About the inventor of Bat Magic:
The inventor is Brian Carr of IDEAilluminators.com. Brian is passionate about bringing improvements in everyday life to everyone by inventing game changing innovative products.
How it all happened:
Brian’s father-in-law was Eddie Yost, a professional MLB baseball player for 18 years and MLB coach for another 22 years; earning Eddie one of the longest professional careers in professional baseball, 40 years. As a hobby, Brian and Eddie would tinker in Eddie’s basement. As they spent countless hours repairing antique carrousel horses and fixing gears and bushings, pendulums and clock cases so the old clocks could keep on ticking, they would chat about many topics of life including the game of baseball. Brian learned many things about baseball from Eddie Yost including just how incredibly hard it was to hit round baseballs with round bats being pitched at different speeds and with different directional spins on the ball. Eddie said that the part of the bat you tried to hit a ball with was just something you guessed at initially and then slowly got better at it through “trial & error” over many years of playing. It was clear to Brian that nobody, not even Major League Baseball players, knew where the sweet spot was located on a bat. Brian didn’t think too much about attempting to solve this problem until many years later.
So fast forward to 2019. Brian started thinking about the incredible fact that in this day and age, nobody knew where the sweet spot was located on a baseball bat OR softball bat. Brian said to himself, there must be a way to find out where the sweet spot is located so that everyone playing the game could hit with much greater accuracy. Brian went to work studying the physics behind the major tool in the game of baseball and softball, THE BAT! What Brian discovered was fascinating! When a bat strikes a ball, it sends vibrations throughout the entire bat. Picture tossing a rock into a pond or lake; what happens? The rock hits the surface of the water and shockwaves ripple out away from the impact spot, right? Well, in a baseball or softball bat, it gets way more complicated because a bat is a long slender object, not a big flat body of water. There are waves that travel thought he bat in an overlapping fashion and the spot where these waves overlap, is where the vibration signal from the balls impact is zeroed out. This means the bat will transfer the most amount of its energy to the ball, in the location with the least amount of vibration. We will cover these physical principles in greater detail under the SCIENCE tab.
So, Brian decided to study these physical principles in great detail. He worked with a testing lab with sophisticated electronic testing equipment and engineers with degrees master’s degrees from MIT. He worked with mechanical engineers in Virginia and electronics engineers in other countries. He built prototype after prototype and eventually designed a “mechatronic” Bat Magic device which is the combination of mechanical and electronic componentry. This device worked! “Eureka”, Brian blurted out loud one day, “I have invented the first ever invention that can detect exactly where the sweet spot on any baseball or softball bat is located”.
But Brian wasn’t done yet, not even close. Brian said to himself, what good is knowing where the sweet spot is located on your bat if you don’t know where on the ball is actually hitting the bat? So, Brian went to work again. This time he devised a “gauge” to mark out the hitting zone on the barrel and an “impact sticker label” that would be placed onto the barrel of your bat. This impact label would show a “bruise mark” where the ball made contact with the bat. Yes! Now for the first time you could see exactly where the ball hits your bat and see just how close to the center of the sweet spot it hit. Game Changer! Now, every baseball and softball player around the world, has the chance to test his or her bat to find out where the sweet spot is located and to practice how well the bat is hitting with each and every ball they hit. Now players have the tools and feedback they need to adjust their stance and swing mechanics so they can become much better batters.
Find out just how this marvelous invention works and how “you” can become a much better hitter at the plate, by clicking on the DEMONSTRATION tab at the top of this page. Happy Hitting!!!
Below, learn more about the baseball player and all-around good guy,
Eddie Yost, the inspiration behind Bat Magic:
- Name: Edward Frederick Joseph Yost
- Nickname: The Walking Man
- Born: 10/13/1926 in Brooklyn, NY
- College: New York University
- Baseball Debut: 8/16/1944
- Retired: 1984
- Died: ☹ 10/16/2012
Quick Factoid:
[Year by Year Leaders for Bases on Balls]
How did Eddie Yost earn his nickname, The Walking Man?
Because Yost led the American League in bases on balls
six different seasons (1950, 1952, 1953, 1956, 1959 & 1960);
more than Mickey Mantle (5 years), Harmon Killebrew (4 years) or Lou Gehrig (3 years). In fact, the only two AL players to lead
the junior circuit more often than The Walking Man were Ted Williams (8 years) and Babe Ruth (11 years)!
[Consecutive Games Played Records]
Between August 30, 1949, and May 11, 1955, Eddie Yost
played in 829 straight games – the ninth longest consecutive game streak in baseball history (fourth most at the time, behind
Gehrig, Everett Scott, and Joe Sewell)! Yost’s home run totals were diminished by having to play his home games in Washington’s cavernous Griffith Stadium.
Eddie Yost in a snapshot –
Eddie was the son of Mary (Maass) & Frederick Yost, Eddie was born on October 13th, 1926 in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in South Ozone Park in Queens. After graduating from John Adams High School, he furthered his education by earning both a Bachelor Degree of Education and Master Degree of Physical Education from New York University. While working on his education, Eddie was drafted by Major League Baseball’s Washington Senators in 1944 at the age of just 17. Nicknamed “The Walking Man” because of his uncanny ability to draw a base on balls, Eddie went on to play a stellar 18 years in the Major Leagues for not only the Senators, but also the Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Angels. In 1946, he took a hiatus from baseball to proudly serve his country in the U.S. Navy. His time with the Detroit organization was special as it was here that he met his beloved wife of 45 years, Patricia Healy. Married in Florida, the young couple eventually settled in Hauppauge, New York where they raised their three children, Felita Yost Carr, Michael Yost, and Alexis Fougere. After his playing days, Eddie enjoyed another 22 years in the Major Leagues, coaching third base for the Washington Senators, New York Mets, and finally, the Boston Red Sox. After a total of 40 years with Major League Baseball, Eddie retired in Boston in 1984 at the age of 58. Understandably, he and Pat grew to love the quaint New England area and so they remained, calling Wellesley their final home. Although family, friends, and baseball were Eddie’s true passions, his retirement years afforded him more time to devote to his hobbies, restoring antique carousel horses and clocks. And while he was always on the go, taking daily walks around Wellesley and maintaining his home, he still found time to solve a good Jumble and crossword puzzle or challenge Jeopardy contestants from the comforts of his favorite chair.
SOCIETY FOR AMERICAN BASEBALL RESEARCH