Keep Your Eye On The Ball: The Science and Folklore of Baseball

Robert Watts, A.Terry Bahill

ISBN 10: 071672104X / ISBN 13: 9780716721048

Published by W.H. Freeman and Company, New York, NY, 1990

About this Item

W.H. Freeman and Company, New York. 1990. Hardcover. First Printing by Line Number. Book is tight, square, and unmarked. Book Condition: Very Good; light shelfwear to head, tail, tips, and midpoint of rear board bottom edge. DJ: Very Good; NOT Price Clipped ($18.95); slight sunfading to spine; light rubbing to panels. Blue cloth boards and spine with bright silver lettering on the spine and front board; debossed pitcher and batter on front board. Decorative endpapers. 213 pp 8vo. The authors, engineers by avocation, have devised a series of experiments that put some of baseball's most cherished myths to the test of scientific scrutiny such as; why the curveball curves, the flyball and the effect of backspin and topspin; hand-eye coordination; and the scientific analysis of baseball flight. The authors combine absorbing anecdotal examples, historical developments, and unique tables and charts with scientific fact, to weave an engaging narrative. A clean very presentable copy.

Seller Inventory # 014117

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Keep Your Eye On The Ball: The Science and Folklore of Baseball
• Publisher: W.H. Freeman and Company, New York, NY
• Publication Date: 1990
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 071672104X
• ISBN 13: 9780716721048
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Baseball
  • Technology
  • Science

About this title

Synopsis

"Keep your eye on the ball!" may be good advice--but it is impossible to do. The batter can track the ball until it is about five feet in front of the plate, but then he falls behind because the ball is moving too fast.

In Keep Your Eye on the Ball, Robert G. Watts and A. Terry Bahill--engineers by vocation, baseball fans by avocation--have devised a series of experiments that put some of baseball's most cherished myths to the test. By applying physics, psychology, physiology, and other scientific principles to baseball, the authors have resolved, once and for all, some of the controversial issues that have intrigued fans for decades, including:

* Do curveballs really curve? Do fastballs rise?
* How do knuckleballs and spitballs work?
* What exactly happens when the ball hits the bat?
* Does corking the bat really help a hitter?
* Are aluminum bats more dangerous than wooden bats?
* Can certain physiological factors help predict success for a hitter?
* Why are more home runs being hit than ever before?
* Are today's players better than yesterday's?

Completely revised and updated to include recent statistics, new research, and additional historical commentary, Keep Your Eye on the Ball is a highly informative and entertaining guide to the science of baseball that all fans of the game--regardless of scientific background--will enjoy.

About the Author

Robert G. Watts teaches in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Tulane University. Having more than a mere theoretical interest in the game, he pitched as a young man for the semiprofessional Bayou Latanache Baseball Club--where he gained first-hand knowledge of spitballs, fly balls, and a healthy familiarity with insider-baseball lore.

A. Terry Bahill has been Professor of Systems Engineering at the University of Arizona in Tucson since 1984. He has been investigating the brain's motor functions since 1971. Actively pursuing experiments in the science of baseball for many years, he has developed a measuring device that strengthens a player's ability to follow the pitch, as well as the Bat Chooser, a system that computes the Ideal Bat Weight for individual hitters.