Bash Brothers

All Joe Tanner wanted to do with his life, after he was told he didn't weigh enough to play football, was play baseball.

A second baseman, shortstop and longtime professional coach, Tanner, now 82, never considered himself an inventor. But his product, a baseball hitting tee for coaches at all levels, from little league to the big leagues, has been a resounding success. Tanner Tees, with three patents, are ubiquitous in most Major League batting cages and hundreds of other minor league facilities nationwide.

“He literally revolutionized the batting tee market,” says Andy Menard, Joe Tanner's grandson. “He developed a better model.”