Physics of Baseball, Third Edition, Revised, Updated, and Expanded

Product Details: Physics of Baseball

Author:

Robert K. Adair

Format:

Paperback: Rev Updtd & Exp: 192 pages. See other formats

Publisher:

Perennial (04/01/2002)

ISBN:

0060084367

ISBN13:

9780060084363

List price:

$12.95

User Reviews: Physics of Baseball

1. Physics of Baseball

   , December 4, 2007
   Reviewer: turkeysub777 - See all turkeysub777's reviews

   Overall:
   Characters:
   Plot:
   Author:

   Pros: Very Fascinating

   Cons: Drags a bit at times

   The Physics of Baseball, by Robert K. Adair, is a very fascinating book that reads similar to a school textbook. The book gives insight that most normal people do not know on the wonderful sport of baseball. It includes many interesting diagrams, charts, and figures to depict certain things such as path or distance of the ball, path of a bat relative to a certain pitch, and charts showing statistics from the major league ballplayers.
   The book starts out describing linear models and moves directly to the flight of the ball in the next chapter. It talks about things such as spin on the ball and force added to make the ball fly in a certain path. Adair also cover certain factors of baseball such as wind resistance. After the flight of the ball, Adair discusses swinging the bat, which is much more complex than I had previously thought. If you think swinging is about you just meeting the bat to the ball, you have no idea what it really is all about. Physics goes into depth about the time the ball takes to reach the plate at certain speeds and when the bat should be swung. For example, it takes a 95 mph fastball 400 millisecond to reach the plate. It takes the average major league player 150 milliseconds to swing and obviously the faster the bat speed, the farther the ball will travel when struck properly. Next after hitting, is pitching. The pitching rubber is exactly ten inches higher than the batters plate and Adair shows how certain pitches pass certain points and makes the batters job more difficult. Of course everything is much more intricately than what I have said. What I also found interesting in Physics was that taller pitchers do not have to exert as much force to make the ball travel to the plate faster as do smaller pitchers because of the angle at which the ball needs to go.
   Other things talked about in The Physics of Baseball are bat properties, fielding, throwing, and judging fly balls. The bat properties have to do with vibrations of the bat and the “sweet spot” where when hit the ball will travel the farthest. Overall The Physics of Baseball is very interesting though throughout its shorter than you think 150 pages it can drag at times. ...

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