Posted on 04/21/2006 5:45:04 PM PDT by buccaneer81
Busting Baseball Myths: Scientist Throws Big Curveballs By Bjorn Carey LiveScience Staff Writer posted: 20 April 2006 09:06 am ET Your Little League coach probably didn't know it, but every time he sent you to the plate with the instructions "keep your eye on the ball," he was giving you an impossible task. And if you followed the coach's advice of positioning yourself directly under a popup, you probably struggled to catch balls in the outfield, too. Ken Fuld, a baseball enthusiast and visual psychophysicist at the University of New Hampshire, has pored over numerous baseball studies and suggests that neither of these approaches produce optimal results. Instead, much to your coach’s chagrin, you should try mimicking the quirks of the best Major League players.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
. . . and I'll bet you actually believe that result!Just like my HS science teacher expected me to believe that the reason a spinning ball curves in its path through the air is that the Bernoulli effect of the high relative speed of the advancing side of the spinning ball caused low pressure on that side of the ball. Which sounds wonderful so long as you do not know that a spinning ball breaks the opposite direction to what that theory predicts.
Sorry, no sale.
How many Greg Maddox'es are there in the HOF? How many Randy Johnson's are there in the HOF?
There are more of the latter than the former, and there always will be.
And who says a four-seamer going 100 mph can't dip or curve?
But lets say you do indeed have a one-pitch repetoire consisting of a four-seamer that clocks in at 100 mph. Because a hitter has a hard time hitting *any* pitch traveling 100 mph, you'll have several years in the pros(minors included) to learn yourself other pitches while you skate by on pure heat.
And that is why there are more Randy Johnsons and Roger Clemens's in the world than Maddox's.
Show me a single respected sabremetrician that has proof of "clutch" hitting. You can't.
Of course, now I'll have to explain to you what a sabremetrician is. Try Google first.
I have seen people hit Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez, Billy Wagner, Schilling, Brad Lidge and Randy Johnson fastballs for home runs. At the big level everyone can hit a fastball. The guys that fail are the ones who cannot handle off speed and breaking pitches.
Hell, I watched John Tudor whiff Canseco and McGuire back in the World Series and he was throwing stuff in the high 60's.
Why should this thread be different from any of the others?
You know, rudeness and the need to display a superior attitude are the traits of lesser people. I would have been happy to discuss and debate the finer points of baseball with you but I think I will pass.
That is correct. It can't rise as thrown by a human. If you took video of a pitch perpendicular to its path, you would not find a ball that rises.
Clemens became one of the games most dominant pitchers when he learned how to throw that devastating split. Pedro could also clock it up there at 95-96 about 5-6 years ago but what made him amazing was that change that looked just like his fastball when it left his hand and a sharp curve ball.
Steve Carlton could throw hard but he was more than a one trick pony. Same for Seaver.
You truly are ignorant. If at the big level "everyone" can hit a fastball thrown by Ryan, Clemens, Martinez, Wagner, Schilling, Lidge or Johnson for easy dingers, then why are at least 5 of the 7 guys on that list going to the HOF?
I'm not 100% certain, but I'm pretty sure John Tudor ain't in the HOF.
"I think Ted Williams' high average depended more of his reported 20-5 eyesight that allowed him to see the spin on the ball"
Legend has it that Babe Ruth could read the lable on a 78 rpm record on a turntable. True or not, picking up the spin is key
what about the rising fastball?
That said, to paraphrase Potter Stewart, "I can't statistically define a clutch hitter, but I know one when I see him". Which is why if it was two out, bottom of the ninth in the seventh game of the World Series, Yankee fans would want Jeter at the plate, not A-Rod.
"Myth? Hardly. Koufax was the best pitcher of all time"
I love baseball arguments. Sandy had a great run. Nolan Ryan though, took the blazing fastball, great curve to a level never before seen
Go back and look at my posts and see where I used that term. Tell me where it is that I said that.
Answer is I didn't and it's something that YOU made up in your need to feel superior.
Pathetic.....
That doesn't make any sense. Your junior high teacher got it wrong. But that fact remains that a regular baseball thrown by a human can't rise. Some things can. A pingpong ball for one. Also you can take an old Bic pen barrel and strip out the innards and the cap on the other end, put it on a table, press down real hard with your fingers, and let your fingers snap down off the back. The barrel can rise several feet if you do it right. Why? High backspin coupled with light weight. The backspin generates a high pressure region below the barrel and a low on top. The barrel gets pushed up with a force greater than its weight. Same for a pingpong ball with backspin. A baseball is too heavy for the lift generated by the backspin a human can impart.
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