Baseball Special

The Myth: A corked bat can hit a ball farther than an uncorked bat.

The Experts: none

Memorable/Quotable Moments:
Jamie: Something’s gonna go someplace where it shouldn’t.  We’re gonna have mayhem and destruction one way or another but, what the heck, it’s all in the name of science!

The Action/Results:
Adam and Jamie are able to recycle stuff that they have used for other myths to test this one.  They use the sword-swinging rig from Movie Myths and the air cannon from the Pirate special to make a bat-swinging rig and a ball cannon.  They make sure that both are operating at realistic human speeds.  The psychological advantage of a corked bat is mentioned – if you believe that your bat can make you hit the ball farther, you will probably hit better.

When they filmed the whole experiment on high-speed, they found that the ball was traveling 80 miles per hour before it hit the uncorked bat, and it was also going 80 miles per hour when it came off of the uncorked bat.  However, the same ball, going at 80 miles per hour into the corked bat, was only going 40 miles per hour when it came off the corked bat.  The cork actually absorbs some of the impact, and makes the ball go a shorter distance.  This myth is BUSTED!

The Myth: Sliding into a base is quicker than running when you can’t overrun the base.

The Expert: Ed Sprague (University Head Coach) teaches the guys how to slide properly.

Memorable/Quotable Moments:
Tory: This baseball myth is all about the slide.
Grant: The what?
Tory: Do you watch ANY sporting events?
Grant: Yeah – robot combat!  (glaring) It’s a sport!
Tory: (sarcastically) Right.

The Action/Results:
Ed Sprague teaches Tory, Grant, and Jamie how to slide.  Then, Grant rigs up a timer to time the difference between how fast they can run between bases, and how fast they can slide into the base.  
Tory: 3.624 seconds running     3.572 seconds sliding
Grant: 4.13 seconds running      3.93 seconds sliding
Jamie: 4.076 seconds running     3.976 seconds sliding

Sliding is slightly faster than running, because you have to slow down in order to stay upright when you stop.  This myth is CONFIRMED.

The Myth: A dry ball travels farther than a humid ball when hit.

The Expert: none

Memorable/Quotable Moments:
Grant: (imitating the moon landing) That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind!
Tory: (laughing) Is this our gear?  Dude, it looks like a saw blade!

The Action/Results:
To test this one, the build team raises the humidity of one set of balls to 90% in a humidor.  They also lower the humidity of another set of balls to 10% in a dehumidifier.  When they drop the humid balls from a height of 125 inches, they bounce an average of 91 cm, as opposed to the dry balls, which bounced an average of 106 cm.  The humid balls bounced 14% lower, which could make a big difference out on the field.  So, they go out to the field!

Grant makes a hitting and pitching machine that works really well, and they start hitting balls all over the field. When each ball lands, a colored flag marks its landing spot.  In this test, they include balls at 50% humidity, just as a control.  Soon, three bands of colored flags are decorating the field.  The humid balls went the shortest distance, followed by the control balls.  The dry balls went the farthest.  It would seem that this myth is confirmed, but, since there are many other variables involved, the team rules this one PLAUSIBLE.

The Myth: Can a baseball be hit so hard that the hide comes right off of it?

The Experts; None

The Action/Results:
Jamie and Adam fire up the baseball cannon again to test this myth.  At normal speeds (around 100 miles per hour), the baseball’s hide remains intact.  At 170 miles per hour, it makes a hole in the blanket that is being used to protect the rest of the shop.  At 200 miles per hour, it is breaking the bat.  However, it isn’t until the cannon shoots the baseball at 437 miles per hour that the hide finally comes off the ball.  Since the bat can’t stand up to such speeds on the ball anyway, this myth is BUSTED.

The Myth: Does a curveball really curve?  Is there such a thing as a rising fastball?

The Experts:
Roger Clemens pitches some balls for the guys.
Rabindra Mehta (research scientist at AMES) shows the build team what happens to a ball as it is flying through the air.

The Action/Results:
Roger Clemens pitches several different kinds of pitches for the high-speed camera.  It turns out that curveballs really do curve, because the lower air pressure on the bottom of the ball makes it dip.  The way that the ball is thrown produces the lower air pressure.  Rising fastballs, on the other hand, are not possible, because the backspin on the ball would have to exert more force than the weight of the ball. The guys do not do an official ruling on these myths.