US Patent 6875137 Reconfigurable ball bat and method

A ball bat configured to allow the removal and replacement of a barrel assembly for enabling selection of a barrel having particular performance characteristics or if the barrel is damaged. The barrel assembly may be selectively changed to meet certain regulation requirements. A bat component can also include a ballast for selectively providing the ball bat with a particular weight. The ballast can be provided as a tube of thin film in the barrel assembly. The thin film ballast tube also forms a tamper resistant shield to inhibit modification of components inside the barrel section. One or more components of the ball bat can be provided as a kit. The kit may be a barrel assembly kit. The ball bat can be made by forming and assembling the components simply and inexpensively. Some or all of the components can be separably combined during assembly.