Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Breaking curveball too good to be true
R&D Daily ^ | Thursday, October 14, 2010 | Carl Marziali

Posted on 10/14/2010 3:40:23 PM PDT by bunkerhill7

Breaking curveball too good to be true

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

(Excerpt) Read more at rdmag.com ...


TOPICS: Science; Sports
KEYWORDS: aerodynamics; baseball; curve; curveball; physics; sports
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-82 next last
To: BluesDuke

(( ping ))


41 posted on 10/14/2010 5:04:59 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Osage Orange
Caught a lot of fast pitch softball in my younger years....Most surely I caught guy's that threw rise balls.

While in the army from '69 - '72, I played fast pitch against several semi-pro softball pitchers from the south who had been drafted.

They had absolutely everything in their pitching arsenal, and from approx. 45 feet a fastball at about 90 mph. was an unseen missle.........

While I was a great fielder, I was a lously batter. The only noteworthy hit I can remember was a triple down the first base line. And that was only because I was so late swinging at the fastball that I accidentally made contact with it.........LOL!

42 posted on 10/14/2010 5:04:59 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco (There's only one cure for Obamarrhea......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: ETL
Here's my screen cap. You can see the ball just entering the catcher's mitt way in front of the plate...


43 posted on 10/14/2010 5:21:42 PM PDT by raybbr (Someone who invades another country is NOT an immigrant - illegal or otherwise.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: bunkerhill7

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.


44 posted on 10/14/2010 5:21:54 PM PDT by dinoparty
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bunkerhill7

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


45 posted on 10/14/2010 5:29:22 PM PDT by eartrumpet
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bunkerhill7; BluesDuke
“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.

46 posted on 10/14/2010 5:33:15 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: runninglips
Not true, the forward velocity keeps the trajectory straight, as it nears the plate it "breaks" because of less velocity, and a build up of air on one side of the ball. That is like calling my curve ball at bowling a long curved trajectory...it breaks at about the 3/4 mark of the lane.

Excellent post.

47 posted on 10/14/2010 5:36:53 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Osage Orange
You're talking about bowling balls, right?

Bowling balls, too, if you can throw them.

48 posted on 10/14/2010 5:38:04 PM PDT by Tanniker Smith (I didn't know she was a liberal when I married her.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: OldPossum

It’s like half curve/half fastball. Its break is less than a curve, the deepest part is right up by the plate idealy, like you said. I think most people consider it a type of breaking ball, but it usually is a heck of a lot faster than the standard curve.

Freegards


49 posted on 10/14/2010 6:07:28 PM PDT by Ransomed
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: irishtenor

Don’t want to brag, but I can, on demand, hook into the woods, slice into the water and sky off of the tee box.

In an exhibition of trick shottery, I have even nailed a tee ball no more than 3 feet in front of me off of a tee.

Never seen a bunch of middle aged white guys move so fast with that last trick. :)


50 posted on 10/14/2010 6:08:07 PM PDT by Delta Dawn (The whole truth.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: Lancey Howard

Besides the knuckler, they also didn’t look at a good split finger fastball. Those thing drop right off the table up at the plate.

Freegards


51 posted on 10/14/2010 6:11:38 PM PDT by Ransomed
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: DaxtonBrown

Took a curve ball from a southpaw to the arch of the foot. Who gives a flip if I got to take the base. Had to have a pinch runner. Man, that sucker hurt. Some things you just never forget. LOL


52 posted on 10/14/2010 6:19:00 PM PDT by rickb308 (Nothing good ever came from someone yelling "Allah Snackbar")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: Delta Dawn

Well, as Will Sonnett was fond of saying, “No brag, just fact”, I once sent a ball off of the tee at a driving range about 3 foot out, and down about 15 boxes. Talk about people un*ssing real estate.
Most of my shots look like they came out of a rifle. About 3 feet off of the ground for about 100 yards, aka “worm burner”.


53 posted on 10/14/2010 6:29:00 PM PDT by rickb308 (Nothing good ever came from someone yelling "Allah Snackbar")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

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

One of my uncles pitched fastpitch softball. And he did it using both arms (one at a time, of course). His windup was so clever that the batter didn't know which arm he was going to use at any particular pitch.

54 posted on 10/14/2010 6:45:48 PM PDT by OldPossum
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: runninglips

You are correct. This professor is a stooge.


55 posted on 10/14/2010 6:47:19 PM PDT by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Ransomed

Re your post 49, I thank you for a clear description of the slider. Now I understand.

In my 40s I once had the experience of batting against an aging former major league pitcher (if the OP’s memory was worth a damn I could give you the name...but alas). He threw me an assortment of stuff (probably included the slider) and I trudged back to the dugout.


56 posted on 10/14/2010 6:51:32 PM PDT by OldPossum
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: OldPossum

That’s a cool story. You are one of the few who knows what it’s like to face really good pitching. I could never get past fast stuff, it just looks like aspirin tablets going past. I never saw good breaking stuff, I’m sure I would have been diving out of the box.

Freegards


57 posted on 10/14/2010 7:03:05 PM PDT by Ransomed
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 56 | View Replies]

To: Delta Dawn

***Don’t want to brag, but I can, on demand, hook into the woods, slice into the water and sky off of the tee box.***

Shucks, I can do that without a demand. It’s a natural part of my game.


58 posted on 10/14/2010 7:05:45 PM PDT by irishtenor (Tag lines, they are not what they used to be...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: Figment
This has been studied to death by scientists, but the fact remains that the ball does move. Some pitchers make it move differently than others

Of course it moves. But for it to actually "break" would require the ball to suddenly change its rotation somehow -- doesn't seem like that could happen on its own. It's probably more a matter of how we perceive the motion of the ball as it follows its (real) curve.

59 posted on 10/14/2010 7:06:02 PM PDT by r9etb
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: Ransomed
Besides the knuckler, they also didn’t look at a good split finger fastball. Those thing drop right off the table up at the plate.

Excellent point.
Additionally, "cut fastballs" can get quick late movement. I watched Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz take a 105 mph fastball from the Reds' Aroldis Chapman into right field for a double a few days ago. That was a "flat" fastball, straight as an arrow. Good pitchers can throw in the low 90s but get "movement" on their fastballs that make them difficult to hit. There is nothing "parabolic" about a moving fastball.

FRegards,
LH

60 posted on 10/14/2010 7:21:59 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-82 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson