They even found the coin! Here it is!
Posted on 07/03/2008 5:09:59 AM PDT by Soliton
Researchers announced Wednesday that remains excavated in the last three years were those of the long-sought dwelling, on the old family farm in Virginia 50 miles south of Washington. The house stood on a terrace overlooking the Rappahannock River, where legend has it the boy threw a stone or a coin across to Fredericksburg.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Carolyn
There are plenty of teenagers who can throw a rock that far. Not a particularly difficult "legend" to credit.
They even found the coin! Here it is!
It would be an enormous improvement if the New York Times could rise to the level of apocryphal.
It would be an enormous improvement if the New York Times could rise to the level of apocryphal.
Darn ... I was hoping they found the stump. ;o)
How do you "discredit" something like this? You would have to prove that it didn't happen. They mean that it is probably apoyphal, but no one can say for sure.
That is a football field in length. Nobody can throw a rock that far. Major leage outfielders can't throw a basenball that far.
Correct.
Nobody can throw a rock that far.
Incorrect - depends on the size of the rock.
Major leage outfielders can't throw a baseball that far.
Not with any accuracy - but guys like Don Grate have thrown baseballs well over 400 feet.
98 and 99 yard passes have been completed in the NFL and incomplete passes that far have been thrown many times in NFL and college play.
Shotputters can throw a 16 lb metal ball 60 feet and further.
Golf balls, which weigh an ounce and a half, have been thrown over 400 feet as well.
The longest pass in the air was 83 yards thrown by Don Meridith to Bob Hays (249 feet)
I have not been able to find a statistic for longest throw in the air for a baseball. They keep track of the total throw with roll in a game.
No one is going to throw a rock 300 feet. Washington wasn’t a baseball player either.
That's completed, of course.
I have not been able to find a statistic for longest throw in the air for a baseball. They keep track of the total throw with roll in a game.
True. However, the point of an outfield throw is to throw a catchable ball to an individual, not to hit a riverbank.
Balls are thrown with almost pinpoint accuracy from 150 feet in the MLB all the time.
If accuracy in the context of a game was not a factor, these guys could throw a ball wildly much, much further.
No one is going to throw a rock 300 feet.
Plenty of people have thrown golf balls and baseballs that distance.
Washington wasn’t a baseball player either.
No, but he was an unusually tall and strong young man with an athletic bent and throwing a rock over a river does not require anywhere near the same accuracy or skill that is demanded of a baseball outfielder - just strength.
I guarantee that there are right now at least a thousand teenagers in Texas alone who can throw a 6 ounce baseball 83 yards.
In 1989 I watched a game where Bo Jackson threw out a runner at home with a throw of well over 300 feet from deep left center.
Not only was it an amazingly long throw, it was dead on accurate.
A rock I’d believe, a coin? I don’t think anyones throwing a coin the length of a football field.
Was he a boy throwing a rock?
I can’t remember who has the Am Revolution ping list.
But GGG might be interested in this, so ping to GGG.
Pretty sure that Washington wasn’t a little boy when he tossed the coin according to the legend, he was an older teen. And a silver dollar , which would weigh about 1 ounce, would fly much further than a baseball that weighs 5 ounces.
Give it up. It would be impossible even for Bo Jackson.
1. The first U.S. Silver Dollars were struck in 1794
2. George Washington was born in 1732
3. George was 62 in 1794
Well, a coin edgewise is more aerodynamic than the average rock - people throw playing cards over 100 feet - I've actually seen that done.
What coin would Washington have been throwing? I would guess probably a silver half-crown, which would weigh about two ounces - or about the weight of a golf ball.
Who knows?
But small objects can definitely be thrown 250 feet by a strong teen - especially if the wind is at his back.
After this conversation I have half a notion to bring some dayglo golfballs down to the high school track I normally run on and see how far across the football field I can launch one.
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Thanks kalee. |
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