Customer Reviews

Fisher-Price Espn Better Batter Baseball

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

I bought this today for my 6 year old son because we had signed him up for T-Ball and I thought this would be great for him to practice with. I put it together and tapped the button for the ball to come up to the velcro tether and it worked fine. That was the first and last time it worked. The sounds are great, but I was bummed that the mechanism that brings the balls up only worked once. The tether that holds the balls so you can hit them is also kind of low. Kids have to be 3 or 4 to really have fun at that height. Overall it's a cute toy. If I had it to all over again, I think I would pass. Plus it comes with only 3 velcro balls that have to stay dry and clean or they won't stick to the velcro. And there are no refills of the balls if you need more.

We've had this for about a month and our 4-year-old and 2 1/2-year-old both like taking turns with it. It is perfect except that the velcro is WAY to strong on our unit and the balls almost never come off when the kids hit them. I usually can't even hit the ball hard enough for it to come off! It really is a pain in the neck to always have to p-u-l-l the ball off and gently reattach it before hitting. And it means that the kids can't do it independently, I have to help them.

UPDATE: We've now had this product for a year. The velcro has softened and no longer is too clingy. It usually works great and the kids still love it. Also, every kid who comes over wants to play with this and I've heard that many of them have ended up with one because they loved it so much!

My 3 year old just received this as a gift, and he loves it! Within 5 minutes of hitting the ball, he was hitting it harder and more correctly than he had in months of hitting it off a traditional tee. My nephews (5 and 7) also loved it, and since the height can be adjusted this toy should last a while.

We had no problems of the arm coming off or the velcro coming off. Occasionally one of the balls would stick too tightly to the arm and we would have to loosen it, but it was no big deal. Yes, we would love to have more than 3 balls available for this as well, but even with only 3 balls my son will continue to play with this until we make him stop!

Overall, I think this is a great toy, and my son enjoys it a lot (and gets lots of exercise chasing down those 3 balls).

My kids love this toy and replacement parts are availabe at servicemattell.com (product k9873) or go to this link https://store.mattel.com/CatalogBrowser.aspx?cat=140&sec=9141&productid=none&tx=103

The mechanical arm is painfully slow when it worked. It worked twice then stopped mid-way. It had to be helped back into position. Finally we just removed the batteries and my son just picks up the ball and attaches it to the velcro arm on his own. Don't waste your money. Just get a "T" and a few balls and spend the rest of your dough on a radio to listen to while you're chasing the balls.

I ordered this from Fisher-Price for my son's 5th birthday. Took it out of the box, assembled it, took it to the backyard in hopes of seeing him have a great time only to discover that the mechanical arm that loads the ball doesn't work. After the third time of trying to turn it off and turn it back on to try and trigger the arm, the music started to short out. Now he doesn't understand why we have to send it back less than an hour after owning it. Fisher Price toys are usually reliable, but I certainly would discourage anyone from ordering this product. We also have the little tikes auto pitch batting trainer that is great for learning to bat and we have had countless hours of fun with it.

Like the previous reviewer, I agree that this toy is a piece of junk and a big disappointment. The part of the toy that loads the ball is extremely sensitive and became permanently damaged after less than one hour of use. This is one of the poorest designed toys that we have ever owned.

This toy is an absolute piece of junk! Worked for about 5 minutes! Then it broke! But thanks to the great marketing and commericals every 5 minutes, my kids wont part with so I can return it! A $80 waste of denero - p.s. it sells at other stores for $40!

Length:: 0:15 Mins

It's is a Great trainig toy for baseball. My Son is three years and half old he practices Tee Ball, and he is practicing, and having greats results with this trainning-toy It is very Usefull and Funny. // Es un Juguete muy versátil, sirve de entretenimienro, y entrenador de bateo. Mi hijo tiene 3 años y medio, practica beisbol infantil, y le ha sacado muy buen provecho a este juguete- entrenador de bateo. Lo recomiendo.

My 3 year old played with this for 5 minutes- HE was able to hit the ball hard enough to dent it!! The TINY velcro piece fell off after a couple hits and the arm kept falling off after every hit. We will be returning this product. How cheaply made.