Posted by: Rick Ferrante (rick.ferrante@gmail.com) on Thu Aug 24 08:25:53 2006

Don,
I think they are using a pretty simple conversion, and not taking into account the fact that the ball slows down about 1 mph every 7 feet.

To convert a 75mph/46ft to the big field,
1. Figure out how long it takes to go 46 feet at 75mph.
75mi/1hour = 75*(5280 feet/3600 secs) = 110ft/sec
and substitute that in to get:
1sec/110feet = Xsec/46feet
Xsec = 46/110 = .418secs
2. Figure out how fast in mph to go 60ft in .418 secs
Xmi/hour = (60ft/.418sec) * (3600secs/5280ft)
= 97.8 mph

If you factored in that the balls is slowing down as it travels, the little leaguers have even less reaction time. I would love to see the big leaguers try to hit 75mph-85mph at 46feet.



> I've been watching the Little League World Series games over the weekend and I heard a comment about how to calculate the equivalent speed of a pitch from 46 feet versus a big league pitch from 60 feet. Also, they show the Major League speed equivalent speed in a separate box on the screen. Something like a 75 mph speed pitch from 46 feet is equivalent to a 98 mph pitch from 60 feet. They are talking about reaction times I suppose. Can anyone tell me what that formula is for calculating the equivalent speed for Little League Pitches?
> Thanks