US Patent 6837809 Practice device for a baseball pitcher

A passive pitching target comprises a portable device including a resilient rectangular laminar backstop indentable by a baseball pitched at a velocity of 100 km/hr (62 mph); the target is higher than it is wide, and rests with its base supported on the ground; one planar face of the backstop is fully covered with a laminar resilient pad of synthetic resinous material having a specified resilience to ensure that a pitched baseball striking the target's planar surface is returned to the pitcher at a location of choice, either less than one-half the distance from where the pitch was thrown, to mimic a “bunt”, or, in the general vicinity of the location from where the ball was pitched; the pad is dimensioned for height and width the same as the backstop and is removably affixed in contact with the face of the backboard; the resilient pad, in turn is fully covered with a removably affixed synthetic resinous sheet of material overlying the resilient pad and in intimate contact therewith, the target forming an indentable laminate; a strike zone is visually identified on or through the overlying sheet depending upon whether the sheet is transparent.