Posted by: Jack Mankin (MrBatspeed@aol.com) on Thu Sep 13 21:42:27 2007

>>> I happened to read a website on Paul's philosophies. On it he had a lot to say......

Does Paul Nyman even believe that THT exists in the swing? <<<

Hi Brett

I am not sure what Paul's position on torque in the swing is today. When he posted his simulations, he was a strong believer in Adair's swing model, which discounted torque at the handle as a factor in generating bat speed. Therefore, Paul not only discounted THT, he did not think torque applied at the handle anywhere in the swing contributed to bat speed.

I have always wondered if the reason Adair may have discounted torque might have been due to his misinterpreting results from "bat/ball collision test" conducted by bat companies and physics labs. Statements he made is his book and during my phone conservation with him sound very similar to the wording found in the Bat/Ball Collision Study Conclusions.

Statement from Adair's book -- Forces applied at the handle have negligible impact on ball flight

Below are exerts from <a href="http://www.kettering.edu/~drussell/bats-new/grip.html">Physics and Acoustics of Baseball & Softball Bats</a>

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Physics and Acoustics of Baseball & Softball Bats
I have measured similar response plots in my laboratory and the propagation time - the time it takes for a vibrational impulse to travel from the impact location to the handle and back again - is longer than the impact duration. This means that there is not possible for the way in which the handle is gripped to influence the final ball speed since the ball has already left the bat before it even knows the handle exists.
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(Study Conclusion)
Measurements and computer models show that the collision between bat and ball is over before the bat handle has even begin to vibrate and the ball has left the bat before it even knows the handle exists. Finally, experimental evidence comparing the effect of different grip conditions on resulting batted-ball speed conclusively shows that the manner in which the handle is gripped has no affect on the performance of the bat.
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Note that the study never stated that forces applied at the handle had no impact on accelerating the bat to contact. For the reasons given, they conclude that forces applied during the bat/ball collision had no impact on ball flight.

Jack Mankin