The Liberal democrat. [volume] (Liberal, Kan.) 1911-1924, 1912-11-01
First Test of Speed OF Pitched Ball
in Worlds History.

First Test Of Speed Of Pitched Ball
in Worlds History.
When big Walter Johnson of the
Washington Americans sent a base
ball crashing through screen o.
copper wires and against steel
plate on the testing range of the bis
Remington Arms Union Metallic Co.,
at Bridgeport, Conn, last Saturday,
new chapter In the annals of the
American national game was COM
menced. The speed of pitched bah
was exactly recorded for the hrst
time in the worlds history,
Ballistic engineers had skilfull!
adapted the chrOnOgraph, an instru-
ment employed In accurately testlna
bennington UMC ammunition, tu
measure in seconds the fight of a
Dase ball, and at the suggestion of h.
=. Lane, editor OF the Baseball Maya.
zine, the rather elaborate test nau
Deen arranged
when the speed OF a rifle bulle,
is to be determined on the chrome
graph, the arm is placed IN a nXeu
poSlCon at known distance fron.
d large j-l6th-inch steel plate at the
end OF an enclosed range, somethln.,
Ike an elongated shooting gallery o..
Tie common type. over the muzzle
Of the gun thin copper wire is the.
stretched. The speeding bullet cuts
the wire and electrically releases al,
upright rod on the recording lnstru-
iuent at the rear OF the weapon. The
impact OF the bullet on the steer
plaLe, in the same manner, releases
Il knife which hicks the bar as II
,alls past a given point and from the
distance recorded on the bar, the
length OF time rquired for the missile
20 travel from wire to plate is COM
puted in feet per second,
One OF the changes necessary to
meet the requirements OF the pitch
ing arm was to arrange net worh
Of copper wires over frame about
three feet square, through which the
Dall was thrown. This frame was
mounted on an upright standard and
was raised or lowered to correspond
with the heights OF the pitchers OF
the styles of balls to be delivered
In selecting the pitchers for the
initial test, Walter Johnson was Sc
iected because of his reputation as
the speediest slab artist" in the
game and Napoleon Rucker, the star
left-hander of the Brooklyns, was
picked as a south paw who pitches
ball of moderate speed, dependin !,
10 large extent on SLOW bali tao
tics than does Johnson.
Both pitchers experienced Difficult
ty in the tryouts in gettinS
the ball through the rather mar
row wire frame. AS Johnson re-
marked: I'VE are after the man at
the other end of the range in the real
game and ! don't think any of us pay
much attention to how the ball starts
when we get into action However,
little practice brought out three
onsistent scores from each pitcher.
both of whom threw at terrific
speed Johnsons first record was
1870 feet per second, Rucher's LOG;
second trial, Johnson, 121, Rucker,
1903; and in the final plunge at the
plate, Johnson pushed his speed ~
to 1872 feet per second and Rucker
increased his to 113. 1t seemed very
probable that a speed OF $50 feet per
second might be reached after a long
er period of warming up and mole
practice.
Johnson's high mark of 1922 feet
Der second affords some interestin
comparisons. For instance, a bali
yoing at that velocity has a strikin ;
energy of 100 pounds the force
of a As caliber Colt Automatic PTS
toll. The Twentieth Century Limit
ed. flying at a mile a minute gait
over the rails makes but 8S feet per
second-only about two-thirds the
speed of Johnson's ball. If Johnson
should throw at man standing on
the back platform of that famous
train-starting his throw after the
last car had passed at the mile-a-
minute specific ball would catch
up and strike harder blow than II
thrown by the average pitcher at a
stationary mark
A speed of 1872 feet per second
means that Johnson sends the sphere
from the pitchers box over ,he plate
sixty feet away in less than two
ticks of a watch-quicker than the
wink of an eye 1t also means that
to be struck with such ball in any
vital spot -?
Well, is it any wonder that a bat
ter every now and then lets one go
by or that he does not always re-
spond to the fans Jaw, stand up
and hit EN- Are you afraid OF
emf"