Another rant

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May 23, 2018
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Bonus points if you can say why speed matters with a rise ball, more than say a drop ball :)

To create pressure differential. Think of an airplane. Going slow, such as 90 or 100 miles an hour I’m not generate enough lift To get it off the ground. However once that start heading two hundred plus miles an hour you’re creating another Lift to overcome drag And vortices Two of the rear of the aircraft


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Apr 12, 2015
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To create pressure differential. Think of an airplane. Going slow, such as 90 or 100 miles an hour I’m not generate enough lift To get it off the ground. However once that start heading two hundred plus miles an hour you’re creating another Lift to overcome drag And vortices Two of the rear of the aircraft


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No, sorry. Pressure differential has nothing to do with it. Aside from the fact a ball would have to be travelling a lot faster than it is humanly possible to throw it to create the effect you are describing, the simple facts are a softball is too heavy and the seams too low to create any sort of appreciable lift.

To avoid quoting two posts, from your other reply: How much hop are you talking about? 1/2"? 1/4"? Two inches? Four? Batters swing and miss a good riseball by 4 to 6 inches. It would stand to reason that's how much "hop" is required if the ball is actually moving and a riseball is not really anything other than an optical illusion. Should be easy enough to capture that on film.....
 
Aug 21, 2008
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I don't know about smart, but I'll give $100 to anyone who can produce a side-shot video of any real pitcher in a game or practice with a riseball hopping.

Hopping as in a trajectory that looks anything remotely like this:
I've said for a while now that the only reason I've never even tried to do this is because if I was able to do it, someone would call me a cheater and blame trick photography. People who know me would vouch, I barely know how to use email let alone photoshop or anything else required to doctor a video. But, the allegation would be there.
 

sluggers

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May 26, 2008
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Dallas, Texas
I've said for a while now that the only reason I've never even tried to do this is because if I was able to do it, someone would call me a cheater and blame trick photography.

You can't record a video of "the hop" because it doesn't exist. And, please send me a list of these "physicists" who say the riseball "jumps" or rises.

The non-existence of "the hop" is simple logic. Once the ball is thrown, there are no new forces that are applied to the ball to make it jump. None. (For the record, I have caught riseballs. When I first caught them, they appeared to jump. After 5 or so, there was no jump. It is all about perception and expectation.)

We previously asked Allan Nathan, PhD, Professor Emeritus at University of Illinois and a national expert on the physics of baseball as well as Thomas Benson, a rocket scientist with NASA. Both said the riseball doesn't rise. ("Rise" is defined as going above the initial trajectory of the pitch.)

For the masochists in the group, you can pour over this voluminous thread: https://www.discussfastpitch.com/threads/does-the-riseball-really-rise.83/

Since the thread has degenerated into "do riseballs really rise", the thread is closed.
 
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