University of South Carolina Libraries
The Physics By Hugh S i? (Copy right. 1V1J, bj ~*he first law of physics Is that all goes up must, come down; always excepting the cost of living. The first law of baseball Is not to let It come down. The difference between the physics of the classroom and of the diamond is that the student learns the laws governing inertia, velocity, dynamics, the curvilinear trajectory of projectiles, resisting power of air, attractive power of masses; and the ball-player, by experiment, deals only with the freak variants of theso laws. Many times the student who makes his college team Is apt to think that the prof, was stringing him when he laid down the laws of motion, mass and velocity. For a baseball under skilled manipulation and control seems, like a trust, to come as near violating all the laws as possible. The ball always la striving to do exactly what the laws of Physics say it should do, with half a dozen other forces striving to compel It to do something else, and with the bad boys In uniform trying to invent new methods of making it violate the law. If the supreme court should flud the law of gravitation unconstitutional, or If the ball player could breathe In an absolute vacuum, baseball would be a simple proposition. The ball wo Id keep on going In a straight line until some one stopped It. Line hits would continue to travel in a straight line until some fielder, standing on the needle point of infinity. Jumped and pulled It down with one hand. There Is a professor of physics In a great eastern university who wrote me inquiring as to the physics of the spit ball, and who later lectured to his classes upon the subject. I asked several great pitchers to demonstrate for the benefit of the professor how they held the ball, swung their arms, released It with their fingers, and how much power they applied and to what point on the surface of the sphere. Among them was Clark Griffith, a master In theory, who u aed to be past-master in practice. I asked him to take the professor to the grounds and show him things. The result was a note from Griffith, In which he said: "Don't send any more bugs to see me." The point Is that the players do not care what scientific phenomena they develop so long as the opposing batsmen take their healthles (i. e., swings) at the ball and miss. The college professor does not care much whether Walsh strikes Collins out three times with runners on bases so long as he can demonstrate that the laws govemlnc rntnflnn olr nroo,ii.?o *?1 - tlon, retard and accelerated motion, etc., etc.. are proved by the actions of the ball. So physics and baseball as studies have kept aloof from each other. Yet every move In a ball game affords a problem. There are baBic conditions which. In themselves, are worthy of study. Consider atmospheric pressure. Did you know that a man Clarke Griffith. who can throw a baseball 350 feet on the Polo grounds. New York, on a dead calm day, can throw the same ball almost 400 feet on the Denver br.ll park? In studying the physics of baseball let us commence with the chief Implements of the game?the bat and ball. The ball is composed of a small core, with a heavy layer of highly treated Para rubber, then wound with two kinds of woolen yarn, over which is a glue substance, upon which Is a horsehide cover. The ball Is semi-pneumatic. both the rubber and the glue upon which the cover Is pasted tending to hold air. The difference even of a sixteenth of an Inch In the thickness | of the rubber makes the ball so fast L that It scarcely can bo handled. The ! I makers experimented for years to get * I the ball tuned to the proper pitch of | 1 elasticity, and appear finally to have I of Baseball . duller ton ' W. U. Chapman) accomplished the aim of making a ball not too "dead" and not too lively. The shock of the bat against the ball dispels the air gradually and at the same time causes a molecular change In the rubber so that a ball, after being batted hard, loses much of Its resilient power. The disarranging of the molecular force causes a ball which, to an outsider may seem as firm and solid as ever, to become a "mush," dead and llfelesB, and likely to slow the entire game If permitted to remain In play. The bats used are almost all of second giowth ush of the finest and stralghtest grain, and carefully dried. They are supposed to retain their resilient qualities Indefinitely, but after a month or two of hard usage the bat no longer possesses the "drive" necessary for aard hitting. Yet bats that have lost "life" often will, when kept In storage a few months, recover their lost "ring" and be as good as ever, although the second time they "die" more quickly. This sense of feeling and hearing among players Is a wonderful thing. The object of each batter Is to "hit It on the trade mark" with that part of his bat between four and six Inches from the end. He does not express It that way, but he alms to hit the center of mass of the ball with tho center of percussion of the bat?so he says, "square on the nose." The center of percussion of the bat varies according to the grip of the batter'B hands, and it is the object of the pitcher to force the ball to revolve so as to avoid meeting the ceuter of percussion. A ball weighing five and eight ounces and with a circumference of nine inches, pitched at an approximate velo *lty of 280 feet a second over a distance of 60 feet, is struck squarely upon the center of percussion of a bat weighing 40 ounces and swinging at a velocity of 1.250 feet per second, will travel how far? Perhaps the professor of physics can figure it out, but if he doec he is wrong. He would have to know more than these statistics before he could make the correct calculation. He should know the forearm strength of the batter, the muscle leverage, the meeting angle of ball and bat, the rotary motion of the ball, the condition of the atmosphere, dlrectlou of wind and a few other things. It is much easier to have Vean Gregg shoot up a fast one, let Larry Lajoie hit it, and measure the distance, than to take a post-graduate coursa and calculate it. Every ball that is pitched, or thrown, or batted has some rotary or oscillatory movement all its own further to complicate attempts to solve nr/ihlotna I n Kr? orvKn 11 ? |/iuuivuit) tu uuocuail OILS. | Uu ball h&8 a wonderful ability to absorb and retain motion no matter how Imparted. The spit ball, which was so fully and exhaustively treated In the lectures of my friend the professor that 1 expect to see about 120 Walshes graduate from his school In the next two years. Is the result of skillful applying of an unnatural force to counteract the natural rotation of the ball. The professor disputes this. Possibly he does not know that a ball, gripped with the thumb and two lingers, and thrown directly overhand. has a natural tendency to rotate upward and "hop," as the pitchers say. All good fast balls rotating this way take a sudden jump In the air. The spit ball pitcher wets the surface of the ball, grips the lower side tightly with his thumb, lets the ball slide off the lingers. The effect is that two conflicting forces cause the ball to "wobble" for a distance. and then, yielding to the influence of the thumb pressure and the attraction of gravity, it darts downward. When a bull thus pitched is hit it still refuses to surrender its inclination to rotate. It sturts toward the infield with two forces still struggling for mastery. Each time the ball touches the earth it takes a different English. The inflelder scoops the ball and throws If he clutches the ball hard enough to kill all motion. all is well. If he seizes it lieln ly and throws with the same motion the ball takes fresh and renewed English as it leaves his hand and Is more likely to shoot out of reach of the batsman toward whom he throws. The pitched ball, manipulated so aB to revolve unnaturally, takes "English" In the air just as a billiard ball does against cloth and cushion. Many persons have told me that the atmos' phere on a still day offers practically a uniform resistance to a projectile. It does not. We know now that the air is filled with eddies, currents and pockets, even on the calmest of days. But admitting that it is uniform in density, a ball does not follow the physical law of constant decrease in speed in ratio to the resistance of the air. It even is capable of accelerated motion, and of both in the same 00 feet. That is. a ball may be made to slow up and then resume a faster rate of speed. The professor of physics doubts this, yet it is a fact that any experienced ball player will vouch for. They have seen a ball seem to hesitate, and then proceed at an accelerated gait. It.may sound impossible but at some spot in the path of every spit ball, slow ball or knuckle ball, it suddenly changes pace. I 0 * Wo experimented once with n pneumatic gun the ritllng in the barrel of which gave It fiuavy rotation In any desired direction. It was merely an exaggeration of the curve. We shot balls under 30 pounds of pressure, making them curve sometimes a hundred feet. Putting the up curve motion on the ball (which always tends to curve In the direction of Its rotation), we aimed the gun at a target exactly on a Straight lino nnH thu ho 11 pnlncr straight for perhaps a hundred feet, suddenly Reemed to slacken speed, then It leaped upward and rose at a terrific rate until It passed over the cross bar of the Hag-pole In the center field. 70 feet above tho ground. Yet tho ball was not disobeying tho laws of physics, rather proving them. In Its terrific speed It had encountered an air UJUow which It could not penetrate, and It had bounced off this denser bunch of air and rolled upward. One would think that If a baseball Is hit Into the air Is will follow a ballistic curve in ratio to the angle of ascension reduced by the amount of air pressure. Physics says It should. It will not, and no man can draw the ballistic curve that any fly ball will follow. The greatest range of any projectile In theory. Is gained by an angle of 45 degrees. Military authorities know that, owing to air resistance, the greatest distance Is attained at an angle Just under 40 degrees. Having both the theory and the practice, therefore, baU players to make home runs should hit the ball at an angle of 40 degrees minus. One of ' \ \ I John Kling. Frank Baker's world's series home runs was near that angle, the othei scarcely 30 degrees. It went farther As a matter of fact, even. If a ball player could hit a ball at any desired angle, he could not be certain where It would go. It would depend too muct upon the rotary motion of the ball l,ast summer I saw- a hard line hil driven straight at Charlie Herzog ol the Giants. He put up his hands tc catch the ball, then suddenly threw his head aside Just In time to avoid being hit In the face, the ball missing his hands by two feet. The ball had "shot" suddenly from Its true path In a game between Washington and Chicago late last fall. Walter Johnson hit a ball at an angle of close to 4( degrees, and with terrific force. 1 should estimate that It was nearly 9C feet high, at Its greatest elevation Had It followed the true ballistic curve, It would have passed over the center held fence. The ball sudden ly stopped, started to drop straight downward then caught In anothei current of air, and Bodie, who was running after the ball, overtook It com lng toward him, as if the batter had hit It from center field. Under condi tions such as these a study of aero nautlcs would help players more than physics would. The outfielder who "gets the Jump' or. the ball at the crack of the bat figures its trajectory at a glance sprints denperately outward and turns exactly upon the spot where the ball will alight, then catches it, has all the calculations ever devised beaten Physics assumes that balls, thrown with equal force, following the same angle of projection over the sarin range, will be allk". 1 never doubted It until I practiced at second base with Malachl Kittrldgo and the lamented Jim Donohue throwing the ball down to me. Donohue threw faster, and seemed harder, yet the ball came intc the hands as lightly as If tossed Kltt ridge's thrown ball came more slowly but It jarred and bruised the hands This peculiarity of throwers is un derstood well by players, and one ol the first Inquiries concerning a new player Is whether he throws a light or a heavy ball, which refers to tin striking force of the ball, and not its weight. A ball revolving naturally aim iiiiuwii over uii- linger lips, as ii fast ball is thrown, has a tendency u lift, is light. One that loses its ro tary motion, and oscillates rather than rotates, is "dead" and heavy. Every player throws a different kind of ball the variations depending upon the siz? of the hands, the length of the fingers and the manner of holding the ball The man who knew enough about physics, and also about baseball, could fill a book on the physics of pitching It is 'simple, while seeming complex It was not so very long ago that Tyng, the Harvard pitcher, developed a curve ball that started a protract ed argument which finally resulted in a group of learned professors gath ering to decide whether a ball actual !y could be made to curve in the air The profeseors who doubted the poa sibtllty of a ball curving bA.sed their doubts upon the alleged Insufficiency of air resistance. They admitted the . - - , t .* ? ' I theory, and doubted the fact. Every curve, shoot, "hook." "fadeaway." and Blow ball depends upon the same principles. revolution and air pressure. The way a ball curves depends upon the force with which It Is thrown and the amount of rotation. Its direction depends upon the amount of friction applied by the lingers to a given point on the surface of the ball. The ball al- 1 ways curves In the direction of the heaviest friction applied by the band, and away from the heaviest air friction. The curve Increases In the ratlc of the amount of Its revolution. Perhaps the most frequent question nsked of a baseball writer Is. "How far can a ball be made to curve?" Of course they meat} by a normal pitcher not using mechanical assistance. I never have been able to find the limit of the curve, nor. Indeed, to | calculate the curve accurately, although I have mnde some experiments. I refer to the actual curvo of the ball due to its rotary motion and air resistance. I do not think that the real curve of the ball In 56 feet ^distance from the pitcher's hand when he releasee the ball, to the home plate) can be more than 20 Inches. I have heard ball players declare the ball curves from six Inches to tlve feet. I tried It once with Orval Overall, who had, I believe, the most sweeping and widest fast curve ball I ever Baw. We placed 12 big sheetB of tissue paper between slats, 8 of them at short Intervals over the llrst 15 feet In front of the plate, the rest scattered at wider Intervals until the last one was 0 feet In front of the pitcher's j slab, and, to my surprise, his hand struck the paper as the ball was released. proving the actual distance ?of tho pitch is much shorter than usually supposed. Of course Overall's reach wras much greater than the average, but I do not think the actual pitching distance, from hand to plate, is more than 56 feet. Overall pitched Ills wide overhand curve. The ball entered tho first sheet four feet to the right of tho string, which was placed through tho center of the two plates at a height of five feet, and almost six feet above the ground (he was pitching off a slight elevation). Ills hand hit the paper and tore a hole a foot lower, showing he had released tho ball before his arm reached the extreme limit of Its swing Tho ball went through tho second sheet, which was 10 feet from tho llrst Just four Inches lower than through the llrst, and a little over two and a half feet from the right of the line. It w us less than a foot from the line when It struck the first of the eight sheets placed closely together In front of the plate, and It tore through 1 the next one a trllle higher. Then It " began Its true curve. Nine feet In front of the plate It "broke" and shot downward and outward and crossed ' the sheet at the home plate ten inches 5 above the ground and nearly twelve 1 Inches to the "outside" (that is, for a right-handed batter) of the center ol I the plate. The ball had dropped five f feet two Inches downward, through the rorce or gravity, the angle at which It r was pitched and the curve, and had ' angled and curved practically five feet. > The closest calculation we could make ' was that the ball actually curved, as a result of Its rotary motion, approxl' mately 17 inches. 1 The air resistance, which was dls' puted at Tyng's experiments, has, of ' course, became a known facter with ' the study of the science of aeronautics. The amount of resistance can 5 bo computed closely by the use of the ! barometer. The ball curves in the direction in which it revolves. The amount of the curve depends upon the l r? ? -1 Christy Mathewson. i rate of rotation and the weight of air. i The entire science of pitching consists in the deft application of fric- , tion upon some point of the hall which I makes it rotate in a certain direction, or, which counteracts its natural ro. i tation and cause it to "wabble" or float with little revolving motion. The I slow balls, fadeaways, knuckle balls, all have as their object the preveni tion of rotary motion, or to gi 'e false rotary motion of "feverse English " The ball that | resents the moBt air surface to the resistance of the atmosphere slows up quickest and yields more rapidly to gravitation. The one I that spins oftenest (not necessarily i fastest; curves most. glMHI VETERANS TO MEET ON BATTLEFIELT Big Reunion of Survivors of Civ War at Gettysburg on July 1. J A ?? - ?kj,uuu LArtUItU TO ATTENI Men Who Wore the Blue and Gra to Again Gather on Ground Made Memorable by Hietorlc Conflict. By EDWARD B. CLARK. WASHINGTON. ? During th first four days of July th battlefield of Gettysburg, Pa will again be the scene of meeting of the Blue and th Gray, but this time they will meet 1 amity and affection. A half-century wl have passed since last these men of tw great American armies met on thl northern field. Then they were fac to face In deadly conflict, for the Jssu< It was well understood to both cor tending forces, was the success of th southern cause, or the beginning of It defeat, to be followed by the restorr tlon of tho Union as It had been befor the first shot was fired at Fort Sutr ter. Tho United States government am the government of nearly every stat In the Union have combined to mak the Gettysburg reunion of the soldier of the north and south one of the grea peace events of the century. The stat of Pennsylvania some time ago aj pointed a "Fiftieth Anniversary of th Battle of Gettysburg commission" t make preparations for the four dayt reunion, at which Pennsylvania as state was to act as host to the vel erans of the war between the state and to the thousands of visitors wh would follow their march to the flel of battle, and appropriated $150,000 fo tho purpose of entertaining the vel erans. 40.000 Veterans Expected. It Is expected that 40,000 veteran of the war, not all of them, howevei survivors of the Gettysburg battle, wll be found encamped upon the fieli when reveille sounds on the mornlni of July 1. It will be a different. r? veille than that which the fife am drum corps of the two great armie sounded fifty years ago. The call t awakening will be a call to a peacefu celebration while the call to the awal enlng In July, 1863, wan a call o armies to conflict and, to thousands o men, a call to death. For years the veterans have beei looking forward to this reunion. It i probable that there will be presen many thousands of survivors of th batMe. The United States governmen under an act of congress has apprc priated money for the preparation o the camps and for the messing of th soldier visitors. The average age o the men engaged in the Civil war wa only eighteen years, but fifty year have passed since these soldier boy fought at Gettysburg, and so if th computation of age was a true one th average years of the veterans who wii meet in Pennsylvania in July will b about sixty-eight years. Many of then of course, will be much older and good many of them, men who entere at ages ranging from fourteen to sei enteen years, will be younger, but a will be old men as the world view ago. Many of the states of the ITnlot north as well as south, have made a] propriations to send their veterans t the Gettysburg reunion and to pay a other expense?. The battle of Gettyi burg is recognized as the turnihg poin of the war between the states. It ha been called time and again one of th decisive battles of the world. Gene: ally it is recognized that Gettysbur decided the great conflict, helped 1 the decision probably by the fall c Vicksburg on the Mississippi, whic took place virtually at the momen that the conflict on the Pennsylvani field was decided in favor of the nortl ern arms. The preparations which the goverr rnent i? making to care for the vetei ana at Gettysburg are interestlnj They have been under the charge c James H. Aleshire. quarter master ger eral of the I'nitod States army, an Henry G. Sharpe, commissary genera of the United States army. Two year ago last March 14,000 regular troop were gathered in camp at Texas. Th health of the soldiers throughout th Texas encampment was almost pei feet, made so by the plane which ha been carefully laid to nee that perfec sanitation was maintained. The Uni ed States uriny was taught a lesso by the Spanish war, when lack c proper sanitary precautions and unpri paredness in other ways cost the go^ eminent the lives of more men tha were sacrificed to the bullets of th Spaniard. The estimates of the commissar and quartermaster authorities ar based upon an attendance of 40,000 ve erans. It probably will cost the got ernment about $360,000 to act in pai as host to the survivors of the battl and other veterans who attend th Gettysburg reunion. Big Task to Feed Men. The survivors of toe war from th north and south who will be presen being old men, must be cared for i a way which would not have been net essary fifty years ago. The messing c the veterans will require 400 arm ranges, 1 great field bakery, 40,00 mess kits, 800 cooks, 800 kitchen hel] ers and 130 bakers. This helping pe, sonnel will be required to be in cam for at least seven days, and aian) c Wr' '<? :r.~; ~ - Vj -4f them for a longer period, for the purpose of Installing the field bakery, the field ranges and in dismantling, cleaning, packing and storing material after Ithe encampment la orar. The old soldiers are to be supplied with fresh meat directly from refrig> erator cars drawn upon the field. They will be given fresh vegetables and spe* j| cial bread with the besV^offee and tee which the market affords. For them it will not be a case of hardtack, bootleg and poor bacon. The Battle of Gettysburg commission of the state of Pennsylvania has 3 a large sum of money at its disposal for the entertainment of the visiting veterans, and the thousands of persons who will accompany them. Hospitality 1b to mark the days. Fifty years ago Pennsylvania aided in the work of repelling the visitors from the south. In early July next the same state will have its arms wide open in welcome to the men wearing the gray. Entei^ talnments of various kinds will be of* fered the visiting veterans, but it is pretty well understood that their deep interest in revisiting the scenes where e they fought, Little Round Top, Oak n Ridge, Cemetery Hill. Culp'e Hill, Rock Creek, the Stone Wall and other ^ nlnrna mill hnM r ..... uuiu .ucui ittigoi} IU Ult) pleasures and to the Badnesses of per* sonal reminiscences. Arm In arm with ?* the Union soldiers the Confederate sol| dlere will retramp the battleground. 8 They will look over the field of Pickett's desperate charge. They will rel* trace the marching steps of Longstreet's corps. They will go to the 1 place where Meade had his headquarj ters and to the place from which Lee ' directed his southern forces In battle. ' Pennsylvania Is going to make a '' great celebration of peace of this flf8 tleth anniversary of what probably was tho decisive battle of the war, although it was fought nearly two years before the war ended. Other states 8 will help Pennsylvania In Its work, and , from every section of the country, north, east, south and west, the veta erans will assemble, most of them probably to see for the last time In life the field upon which they were " willing to die for the sake of their re1 spectlve causes. r The veterans will not be directly encamped In the Gettysburg park, which is dotted with monuments to the various commands which took part In the * fight and which is laid out In approved ' park fashion, with fine drives and beautifully kept lawns. There will be ' two camps, known as No. 1 and No. 2. * No. 1 will cover 149 acres and No. 2 will cover 44 acres. The layouts of 1 these camps are based on the use of H conical tents, each of which will, without crowding, accommodate eight per1 sons. Inasmuch as accommodations lf are to be furnished for 40,000 visitors 5,000 tents will be required to give quarters to the visiting hoBts. Visitors to Be Cared For. H Every possible care Is to be taken t of the visitors. The sanitary arrangeQ ments which have been made are said t to be the best that are possible and } they are the result of careful study by f medical officers of the service. All the experience of the past has been drawn f upon to make It certain that the Lealth of the veterans will be conserved while s they are In camp. H With so many thousands of old sol0 dlers In attendance, and taking Into e consideration the probability that the U weather will be warm. It Is expected B that there will be sickness, but the j United States government and the ^ state of Pennsylvania are preparing (l for a hospital service which shall be adequate to any contingency. There II will bo hospital corps detachments H present ready to render first aid to the injured, and there will be many j field hospitals with surgeons in attendance, where the sick can receive 0 instant attendance. j 11 It is said that this contemplated re3. union has induced more interest ,t among the old soldiers of the north ^ and the south than any event which e has happened since the day that the r. war closed. There is today at GettysK burg a great national park, in which n is included a cemetery where thou,f sands of soldier dead are burled. The h United States government and the legislature of Pennsylvania worked tort, gether to make a park of the battlei field and to mark accurately every point in it which hae historic interest, j. When one goes to the field he can tell r. JuBt where this brigade or that brlgade was engaged, Just where this ,f charge or that charge was made and i. just where the desperate defenses of d positions were maintained until the d tide of battle brought either victory or H defeat to one of the immediate com* mands engaged. e It wan in 1895 that congress estabe lished a national park at Gettysburg r- and gavo the secretary of war authord lty to name a commission "to superinit tend the opening of additional roads, i- nun k. uiu Dounuaries, ascertain and n definitely mark the lines of battle of >f troopB engaged, to acquire lands which ?- were occupied by infantry, cavalry and artillery, and such other adjacent n lands as the secretary of war may e deem necessary to preserve the important topographical features of the baty tlefleld." e When the Union and the Confeder* t- ate veterans reach Gettysburg on June r- 30 next they will find on the scene of t the old conflict between five and six e hundred memorials raised in commeme oration of the deeds of their commands on the great fields of the Pennsylvania battlefield. There are, moree over, 1,000 markers placed to destgt, nate historic spots. There are great n towers built upon the field by the gov: ernment so that bird's-eye views can if be obtained of the entire scene of the y battle. Fine roade have been con0 structed and everywhere attention has >- been paid to every detail of the least r- importance in setting forth the history p of one of the greatest battles ever >f known tc warfare.