Who invented the batting cage?

Answer 1

Wellington Titus (1872 - 1941)

In 1907, in a section of Hopewell, once called Marshall's Corner, the late Wellington Stockton Titus (1872-1941) known to friends and family as "Welling," made Baseball history. As catcher for the local amateur baseball team, the Hopewell Athletic Club, Titus invented and patented what he called a "base ball back stop." Baseball lovers today better know his invention as the batting cage.

As the story goes, Titus disliked chasing errant pitches and fouled back baseballs. To save time and play more ball, Titus created a portable batting cage. His cage served as the prototype from which the current baseball batting cages have evolved.

The device was an immediate hit and before the patent was approved, Titus had signed an agreement with A.G. Spalding and Brothers Company, to manufacture his portable batting cage. Spalding paid Titus five dollars for each cage sold. The cage was a hit because it was portable, stationary, adaptable in and out of doors, and prevented lost or stolen balls. Prior to Titus' invention, baseball teams hired young boys from the neighborhood as ball chasers.

When Titus wasn't inventing, he made his living moving houses. His unconventional house moving methods were said to amaze experts. It was not unusual for engineering students at nearby Princeton University to watch his productions. To move a house, Titus would often hitch a horse to a beam which, in turn, was connected to a windlass, a contraption used for hoisting or hauling. Six to eight men would then place heavy wood runners under the raised house while six other men soaped the runners to make the building slide. In later years, crank case drainings were added to the soap to make the house slide even more easily.

Although Titus had never received a formal engineering education, Hopewell residents considered him a natural born civil engineer. Titus also designed a baseball bat called the "Black Diamond," knitting needles, and bootjacks, each one of which featured the head of a different creature of nature. A local foundry molded these unique products.