a baseball bat includes a wood portion and a filling material contained by the wood portion . the filling material fills a longitudinal hole in the length of the wood portion to form a cord and a pair of widened portions at either end of the longitudinal portion to form a pair of plugs . the plugs positively contain the wood portion and the cord maintains a connection between the plugs in case of breakage of the wood portion . the filling material is preferably selected such that it does not alter the hitting properties of the baseball bat . in some embodiments the filling material is a polymeric material applied to the hole in a molten state and allowed to cure . in some embodiments the filling material is a mixture of multiple components . methods of manufacturing a baseball bat are also disclosed .