The Red Cloud chief., 1913-06-05
The Physics of Baseball
By Hugh S. Fullerton
Copyright. 1913, By W. u. Chapman,

accomplished the aim OF making ball
not too dead" and not too lively.
The shock Of the bat against the ball
dispels tho air gradually and mt the
same time causes a molecular change
In the rubber SO that q ball, after be-
Ing batted hard, loses much of It's re-
silent power The disarranging OF
tho molecular force causes ball
which, to an outsider may seem as
firm and solid as ever, to become a
"mush," dead and lifeless, and likely
to slow the entire game II permitted
to remain In play. The bats used are
almost all OF second growth ash Of the
finest and straightest grain, and
carefully dried. They are supposed to
retain their resilient qualities indefi.
nitely, but after month or two OF
hard usage the bat no longer possesses
the drive necessary for hard hit.
ting. Yet bats that have lost life"
often will. when kept In storage a few
months. recover their lost ring" and
be as good as ever, although the sec.
ond time they die" more quickly.
This sense of feeling and hearing
among players Is wonderful thing.
The object of each batter Is to~"hit
1t on the trade mark" with that part
OF his bat between four and six inches
from the end. He does not express It
that way, but he aims to hit the cen.
ter OF mass Of the ball with the cen.
ter of percussion Of the bat--so he
says. square on the nose" The CEN
ter OF percussion Of the bat varies &C.
cording to the grip of the batter's
hands, and 1t is the object of the
pitcher to force the ball to revolve 80
as to avoid meeting the center OF per.
cussion.
A ball Weighing five and eight
ounces and with circumference Of
nine inches, pitched at an approx.
mate velo ,ity Of 2SO feet q second
over a distance Of go feet, Is struck
sQuarely upon the center OF percus-
sion of bat weighing 40 ounces and
swinging at velocity Of 1850 feet
per second. will travel how far? Per.
haps the professor Of physics can
figure 1t out. but II he doeo he Is
wrong. He would have to know more
than these statistics before he could
make the correct calculation. He
should know the forearm strength Of
the batter. the muscle leverage. the
meeting angle OF ball and bat, the ro-
tary motion Of the ball, the condition
OF the atmosphere, direction Of wind
and q few other things. 1t is much
easier to have Vean Gregg shoot up
q fast one. let Larry Lajoie hit 1t, and
measure the distance. than to take q
postgraduate course and calculate 1t.
Every ball that is pitched, or
thrown. or batted has some rotary or
oscillatory movement all its own fur.
ther to complicate attempts to solve
problems In baseball physics. The
ball has wonderful ability to abb
sorb and retain motion no matter how
impaired. The spit ball. which was
SO fully and exhaustively treated In
the lectures Of my friend the pro-
lessor that l expect to see about 12O
Washes graduate from his school In
the next two years. Is the result of
skillful applying Of an unnatural force
to counteract the natural rotation of
the ball. The professor disputes this.
Possibly he does not know that ball,
gripped with the thumb and two
fingers. and thrown directly over.
hand, has q natural tendency to 70.
tate upward and hop" as the pitch.
ers say. All good fast balls rotat-
ing this way take sudden Jump in
the air. The spit ball pitcher vets
tho surface of the ball, grips the low.
er side tightly with his thumb, let's
the ball slide of the fingers. The ef-
feet Is that two conflicting forces
cause the ball to "wobble" for u dis.
tance, and then. yielding to the infiu-
ence OF the thumb pressure and the
attraction OF gravity. 1t darts down.
ward. When ball thus pitched is
hit 1t still refuses to surrender Its In.
clination to rotate. 1t starts toward
the infield with two forces still
struggling for mastery. Each time the
ball touches the earth 1t takes a DIFF.
ferent English The inflelder scoops
the ball and throws. II he clutches
the ball hard enough to kill all mo.
tion. all Is well. II he seizes It light.
ly and throws with the same motion
the ball takes fresh and renewed Eng.
lish as 1t leaves his hand and IL more
likely to shoot out Of reach OF the
batsman toward whom he throws.
The pitched ball. manipulated 80 as
to revolve unnaturally, takes Eng.
lish" In the air Just as a billiard ball
does against cloth and cushion. Many
persons have told me that the atmos-
phere on still day offers practically
uniform resistance to a projectile.
1t does not. We know now that the
air is tilled with eddies, currents and
pockets. even on the calmest Of days.
But admitting that 1t is uniform in
density. ball does not follow the
physical law OF constant decrease in
speed In ratio TO the resistance OF the
air, 1t even Is capable OF accelerated
motion, and OF both in the same 60
feet. That Is, ball may be made to
slnw m and then raauppa a s.,,au