Posted by: Frank Jessup () on Tue Oct 22 05:44:30 2002

Took me a while to dig this out.This is the nearest thing to science I have seen on the web.
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> > > > http://www.geocities.com/baseballdocs/Baseball.pdf
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> > > This is the most generous estimate I have found of "lift".It is still estimated and not directly measured based on baseball numbers.It would seem to indicate that the lift could exceed the weight of the softball somewhere between 90 and 100 mph if you could provide underspin at a rate of 54 rev per second.I don't think this spin rate is humanly possible,but direct measurements would be nice.Any willing grad students out there ?
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> > 54 rev per sec seems really slow. Are you sure about this number?
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> > F. J.
> > You may be thinking in terms of rev per minute(RPM).This is rev per sec.In this example this spin rate was created by machine for a baseball and measured with high speed photograghy.56rps=3240rpm.
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> Watts and Bahill estimate that the rising fastball would be possible in baseball(lift exceed gravity) if you threw at 100 mph with a spin rate of 3400 rpm.However,maximum spin rate of college players has been measured at only 2310 rpm and they think it unlikely anyone can get in the 3400rpm ball park.


While I do not think it's possible to spin a ball enough to make it curve up, It may be possible for some one, but very few, to spin a ball enough to keep it from dropping as much. Scientist believe that if the ball does not drop as much as the batter expects, it will look like it rose. But, I think this is very unlikely.

In softball I think it's impossible. The spin must be from 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock back toward the thrower for the ball to have any chance at all to affect the drop. The over hand pitch imparts the most spin. This can not be done with an underhanded pitch. A softball pitcher "may" be able to get the 12 to 6 spin, but with very little rpms.

F. J.