Posted by: daw@bellevue-law.com () on Fri Dec 26 22:46:29 2008

> > Jack,
> >
> > First of all compliments to the site, I think we can all agree scientific approach to hitting helps us all. I've been reading for a couple of months now and think you're spot on.
> >
> > I do have a discussion point, which mostly come from naming and labeling various theories.
> > The linear approach mostly states crack of the whip effect. This approach is, offcourse, not used by any baseballplayer making great batspeed. What I do believe, is that the crack of the whip effect DOES happen. Not the way it is being explained. Let me explain. Get yourself a towell and give it a whip to get the best "crack" you can. Then analyse the path your hand takes.
> > This movem is not a linear movement which stops at a certain moment. Is is a "loop". By the, like you call it, negative move, the towel (or baseball bat if you will) accelerates explosively.
> >
> > So what do you know, the crack of the whip effect does happen in a rotational baseball swing (CHP). It also happens in a linear swing, but offcourse a lot less. High school science is the best i've got on this, but isn't this (I don't know the correct english description) slowless of mass? (when you drive a car and crash into a wall your body doesn't stop as fast as the car but keeps moving forward aka slamming your face in the airbag)
> >
> > Nice holidays everyone!
> >
> > Rob
>
> Rob,
>
> Thank you for your post. This shows how the whip affect has been twisted into a mechanical theme. And how this website, and others try to discredit the science of the whip.
>
> Shawn



Shawn and Rob, a whip "cracks" because a WAVE of energy travels the length of the thong, triggering a mini-sonic boom.

A whip will accomodate a WAVE of energy because is it loose, not rigid.

Yes, you can create a "whip" effect with your towel, because it is flexible enough to allow you to send a WAVE of energy through it by snapping it. Sure you can generate a WAVE with a circular movement of your hands, if the towel is long and flexible enough.

Similarly, you can send a WAVE of energy though a fishing line (if it's not taut), a piece of string, a garden hose, or a (cooperative) boa constrictor.

The "science of the whip", while perfectly valid, doesn't apply to a baseball/softball swing because the bat is RIGID.

If the "whip" theory----which necessitates a WAVE-----applied to a baseball/softball swing, there would be photos and videos of the energy WAVE travelling through the bat, changing its shape into a series of curves......there are no such photos/videos because no such thing occurs, or has ever occured in the history of the sport.

A bat would snap at the handle before a WAVE of energy would undulate down to the bat head. There are anecdotal, perhaps apocryphal stories of super-strong hitters breaking their bats by checking their swings. That is as close to the "whip" effect as anyone in history has ever gotten with a RIGID baseball bat.

On the other hand, photos of every great hitter can be found in his/her followthrough, with his/her front shoulder now rotated all the way around, now facing the backstop. Yes, Shawn this is the result of "followthrough".........followthrough of the circular motion their bodies took to bring the bat-head around, into the ball.

If the "whip" effect played any role in hitting the ball, Babe Ruth's follow through would resemble a fly-fisherman's....hands extended, out in front of his body, motionless, having 'caste' his "WAVE" of energy into the ball. There are no such pictures.

Rob, The turning movement you describe in your towel snapping, as applied to a RIGID baseball/softball bat, brings the bat head around as per the laws of CIRCULAR MOTION, not the "whip" effect. Twist your towel tightly, then fold it in half so that both ends are in your hands....now it's too thick and short to be flexibe, and you won't be able to get much of a "snap".