Leisure viewers of Major League Baseball may have noticed that warm-up players sometimes install a special device on their bats to practice swinging. It looks a bit like a ring, fixed to the upper-middle length of the bat, but it was removed before the batter stepped on the board.

Is it comfortable for bats? Is it designed to keep bats warm? Is it an anti-theft device?

Neither. This is a bat doughnut, and there is a belief-though not conclusive evidence-that it can help players hit the ball.

The idea is that a batter warms up with a heavier bat and then swings a traditional (and lighter) bat, so he will be ready to swing faster and hit the ball heavier because the bat feels (and) lighter. Donuts weigh only 4 ounces to 28 ounces and slide easily on the bat. Some players also use a particularly heavy racket, which has no accessories, but weighs 55.2 ounces, far exceeding the standard 365,438+0.5 ounce racket. Many players started using donuts in minor leagues. They currently ban doughnuts, but allow bat sleeves to be heavier. Some people even go the old way and wave more than one bat at a time to achieve similar results.

Manny machado of Baltimore Orioles warms up with bat sleeves on 20 16.

Manny machado of Baltimore Orioles warms up with bat sleeves on 20 16. /Matt Brown/Angel Baseball LP/ Getty Pictures

But it seems that tradition may be more like a motive than a science. 20 1 1 year, researchers at California State University, fullerton studied 19 volunteers who waved light, regular and heavy bats before turning to home plate. The heavier bat did not improve the performance of ordinary bat. In fact, it slowed them down. The speed of moving the bat is only 77.2 kilometers per hour, while it is 83.7 kilometers after using the light bat and 80.5 kilometers when practicing with the standard bat.

The history of doughnuts is a little vague. Frank Hamilton, a construction worker in New Jersey, thought it was stupid to wave more than one bat, so he applied for a patent for weight parts at 1967. Hamilton contacted Elston Howard, the first black player of the new york Yankees who lived nearby, to approve this product, which they called Elston Howard's deck bat weight. Mitch Manto and Willie Mays are both interested in these players, and doughnuts have become the staple food of the bomb shelter.

It doesn't matter whether it really works or not. Nothing is more important than a good ceremony in baseball.