Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1912-10-24
CURVING A
BASEBALL

Hugh s. Fullerton, an expert On
baseball, writes in the October Amer
lean Magazine on how far baseball
can be made to curve, and he reports
the following experiments:
Perhaps the most frequent Ques-
| ton asked of a baseball writer is;
| How far can a ball be made to
curve? OF course they mean by
normal pitcher not using mechanical
assistance. | never have been able TO
find the limit of the curve, nor, in
deed, to calculate the curve accura-
tely, although | have made some eX-
periments. | refer to the actual curve
Of the ball due to it's rotary motion
and air resistance. do not think that
the real curve of the ball in Sc feet
distance from the pitchers hand
when he releases the ball to the
home plate) can be more than 20 in
ches | have heard ballplayers de-
clare the ball curves from six inches
to five feet tried it once with Orval
Overall, who had, | believe, the most
sweeping and widest fast curve ball
ever saw.
We placed IL big. sheets Of tissue
paper between the Stats, eight of
them at short intervals over the first
Is feet in front of the plate, the rest
scattered at wider intervals until the
last one was six feet in front of the
pitchers slab, and to my surprise, his
hand struck the paper as the ball
was released, proving the actual dis
lance of the pitch is much shorter
than usually supposed. OF course
Overall's reach was much greater
than the average, but | do not think
the actual pitching distance from
hand to plate is more than Sc feet.
Overall pitched his wide overland
curve. The ball entered the first
sheet four feet to the right of the
string, which was placed through the
center of the two plates at height
of five feet and almost six feet above
the ground The was pitching off a
slight eleVation9. His hand hit the
paper and tore hole foot lower,
showing he had released the ball be-
fore his arm reached the extreme
limit of its swing. The ball went
through the second sheet, which was
ten feet from the first, just four in
ches lower than through the first and
little over IL feet from the right
of the line. 1T was less than foot
from the line when 1t struck the first
of the eight sheets placed closely to-
gether in front of the plate, and it
tore through the next one a trifle
higher. Then it began it's true curve.
Nine feet in front of the plate it
II
ward and crossed the sheet at the
home plate ten inches above the
ground and nearly II inches to the
outside (that is, for right-handed
battef) of the center of the plate. The
ball had dropped feet 2 inches
downward, through the force of gra-
witty, the angle at which it was pitch
ed and the curve, and had angled and
curved practically five feet. The
closest calculation We could make was
that the ball actually curved, as a
result of it's rotary motion, approx
mately II inches.
'The air resistance, which was dis
puted at the time of Tyngs expert
ments, has, of course, become a
known factor with the study of the
science OF aeronautlcS. The amount
of resistance can be computed close
ly by the use of the barometer. The
ball curves in the direction in which
it revolves. The amount of the curve
depends upon the rate of rotation
and the weight of the air. The entire
science of pitching consists in the
deft application of friction upon some
point of the ball which makes lit
rotate in a certain direction, or which
counteracts its natural rotation and
causes it to 'Wabble' or float with
little revolving motion. The slow balls
fadeaways, knuckle balls, all have as
their object the prevention of rotary
motion, or to give false rotary mo-
ton or reverse English The ball
that presents the most air surface
to the resistance of the atmosphere
slows up quickest and yields more
RI Tho opo no Il