Posted by: Frank Jessup () on Fri Oct 11 18:15:21 2002

I am sure this has been discussed in great detail in the past so if you would like to direct me to that discussion or add to it please feel free. My question is regarding the 'rise ball'. Does the baseball actually begin its movement towards homeplate on a straight line and then begin to rise? Or is it a perception of the naked eye, because of leaning backwards and the particular release point the ball seems to move upwards?
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> > John,
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> > To make a ball rise it would have to spin backward, toward the thrower, with enough velocity to make it overcome the pull of gravity. A base ball thrown 100 mph over 55 ft will drop 2.61 feet.
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> > It is physically impossible for a human to spin a ball enough to make it rise. Overhand is the way to make the ball spin backward the most. It must spin from 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock and it can't be done. It certainly can't be done in softball where the myth of the "rise ball" is most prevalent.
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> > Scientist, who know a ball can't rise think that the most that can be done is make the ball not drop as much. Batters expect the ball to drop a certain amount. When it doesn't it "looks" to them like it rose.
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> > The "rise ball" does not rise. People think it rises because the softball fast-pitch is the only ball in baseball or softball that is thrown with speed that ends up, when caught, at a point higher than the release point.
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> > F. J.
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> F.J.,
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> Thank you for your quick response. I was wondering if you could direct me to peer reviewed scientific literature stating this proclaimed fact? Also, im guessing it is then the angle at which you release the ball that allows the ball to follow a plane in upward motion.(?) Again, thanks alot.
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> John
> >
> > John,

The science is all over the place. Look in a book called "keep your eye on the ball." It has a secton on this very subject.

I have read scientific data about seeing and hitting. This fact about a ball rising is commonly understood. Look in any physics book or ask a physics teacher. This information is common knowledge to any one outside the softball community.

You will notice that it isn't even said by baseball TV announcers any more and they are the biggest idiots in the world. god, can any body shut Tim McCarver up?

F. J.