|
(See what I did with the title there?)
The yakker. Uncle Charlie. The hammer. The deuce.
Only one of the most beloved and scientifically
controversial pitches could garner so many synonyms.
The curveball is a pitching staple. Without this pitch or
one of its many variations it's virtually impossible to pitch at any level of
elite baseball. Do you know what else is
reputedly impossible? The curveball. Yep.
In a 2010 study, physicists concluded that curveballs don't
curve as dramatically as it may appear, citing the illusionary effects of a
spinning baseball. We'll get to that, and of course my utter disbelief feelings
on the subject.
Without further ado…
"Fidel Castro had a heck of a curveball. No really, Fidel Castro had a heck of a curveball." via Mop Up Duty
There are two noticeably different types of curveballs: the
12-6 and the slurve.
Recall
from Turbulent: A Golf Game the result of the Magnus effect on a dimpled golf ball.
Similar principles apply to a threaded baseball.
In order to understand the Magnus effect on a curveball, let's
examine it on a fastball first. The fastball is thrown overhand, with fingers
intersecting the baseball's threads at their largest gap.
Fastball grips via The Complete Pitcher
When the ball is thrown significant backspin on the ball
churns the air around it, pushing air to the bottom front of the ball creating
a high pressure zone that helps the ball maintain a straighter flight.
 via Aviation Glossary
A curveball has the opposite spin of a fastball, meaning that
the topspin of the ball creates high pressure behind and above the ball and embellishing gravity's natural drop.
A ball thrown with top spin and released directly over the
shoulder?
 via Wikimedia
It results in a 12-6 curve, like the animation above.
And a ball thrown from an arm angle between 90° and 180° results in a curveball with lateral motion, or
a slurve. Each type of breaking ball pitch uses some variation of top spin with
the knuckleball a notable exception.
Then where is the controversy? Curves are
known to "drop off the table" if the ball is on a straight path until it gets
closer to the hitter, where its direction changes wildly and fools the hitter; recent
studies suggest otherwise.
When a batter first identifies the delivery
of a ball from the hand of the pitcher he or she has about 220 milliseconds to
determine the trajectory, pitch type and velocity of the baseball. Typical
professional curveballs speed to home plate between 70-80 mph providing the
batter as little as .48 seconds to make a decision and connect with the
baseball. As the batter evaluates the
baseball, he or she must make an estimate on where to swing to connect with the
baseball. The last 15 feet of the baseball's flight path is guesswork for the
hitter as he or she is looking at where the ball and bat are expected to
collide. Until this last 15 feet, the hitter has maintained central eye focus
on the baseball, carefully examining the ball's flight. But changing the hitter's
gaze to where the bat and ball are expected to meet moves the ball to the
hitter's peripheral vision and creating an optical illusion. A ball that
appears to break more than 14" rapidly has likely only curved 3" or 4" rather gradually.
Disparaging remarks towards Mr. Met will be dealt with punitively. via New York Mets
It
seems silly, but it's probably accurate.
In my experience though, I'd have to say
this cannot be true. I'm not of authority to speak scientifically on the curve
of a baseball, but anecdotally I find it preposterous. A curveball is not a plodding
arc but a sharp snap close to the hitter. Each year I play amateur baseball and
it's usually the last pitch I can hit. I consider its unpredictability key to
undermining my usual batting prowess. And if it's a down year, I'll blame my
defense on curveballs too (this is my blog and I can do what I want here.)
While it's probably true that the break
of a curveball is mostly illusionary, if people can still be skeptics on global
warming, I think I can maintain my position on curveballs.
What say you loyal CR4ers? Is the
curveball real like Sandy Koufax or is it a magic trick like Santa Claus?
"Both," he says. via Gstatic
Resources
Sport Science via Youtube
eFastball - Reaction Times
NBC Sports: Real or Illusion
Steve the Ump - Aerodynamics and Curveballs
| 
2
Re: Curveballs: The Break(down)
Comments rated to be Good Answers:
Comments rated to be "almost" Good Answers: