Posted by: Joe Hernandez (laclave@latinfame.com) on Fri Jun 8 21:06:24 2001

There are dozens of good scientific studies to indicate that "backspin" is a desirable thing. As a layperson I can only chew so much of this. It does appear that there are two effects that need to be considered. First, we know that backspin will not only cause the ball to stay longer in the air, therefore increasing the distance that it will travel, but at the same time backspin also increases air drag...causing the flight distance of the ball to decrease. There are too many variables and the effect of each is not really know with a 100% certainty. Until we are able to scientifically understand the effects of each accurately, we are not going to be able to determine what the magnitude of the backspin effect is. At the moment I am inclined to believe that backspin is desirable. How well a hitter, if at all possible, can "duplicate" the favorable conditions to create backspin is another matter.

I do think it's dangerous to point to some successful ballplayer and deduct significant conclusions about hitting in general terms. This kind of generalizing leads to prejudicial thinking and conclusions. You can find exceptions to everything. Imagine someone discoverying baseball for the first time and decided to study the mechanics of hitting...he then chooses Pete Gray(one-arm major leaguer) as his study "model"...what conclusions would he reached based on his exception. Thank you all for the feedback.