Keep Your Eye on the Ball: The Science and Folklore of Baseball

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W. H. Freeman, 1990 - Baseball - 213 pages
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?

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