmit the ones of the plurality of signals that the receiver and propelling means respond to and propel a game piece in a different manner for each one of the plurality of signals.

20. A method for an individual to have hitting practice using means for propelling game pieces and hitting the game pieces with a striking means, the method comprising the steps of:

transmitting a signal from a transmitter that is apart from the striking means and the hands of the individual to cause the actuation of the propelling means to propel a game piece toward the individual; and

receiving the transmitted signal and causing the propelling means to propel a game piece that the individual will attempt to strike using the striking means.

21. The method in accordance withclaim 20 wherein the individual causes the transmission of the signal when they are ready to attempt hitting a propelled game piece.

22. The method in accordance withclaim 21 wherein the transmitted signal is received at the propelling means and further comprising the step of delaying the actuation of the propelling means to propel a game piece after the transmitted signal is received.

23. The method in accordance withclaim 22 wherein the striking means is a baseball bat and the game piece is a ball.

24. The method in accordance withclaim 23 wherein the signals are transmitted by a transmitter in a home plate on the ground in front of the individual and further comprising the step of actuating the transmitter by touching the home plate.

25. The method in accordance withclaim 24 wherein the transmitted signal is received at the propelling means and further comprising the step of delaying the actuation of the propelling means to propel a game piece after the transmitted signal is received.

26. The method in accordance withclaim 25 wherein the individual causes the transmission of the signal when they are ready to attempt hitting a propelled game piece.

27. The invention in accordance withclaim 25 further comprising the step of controlling the transmitter to transmit ones of a plurality of signals that the receiver and propelling means respond to and propel a game piece in a different manner for each one of the plurality of signals.

28. The invention in accordance withclaim 27 wherein the transmitter has voice activated means and further comprising the step of responding to voice of the individual and causing the transmitter to transmit the ones of the plurality of signals that the receiver and propelling means respond to and propel a game piece in a different manner for each one of the plurality of signals.

29. The invention in accordance withclaim 20 wherein the transmitter has voice activated means and further comprising the step of responding to voice of the individual and causing the transmitter to transmit the ones of the plurality of signals that the receiver and propelling means respond to and propel a game piece in a different manner for each one of the plurality of signals.

30. The invention in accordance withclaim 29 wherein the transmitter has voice activated means and further comprising the step of responding to voice of the individual and causing the transmitter to transmit the ones of the plurality of signals that the receiver and propelling means respond to and propel a game piece in a different manner for each one of the plurality of signals.

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