Posted by: JJA () on Sat May 29 15:24:49 2004

i thank you both for your detail analysis as to what torque is....the physics is a bit overwhelming for me, though...my question: aside from the merits of the concept itself, is jack's concept (of moving top hand toward the catcher while holding bottom hand stationary) torque, or is it something else (in scientific terms)?....

Sir,

Jack performed two experiments that demonstrated how torque can be applied to the bat. (See http://www.batspeed.com/messageboard/output/16734.html.) The first had the top hand pushing with the bottom hand stationary, while the had the bottom hand pulling back and with the top hand stationary.

Without question, both of those experiments represent torque being applied to the bat by the differential forces in the hands. Scientifically both experiments are very valid.

The question of course is whether this push-pull action is what really happens in the swing. As you know, I believe there is no conclusive evidence that it does. I won't get into that because the topic is out of bounds here and will result in more personal insults. I look forward to reading the quoted papers because there is a possibility that the results will interesting indeed.

-JJA