[bunkerhill7]

Now they tell me!

No wonder I never got a hit!

[Salvey]

And bees can’t fly.

[Tanniker Smith]

Hello??? Nothing new here. My science teacher, Professor Brancazio (I'd have to check the spelling on that), wrote an entire book on that, called, "The Science of Sports" back in the 80s (when I was, um, three years old, yeah), which was a follow-up to an article in the Sporting News, that was picked up by wire services (or the other way around?) called "Sir Newton and the Rising Fastball".

He also appeared on 20/20, and met Phil Rizzuto after that article.

Rising fastballs don't rise. They just don't drop as much.
Which actually sounds almost like Democrats saying, "there's no tax increases, just the scheduled end of the tax cuts".

Basically, in the time it takes a ball to get from pitcher to catcher, it will drop 4 feet vertically. The spin on the ball could cause it to drop a little less. To actually rise, it would need in the neighborhood of 10,000 rpm of spin.

[boop]

I know that the rising fastball is physically impossible, but curveballs are real! I thought I was going to get beaned so I stepped out of the box, the next thing I see is the ball in the catcher’s mitt. Called strike three.

[WellyP]

This tells a different story: http://iopscience.iop.org/1367-2630/12/9/093004/fulltext

Abstract. We discuss the trajectory of a fast revolving solid ball moving in a fluid of comparable density. As the ball slows down owing to drag, its trajectory follows an exponential spiral as long as the rotation speed remains constant: at the characteristic distance where the ball speed is significantly affected by the drag, the bending of the trajectory increases, surprisingly. Later, the rotation speed decreases, which makes the ball follow a second kind of spiral, also described in the paper. Finally, the use of these highly curved trajectories is shown to be relevant to sports.

[skeeter]

New research? How about a basic understanding of physics...

[bunkerhill7]

I don`t think these professors did their homework.

1. Actually could a baseball could act as a "lifting body"?

2. But there could be a thermal updraft over home plate due to the temperature gradient difference between the grass/dirt and the reflective plate.

3. Not only that, the catch could be blowing his breath outward, causing the ball to stall over the plate.

4. It could be Ground Effect!

"When a wing is flown very close to the ground, wingtip vortices are unable to form effectively due to the obstruction of the ground.

The result is lower induced drag, which increases the speed and lift of the aircraft while it is experiencing the ground effect...

Ground effect is a major factor in aircraft "floating" down the runway, and is the reason that low-wing aircraft have a tendency to float more than the high-wing varieties...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_effect_(aircraft)

[Ransomed]

If they are talking about “break” as a sudden thing right at the plate, then that might be so for curve and fastballs. Mariano must have one heck of an optical illusion going for left handers though with that cutter.

Knuckleballs are the pitch that really moves funky, going right,left and right again sometimes, not to mention uneven vertical break. Of course, the ball’s not rotating at all.

Freegards

[ETL]

"A Baseball with 216 raised red stitches hits the air and curves right under the batter, and the batter swings. Why did the ball drop? Why did the batter swing? What exactly happens to the ball as it is thrown?

What happens to the ball depends on what spin was put on it. What causes the ball to curve, slide or stay in a strait pattern? This all has to do with the fact that there is drag force, or air resistance. A curve ball is created when a ball is spinning. The faster flowing air under the ball creates less pressure, which forces the ball to dive or break. Baseball would be a dull game without drag force because there would be no curves, sliders, or knuckle balls."

http://ffden-2.phys.uaf.edu/211_fall2002.web.dir/Jon_Drobnis/Curveball.html
_____________________________________________________

Yahoo search results for "curve ball physics":
http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=yhs-avgb-chrome&type=yahoo_avg_hs2-tb-web_chrome_us&p=curve+ball+physics

[Adder]

Curveballs curve and fastballs go really fast, but new research suggests that no pitcher can make a curveball “break” or a fastball “rise.”

Then I am sure this researcher will be the next Babe Ruth.

Nothin to it.

[ETL]

The top pic is of the little girl who pitched a no-hitter last year.

[Hot Tabasco]

or a fastball “rise.”

They obviously never played fastpitch softball......The REAL good guys throw inside curves, outside curves, risers, drop balls and really fast fastballs...........

[NittanyLion]

Roy Halladay can do it - just ask the Reds...

[OldPossum]

I looked through the various posts but saw nothing on a related matter, i.e., sliders. It is my amateur knowledge that a slider is a fastball that breaks (usually at the knees) just before reaching the plate. No? Otherwise, what the hell is it?

[Lancey Howard]

(( ping ))

[dinoparty]

I’ve never understood this controversy. Just mount a camera with tracking software on the roof of a domed baseball stadium for a few games and capture the trajectory of the ball from an objective point of view. Problem solved. No physicists needed.

[eartrumpet]

http://illusioncontest.neuralcorrelate.com/2009/the-break-of-the-curveball/

[Lancey Howard]

“The curveball does curve, but the curve has been measured and shown to be gradual,” Shapiro said. “It’s always going to follow a parabolic path compare to the old-fashioned "looping curveball".

Of course, that parabola can begin later rather than sooner. A hard slider has a relatively short "parabolic path". Also, the researchers didn't seem to bother much with the knuckleball, which can indeed "break", sometimes more than once during a single pitch.

[SunkenCiv]

The less time the ball takes from the pitcher’s release to the catcher’s mitt (or the hitter’s bat), the less the ball sinks toward the Earth.

The distance is 46 feet, the really fast fastballs are travelling over 90 mph. Some are thrown over 100 mph; apropos of this, Nolan Ryan tore a bunch of stuff in his arm on his *second to last pitch*, and threw one more pitch after that.

The height of the mound being regulated, the only differences come from each pitcher’s height and strength. Technique can cause the ball to take a curving path from side to side, but it is always heading downward.

If there’s something *on* the ball, such as spit, K-Y, snot, whatever, the path of the ball can be a little wilder than without, and under the right circumstances could postpone the inevitable drop, or could seem to. Spitters are illegal. Years ago Catfish Hunter did an ad for some soft drink where he used condensation from a cold can of it to throw a demo pitch for some young players. “That’s against the rules.” “Not for me kid, I’m retired.”

I remember watching one of the Niekro brothers getting tossed from a game (and he was “retired” from the game after it) for surreptitiously filing the ball with (if memory serves) an emory board. Roughening the ball on one side can also change the path of the ball; it can increase the effective energy the pitcher can impart to the ball; and because the ball is thrown a bit harder, that also changes the path of the ball. Even if the hitter makes contact, the odds are better than the ball won’t get any distance.

Well, that was fun. :’)