Posted on 04/30/2012 11:59:16 AM PDT by Kaslin
Too many foul tips to the facemask?
Hey, Timmy: better steroids!
I’ve always found that the ball flies farther in humid air; at least in softball.
Not disagreeing with you here, but I’m trying to learn. I am not a scientist, nor do I pretend to be one or to have any meaningful expertise whatsoever.
Also a given: man-made global warming is insignificant, and Algore and his ilk are completely full of crap.
Moving forward, I recently read an article that said cars get better gas mileage in warm weather because heat expands the air, making it less dense. The less dense the air, the less friction is created by an object passing through it. The less friction on the object, the less energy required to move the object through the air. Therefore, gas mileage is better in warmer, dryer weather, because the air is less dense.
Applying that to baseball and home runs, would it not follow that, all else being equal, a well-hit baseball would travel farther in warmer weather? A simple experiment could prove this: take a pitching machine capable of throwing a baseball 400+ feet. Take an average of a statistically significant number of throws at a cold location, and do the same with the same or similar machine at a warm location. Calibrate the machines so that they are applying the same force at each location.
Perhaps this has already been done. If someone is aware of a link, I’d love to see it.
He was a punk jerk when he was playing and that ‘style’ continued on into his broadcasting career. Now we get the Global warming scam/fraud from this idiot. What a damn clown.
You are officially old if you can remember Harry Carey broadcasting Cardinal baseball.
(I remember too)
I like him. One time when I was a little kid, I approached him and asked him for his autograph. I can’t remember the circumstances, but he was pissed as hell about something and told me to get the hell out of his way. Another time he signed very graciously. I still admired him. Now he sounds like he has alzheimers disease.
Well, speculation on whether the ball is carrying further seems to be like talking about the weather in baseball.
There IS a 20% decline in homeruns and the two leagues are averaging UNDER ONE HR per game.
Which is almost back to 1993 levels.
This year, there are only 11 teams out of 30 that have hit more HR's than they have played games while two other teams have hit exactly one HR per game played.
In 2011, there were only 6 National League teams and 8 American League teams that hit more HR's than games played.
Meanwhile at Wrigley Field, the Chicago Cubs, in the Friendly Confines, have hit only 8 HR's in 22 games played.
And Albert Pujols, obviously homesick for St. Louis is homerless after being 3rd in HR's last year with 37.
Overall, the American League is averaging 24 HR's per club after 22 games and the National league is averaging 18 per club after 22 games. All of MLB is averaging 20 HR's per club or .909/HR/game played.
“Applying that to baseball and home runs, would it not follow that, all else being equal, a well-hit baseball would travel farther in warmer weather?”
Yes, friction would be less in warm weather (although I don’t know if the effect would be appreciable - perhaps the pilots out there could tell us how air temperature affects lift).
However, note that in the equation governing the behavior of an ideal gas, there is no variable for CLIMATE - there is only a variable for Temperature.
Thus, in order to test McCarver’s hypothesis, one would need to plot air temperatures for every baseball season in the last 50 years, control for the size and strength of players, the liveliness of the baseballs, and the use of anabolic steroids, etc, etc and do a multivariate analysis to see if there is correlation with any of these variables.
Other variables might be home runs or batting averages with a quantification of how well players took care of themselves: how many home runs would Mickey Mantle or Babe Ruth have hit if they had not been out carousing as they did? What would Billy Martin’s batting average have been or Whitey Ford’s ERA if they had not been drunk so much?
see post No. 33
Baseball stats are very sensitive to weather. Indeed, baseball stats can be used as an accurate barometer.
The primary cause of heightened HR rates is air density. The thinner the air, the less a thrown pitch will break...and the further a batted ball will travel.
Three phenomena create thinner air: P> 1. Temperature -- the hotter, the thinner. Air temperature has a pronounced effect on takeoff roll for airliners, e.g.
2. Altitude -- the higher the park, the more offense it will generate. See mile-high Coors Field vs sea-level Petco.
3. Storm fronts -- are generally preceded by low pressure areas, then followed by high pressure areas. You can sit in the stands at The Ballpark in Arlington (TX) e.g. and, if there is lightning to the Southwest, the ball will start flying out of the park. But, once the storm front passes and the game is re-started, pitchers will be in charge the rest of the way.
According to Rush today in the post steroid era, we have less home runs in MLB.
Since my chin matches your screen name, I guess that would be further verification of your pronouncement on being “officially old” with our common recollection of Harry as the radio voice of the Cards.
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