Show ASK PATENT FOR BAT WITH flAT SURfACE Washington D C Jan LAn application application tion has been made at the patent office for a patent on a baseball bat with a flat surface which promises to solve the problem that Is bothering the baseball world at the tho present resent time by Increasing the interest and popularity ot of the nn na national game The two principal advantages advantages which are claimed are foul balls which now glance off the round bat will wUl take a more per perpendicular direction enabling the catcher to have bae opportunities to put out the bat batter batter ter which lie be now lacks and incidentally avoiding the annoying monotony of at watch watchIng watching Ing ball after ball bail disappears over the grandstand while the catcher dashes Into the boxes or against the net In the vain effort for an out the chances of at hit bit hitting bitting ting a fair ball and with moro more precision as to direction and distance It Is evident that a flat surface even of at halt half an Inch offer a much greater degree of certainty certainty to the batter than with the round bat where one point must meet the ball ballIn ballin In order to drive It straight ahead and similarly If the ball strikes above the center of the tho bat the tendency will fie e eto to glance upward from a flat surface In every department of the tho game of baseball Improvements have been made since Its Inception except In the matter of the tho bat which Is now practically what it was in the beginning Several prominent baseball players have expressed favora blo opinions of this bat and as soon as the spring season opens It will be trIed out in practice by many of the professional professional teams |