Tin vs. Lumber Baseball Bats
There has been great change throughout time in the game of baseball. One of the biggest changes in the college game we have seen is the baseball bats used. Before 1974, in the NCAA, the only bats used were wooden. Since then, mostly metal or aluminum bats have been used. This has caused great change in the college game, some say for better, some say for worse.
For as long as I have been around aluminum bats, there has always been the question of safety. Each year we hear about a college pitcher being injured from a line drive off of an aluminum bat. Some say this is because the aluminum bats allow the ball to come off the bat quicker, but studies have shown that the exit speeds' of the balls coming off a wood and aluminum bat are nearly the same. This leaves the Moment of Inertia (MOI) as a possible cause. The MOI is simply where the weight is based in the bat. Wood bats can have the exact same MOI therefore causing the same so-called injuries that the aluminum bats cause (Russell). There has also been a study which compared the number of injuries in the NCAA and the Cape Cod League occurring from wood bats and aluminum bats (Douglas). The study showed that there are in fact more injuries caused from wood bats than aluminum. Most of the wood bat injuries were from thrown or splintered bats in which some resulted in serious injury. Rick Helling knows all too well about the injuries wood bats can cause. Helling, who was pitching for the class AAA Nashville Sounds last year, threw an inside pitch to a batter and shattered his bat which caused a jagged 8 inch shard of the bat to be impaled in his arm. The incident was so gruesome one of his teammates fainted. Recently there have been more injuries occurring such as Helling's which involved a wood bat than those involving aluminum.
Some baseball traditionalists say that the aluminum baseball bat is ruining the integrity of the game. They believe that since the NCAA used to use wooden bats it still should. They say the statistical records broken should not and would not have been broken with wood bats. In their minds these may be valid points, but the NCAA has been using wood bats for so long now that this is basically an outdated argument.
Aluminum bats are more durable then wood bats. They are also lighter than wood bats which means the ball coming off the bat will be faster then when it was pitched. Aluminum bats are hollow and wood bats are solid. The wood bat can go just as far an a aluminum bat but the wood bat is heavier then the aluminum bat. Aluminum bats can move a lot faster then when they were first made but the advancements in making the bats have come a long way since then so aluminum bats can hit farther then wood bats because they made them better. Aluminum bats have a bigger sweet spot then wood bats so it is harder to hit the ball farther then if you don't use the sweet spot it makes it harder to hit, if you don't use the sweet spot it will not be a very good hit ball. The sweet spot is the center at which the ball produced the least osculation which gives the maximum output and the ball will travel further. In 1986 they started to put weight limits on bats because the bat performance and impact with aluminum bats were having on the games it allowed grater bat swing speed and better bat control.
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
When asked to name great hitters, fans would probably mention the likes of Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, and Ted Williams. It would not come as a surprise if they forgot to include the Georgia Peach, Ty Cobb, on their list. The reason for their forgetfulness stems from the era in which Cobb played. Beginning his career in 1905, Cobb played baseball through the period dubbed “the dead ball era.” During this era (1900-1919), players hit marginally fewer homeruns than players from other eras. The reason for this homerun shortage resulted from the baseball used at the time. Indeed, the ball had no life. Loosely wound, one baseball often served throughout an entire game. Moreover, larger ball fields also kept the homerun totals down (“1900-1919”). Legal pitches also included the spitball, a terrib...
The game of baseball has changed ever since Babe Ruth has joined the league. He has changed the game with the amount of power he brings to the plate. Right now with the Yankees, he has showed how amazing he is and has helped make the Yankees popular by winning a few World Series and breaking many homerun records. For Babe to come into the league, it took a little help to get noticed.
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.
Baseball?s reputation has been painted with a red asterisk. The non-medical use of steroids has been banned according to the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 1990. Many baseball athletes have been caught or presumed illegal users of HGH or Steroids since the act passed in 1990. All these athletes have one thing in common, they want to have an edge or advantage on the game. Some athletes even admit to administering the drug to other athletes and themselves. Jose Conseco testified to personally injecting the steroids into Mark McGuire (Cote).
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.
My science report is about whether a corked aluminum bat hits a ball farther than a regular aluminum bat. But first before I get into that boring science stuff, I’ll tell you about the history of baseball. Baseball originated in American before the Civil War (1861-1865) the game was called rounders and was played in sand lots. The first professional team was founded in Cincinnati in 1869. During the 1950’s and 60’s the MLB really took off, it was a time for expansion for the American league and National league. Then new turf fields and new bigger stadiums changed the game forever in the 80’s, But in the 90’s it was all about getting home runs. There have been 245,913 home runs hit in MLB history, and that’s where the physics of cheating in baseball comes in.
The issue of performance-enhancing substances in baseball has been mostly present over the past ten years. The reason for players taking steroids is simple, by taking steroids, hitters like Barry Bonds gained more strength to hit better averages and more home runs, while pitchers like Roger Clemens gained better stamina and powerful arms.... ... middle of paper ... ... Steroids are not fair to the players who worked hard everyday to achieve Hall of Fame status, without performance enhancements.
Steroids need to be allowed in baseball because it will bring more excitement back into the game. “Steroids will cause baseball players to build more muscle which means that they will most likely increase their offensive stats. The stat that it will mostly increase is the homerun” (Vass). People that watch baseball unless they are die-hard baseball fans do not want to watch baseball to see a team play a good defensive game. They do not want to see a low scoring game. They watch the game of baseball hoping a player will hit the ball four hundred and fifty feet out of the ballpark. They want to see a player come up clutch and hit a walk off homerun to win the game for their team and their ...
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.
Claim: The early years of baseball has changed dramatically over the years that have gone by.
Change is represented throughout the plot of the entire story. The main plot point of the story is how real grass has been changed artificial turf in the baseball field. This change may have been seen as unfortunate, but it reminded people of the importance of coming together and enjoying the baseball stadium as a community. Also, at the beginning of the story, as the character
Looking at an article, Baseball vs. Softball, from a website called Ball or Nothing, they state that “Softball, which is perceived to be a “girls sport”, not only differs from baseball in field dimensions, equipment and rules, but, in contrast to many preconceived notions, it also has a higher rate of injury in regards to concussions and sliding related injuries.” So, both the two have different levels of injury rates with different types of injuries. Also in this article, a conversation between Dr. Joe Congeni and Barry Howell quote that “...concussions are far more common, nearly two times as frequent, in softball than baseball (Congeni, 2014).” A study conducted by the American Academy of Pediatrics went more in depth about the concussion differences and claims “the rates of concussions for baseball was 0.2 per 1000 athletic exposures, and for softball the rate of concussions was 0.5 per 1000 athletic exposures.” Congeni also hypothesizes that the shorter distance from home to the mound and a smaller infield is why is it more likely to be hit by a pitch in softball (which make
...nstructions however, a printer's error had changed sixty feet to sixty feet six inches. When this error was discovered, it was to late to do anything. Hundreds of fields around the country had already been altered, and it remains the official distance separating the pitcher from the batter. Also in 1898 the first base stealing statistics and rules that define a balk appear. By 1900 the first pentagon shaped home plate appears on a baseball diamond. The history of baseball is so interesting to see how people actually came up with this wonderful idea to play a game called baseball. If you compare the modern game now, to game in the 1800's, the game looks pretty much the same just some minor changes of how the game is played. Well to conclude my essay baseball still remains as "Americas favorite past time sport."