That’s understandable — “fungo” is sort of a funny word, and it’s not one you hear explained on baseball broadcasts or read about in magazines very often.

But fungo bats have along history in the game, and if you want have some diamond (ahem) fun, go ahead and read through the facts we’ve compiled below.

We’ll get into those reasons in a minute, but first, it will be helpful to know …

Difference Between Softball and Baseball Bats

The main differences between baseball and softball bats are in their length and weight.

Generally speaking, softball bats are longer than baseball bats. For instance, the most common length of softball bats is 34 inches, while many baseball bats are 33 inches or shorter. (These are adult models — youth models usually fall in the 30-inch range.)

Though shorter than softball bats, baseball bats usually have thicker barrels (where the bat hits the ball), which makes them heavier. The most popular adult slow-pitch softball bats weigh in at about 28 ounces, while baseball bats range from 32 to 38 ounces, or even heavier in some cases.

Finally, while most softball bats are made of aluminum, many baseball bats are still made of wood.

Why NOT to Use a Baseball Bat for Softball

Now, with those differences in mind, it’s not to hard to figure out why it might be hard to hit a softball with a baseball bat.

For starters, the shorter baseball bat makes it more difficult to reach across the full strike zone in softball. That difference becomes more pronounced in fastpitch softball, since the pitch arrives very quickly from just 43 feet away.

Likewise, the heavier baseball bat increases the time it takes batters to complete their swings, making them more prone to falling behind a pitch. Again, this is more pronounced in fastpitch softball than in the slow-pitch version.

Breaking the Law! Breaking the Law!

OK, maybe not the law, exactly. But many softball organizations have rules governing the equipment that players can use, and that includes bats in many cases.

Most fastpitch leagues, for example, regulate that all bats must have a 2-inch barrel diameter, measure 34 inches or less in length, and weight 31 ounces or less.

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So, yes, you could use a baseball bat in softball. But you probably wouldn’t want to … and you likely wouldn’t be allowed to!

In addition, the ball must be spherical in shape and composed of a small core of cork or rubber with yarn wound around it, all covered with two strips of white cowhide or horsehide.

The two pieces of a baseball cover are sewn together with 108 double stitches.

An umpire can remove a ball from play if it becomes misshapen or discolored, or if it comes apart during play.

The covering of a baseball is made up of two interlocking swaths of white horsehide or cowhide, each shaped like an oblong figure 8.

The two pieces are sewn together using 108 threaded stitches (usually red, blue, or black), forming one continuous seam traversing the sphere.

Often times, coaches, pitchers, other players, and fans will talk about various pitches that involve a number of seams, such as 2-seam or 4-seam fastballs.

This notation actually refers to the number of times a pitcher’s fingers, thumb, or palm cross the single seam, and where, as he holds the ball and delivers his pitch.

A two-seamer, for example, is held with the index and middle fingers gripping adjacent sides of one looping end of the seam, with the thumb inside the other loop, touching only the leather hide.

So, while the fingers, thumb, or palm can use different parts of the stitching to achieve desired results, there remains just one continuous, looping, round-trip seam on each baseball.

In fact, outside of professional baseball in North America, most bats are made from aluminum or composite — such materials tend to last longer, imparting cost savings to their teams and leagues. Those lighter bats, though, also tend to accelerate the speed of batted balls, making them dangerous projectiles and leading to various rules and restrictions to be enacted over the years.

In MLB, though, and in the minor leagues, bats remain wooden, as they have been for well over a century.

Here is a rundown of the three types of wood used for Major League bats, with the pros and cons of each.

Ash Baseball Bats

Ash bats were the most prevalent kind of baseball bats wood before the emergence of maple bats. These bats are more flexible, enabling players to whip the barrel through the zone, resulting in more bat speed. Ash bats are the lightest wood models and provide a good combination of strength and flexibility

On the downside, ash is a ring-porous wood, susceptible to drying out over time, which can weaken the bats and make them vulnerable to breakage.

Maple Baseball Bats

Maple is a dense, hard wood, which makes it both durable and solid, essential qualities for a Major League Baseball bat. In particular, higher density means the bats have more pop, especially important to help fuel today’s high-powered offenses. Also, since maple is a diffuse and porous wood with a tendency to compress when exposed to high-intensity force, it is less likely to shatter in the course of an at-bat — areas that strike the ball become even more dense with time and use.

Maple’s shortcoming is that, with time, it may absorb a significant amount of moisture, which can weigh it down — more weight means reduced bat speed, not exactly a hitter’s best friend.

Birch Baseball Bats

Birch is a durable wood, but it also tends to be soft. This has the advantage of creating more flexibility and “whip” as the player swings through the strike zone, but with the disadvantage of denting easily.

That sort of deformation on impact can lead to soft hits or unexpected ball flight, which often leads players to incorporating a break-in period before using a new bat in game situation to harden them up and increase their density.

Bottom Line

While ash was, for many years, the wood of choice for Major League bats, maple has generally overtaken its older “brother” over the last two decades or so.

Today, about 70 percent of Major Leaguers use maple bats, with ash accounting for another 25 percent, and yellow birch bringing up the rear at around five percent.

Picking among the three wood types comes down to personal choice for the players, as well as recommendations from coaches and teammates, and considerations for what they’re trying to accomplish at any given time — more power, settle in with just a couple of trusted bats, break out of a slump, etc.

Whatever the case, it seems a lock that MLB will stick with wooden bats, and that familiar “crack!” for many years to come.

These hand-sewn double stitches represent the final steps in the construction of a baseball, which is built from many constituent pieces.

Structure of a Baseball

The core of a baseball consists of a ball of cork surrounded by a thick black rubber membrane.

The next layer consists of a heavy red rubber covering, which is wrapped in several shells of wool yarn with various consistencies and thicknesses.

Closest to the core is a layer of 4-ply gray wool yarn, followed by 3-ply white wool yarn, all encapsulated in 3-play gray wool yarn.

The out interior layer of the baseball consists of white cotton yarn.

Finally, two figure-eight sections of white cowhide are wrapped around the ball in an interlocking fashion, and then sewn into place.

Baseball Stitches

The cowhide is stitched into place using 88-inch waxed red thread.

As mentioned above, although the baseballs you might buy in a typical sporting goods store may very well have been sewn together using a machine, Major League baseballs are hand-stitched.

Major League baseball first standardized their ball in 1876 and adopted red as the standard color for stitches in 1934.

There has been much speculation over why MLB chose red, but the general consensus seems to be that it aids in visibility for batters and fielders, alike.

(Though you have to wonder if pitchers wouldn’t prefer some subterfuge.)

Prior to that time, the National League used black thread intertwined with read, while the American League combined blue and red thread for their stiches.

Through 1975, Major League baseballs were manufactured by Spalding, whose founder was A.G. Spalding, former MLB pitcher and the inventor of the first standardized ball.

Then, in 1976, MLB switched affiliation and has used Rawlings baseballs ever since.

Today, all Major League baseballs are made at Rawlings facilities in Costa Rica, with some one million balls used by MLB teams each year.