It’s often said ‘the guy with the bigger stick always wins’, and it is safe to assume so in baseball ,seeing as the bat is the most vital aspect of the game since it embeds its sole purpose, to hit the ball. The excitement of baseball and what attracts fans the most is the ball- bat action. This relationship is established by the batter and the pitcher; their constant rivalry makes the game interesting as one tries to hit the ball, and the other tries to make him miss. The history of baseball is much like that of other sports; it originated from a group of people, soon it became popular and with time became a multi-million industry. As baseball became more popular and more people became interested in the game, competition drove investors to seek ways to gain certain advantage over their opponents and, so the need for better equipment arose. With the evolution of technology came development of materials which brought hand in hand the development of more efficient and effective bats. Wood was the starting material for bats, but then came the development of aluminum, and in the later years composite bats came into the field.
Though the sport is based mostly in talent, or how the athlete utilizes these tools, equipment is critical for the performance of the athlete. Athletes seek bats that will increase their probability for a home run, maximize their hitting power, decrease the amount of energy loss in the collision for a greater ball velocity, and allow for a quicker swing, seeing as these factors are crucial to the success of their careers. Decades and decades of testing and experimentation have gotten the baseball bat to where it is. It first started as a simple plank, but with the growing popularity of the sport along...
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...etes and companies are constantly seeking ways to include technology to better their equipment. Again, the development of computers, industrial equipment, measuring devices, testing equipment, and smarter engineers were all contributing factors to the evolution of the baseball bat.
Works Cited
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Braham, James. "Keep you eye on the batAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers". 69. 13 (1997), 1-3, http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=46cabc6b-475f-4fa3-8712-92f0739b70d4%40sessionmgr115&vid=1&hid=111&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=9708224665. (accessed March 23, 2011).
High tech aluminum baseball bats aren’t quite as new to the game as many people may think. Author, Patrick Hruby, wrote in Sports Illustrated, “introduced in the mid-1970’s… metal bats have become increasingly potent, forged with alloys… pressurized air chambers” (Hruby 42). Over the last few decades these aluminum ‘killer bats’ have evolved to be even more potent. “Some coaches and players claim these powerful bats are ruining the integrity of the game and placing pitchers at undue risk” (42). Every college, divisions I through III, are using these bats religiously. Each year bigger and better bats are at each team’s fingertips. A few of the more popular bats this year are the TPX C555 Platinum, TPX Omaha, and the EASTON Redline, just to name a few. These bats are so advanced that almost everything about them has changed, for instance, “…an
Albert G. Spalding created the first major league baseball glove. “Wearing a glove just wasn’t manly” said Smithsonian. It used to be that the strongest player on the field was whoever had the most broken fingers or blisters, but after a while, players realised they
Baseball has been of the longest living sports in our world today. The game started with the idea of a stick and ball and now has become one of the most complex sports known in our society. Several rules and regulations have been added to help enhance the game for everyone. Although baseball has endured several issues during its history and development of the game the game has still been a success throughout the world.
The game of baseball can be divided into three broad categories: hitting, pitching, and defense. No other facet of the game gets as much attention as hitting. For example, every year the MLB puts on a home run derby. No other part of the game draws as much attention. The traditional statistic that measure hitting ability is batting average (BA or AVG). To find a players batting averag...
Torque is another key ingredient to a good power hitter, or even a good hitter. Torque is the result of two forces being applied to an object in opposite directions. In this case the two forces are being applied from the hands and wrists onto the bat. As you start your swing, instead of moving your hands directly at the ball, you want your hands to start a rotation. The top hand begins to move backwards while the lead arm drives the end of the bat towards the ball. The torque invloved is created around the point of the bat that lies between your hands. This torque greatly accelerates the head of the bat which will have act with a greater force when (or if ) it comes into contact with the ball.
Now what I will need for this experiment is two aluminum bats, they don’t need to be the same exact bat, but they will be the same length and weight. I’ll need a few racquet balls and I will probably try it with bou...
The purpose of this paper is to describe the softball swing anatomically, mechanically, and analytically. By analyzing each move one makes when...
Baseballs require a coat of white leather stitched with red seams to cover the nine-inch circumference and 2.8 inch diameter. They are easy enough for a child to hold. Also, a baseball weighs only five ounces, which is like holding a deck of cards. Because a baseball is lighter and easier to hold, baseball players have better control of the ball. When I played little league baseball, I never witnessed any teammates suffer from being hit by a baseball. In that sense playing baseball does not create much of a risk of
There is some discrepency of where the sweet spot is on the bat. Some believe that the sweet spot is 17 inches from the end and others believe that it is 6 inches from the end. For a wooden bat, I tend to believe that the sweet spot is 6 inches from the end of a 34 inch bat (opposite of where your hands are). This is due to the fact that if you were to hit a ball 17 inches from the end, you would be hitting on the bat's emblem. If hit hard enough, the bat would break because this is a weak spot in the bat due to the stamping of the emblem.
Baseball is a fascinating sport that is exceptionally fun to play. This assignment is all about understanding the physics of a few key aspects of this sport. One might ask what physics could have to do with baseball? Like most sports baseball involves physical motion. Baseball encompasses all three planes of motion through throwing, hitting, and fielding. All of the classical laws of mechanics can be applied to understand the physics of this game.
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In the three articles that I chose to write about the concepts of physics are explained in each one. In every article there is the similarity that physics and technology are the reasons for the advances in the sports. In the first article it is evident by the statement, “High-tech bats have so enhanced players’ power that some leagues have taken to limiting the number of home runs a team can hit.” (Jay Greene 2,3) Even in the second article with the statement, “The higher we can get the COR, the faster the ball would shoot off from the “collision” – it would go further.” (Coefficient of Restitution 2,1) Lastly in the third article when the author stated, “Clearly, pole-vaulting is an example of a sport in which technology has been used to improve athletic performance.” (The Physics of pole-vaulting ) Without physics these technological advances could not be made. Although these technological advances dont come without some issues attached. With the new technology of the carbon and fiberglass bats, questions can be asked like, is there a point where advancements have gone too far? If bats are continuing to be modified and made to hit the ball farther, what will happen to the game of baseball? Already some bats are being banned from leagues and players feel they have to take more safety precautions because of the potential injury from the ball speed. I really believe that the bat industry...
Back then the bat resembled a modern day hockey stick, then changed to something that looked like a paddle, and finally in 1770 the cricket bat became roughly parallel with a maximum width of 4.25". This is still the same today, it was only until the 18th century the bats were made of willow wood which were very heavy, soon later found that