Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1913-06-28

theory, and doubted the fact. Every
curve. shoot, "hook, "fadeaway." and
slow ball depends upon the same prin-
ciples. revolution and air pressure. The
way ball curves depends upon the
force with which 1t is thrown and the
| amount OF rotation. It's direction de-
ponds upon the amount of friction APP
piled by the fingers to given point on
the surface of the ball. The ball a.
ways curves in the direction OF tbs
heaviest friction applied by the hand,
and away from the heaviest air
friction. The curve increases in the
ratio of the amount of Its reyolu.
ton.
Perhaps the most frequent question
| 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 assist
ance. | never have been able to find
the limit of the curve, nor, indeed, to
calculate the curve accurately, al
though | have made some expert
ments | refer to the actual curve OF
the ball due TO its rotary Ecttcn and
air resistance. l 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 inches
have heard ball-players declare the
Sul curves from six inches to five
feet. l tried il once with Orval Over
all, who Tad, believe, the mos.
sweeping and widest fast curve bah
ever saw.
paper between s.a;s. OF them mt
short intervals over the irst 10 feet
in front Of the plate, the rest scatter.
ed at wider intervals until the last
one was feet in front of the pitchers
slab and, to my surprise, his hand
struck the paper as the ball was rs
leased, proving the actutt distances
of the pitch is much sESrter thar
usually supposed OF course Over
all's reach was much greater than
the average, but do not think the act
ual pitching distance, from hand ia
plate. is more than So fest
Overall pitched his wide overland
curve. The ball entered the first
sheet four feet TO the right os the
string, which was placed through the
center of the two plates ar height of
five feet, and almost six feet above the
ground Che was pitching off sight
elevation. His hand hit tho paper
and tore hole foot lower, saoYTing
he had released the ball before his
arm reached the extreme Gplit of its
swing The ball went through the sec
ond sheet, which was 10 fees from the
first just four inches lower than
through the first, and a little oEer
two and IA half feet from the right OF
the line II was less than foot from
the line when ii struck the first of the
eight sheets placed closely together in
front of the plate, and it tGre through
the next one a trifie higher. Then il
began its true curve. Nine feet in
front of the plate il 'broks" AMI sho:
downward and outward and crossed
the sheet ut the home plate ten inches
above the. ground and nearly tSelms
right-handed batter) of tie center of
the plate. The ball bad dropped Give
feet two inches downward. through The
force of gravity, the augis at which. il
was pitched and the cIu.ve, and had
angled and curved practically five feet.
The closest calculation we could make
was that the ball actually curved, as
a result of its rotary usotion, approx
matelY II inches.
The air resistance. which was dis
puted mt Tyng's experiments, has. OF
course, became a kEFHTn factcr with
the study of the scienTe of aeronaut-
les. The amount cf resistance can
be computed closely By the use of the
barometer. The ball curves In the di-
reetion in which 1t rsvolves. The
amount Of the curve depends upon the