believing this closes the pores on the wood and hardens the bat. Animal bones are a popular boning material, but rolling pins, soda bottles and the edge of a porcelain sink have also been used. Pete Rose had his own way of hardening his bats: he soaked them in a tub of motor oil in his basement then hung them up to dry. Fungo bat A fungo bat is a specially designed bat used by baseball and softball coaches for practice. The etymology of the word fungo () is uncertain, but the Oxford English Dictionary suggests it is derived from the Scots fung: "to pitch, toss, or fling". A fungo is longer and lighter than a regulation bat, with a smaller diameter. The bat is designed to hit balls tossed up in the air by the batter, not pitched balls. Typical fungo bats are long and weigh . Coaches hit many balls during fielding practice, and the weight and length allow the coach to hit balls repeatedly with high accuracy. The small diameter also allows coaches to easily hit pop-ups to catchers and infielders along with ground balls due to better control of the barrel of the bat. See also Baseball doughnut Composite baseball bat Cricket bat List of baseball bat manufacturers Pink bat Softball bat References External links Physics and Acoustics of Baseball and Softball Bats—How baseball bats work, how bat performance is measured, differences between wood, metal, and composite bats Woodturning Online—Making a Baseball Bat "Maple, Ash Baseball Bats May Strike Out". Talk of the Nation. National Public Radio, July 4, 2008. Bat Blunt weapons