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Baseball players sometimes cheat! One popular method has been to cork the bat. You drill out some of the core of the bat, and replace the heavy wood with light cork. You can then swing the lighter bat faster, and thus hit the ball further.
Of course, most ballplayers aren’t physicists, so they don’t realize that by making the bat lighter, they’re reducing the collision efficiency. You swing faster, but get a limper contact. In theory, anyway.
So physicists led by the University of Illinois’s Alan Nathan tested corked bats under controlled conditions. The doctored lumber actually usually causes the ball to go less far, they found. The work appears in the online forum the Physics arXiv. [http://bit.ly/9At1lX] So for a power hitter to cork his bat is a bad idea.
But the researchers note that, ironically, a corked bat might result in more homers from non-homer hitters. Who can watch a pitch slightly longer before swinging, make up for the lost time with a faster swing and achieve more solid contact more often. So a corked bat is a bad idea for Sammy Sosa, who got caught using one. But a good idea for, say, Bucky Dent.
—Steve Mirsky
[The above text is an exact transcript of this podcast.]
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8 Comments
Add CommentSo you don't remember the Mythbusters episode where they used the same methodology to come to the same conclusion? Without even a citation, though? That's not very classy. I'm sure they're gratified that their work has been independently confirmed however.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIndeed, we were unaware of the Mythbusters episode. Have you confirmed that the "controlled conditions" described in the publication are the same ones used by the mythbusters? I have no idea how they came to their conclusions, but the physicists who did this study may have done the research much more thoroughly. And classily.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNews Flash: Ball players don't put actual cork in the bat.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThey usually use some sort of rubber ball. Not to mention, the point of corking a bat isnt to increase distance, its to increase swing speed giving the batter a fraction of a second longer to determine ball location.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA batter is free to choose bat weight. It is unconstrained by the rules. Yes, lighter bats are easier to maneuver. But they impart less momentum so there is a tradeoff and an optimum mass. See The Ideal Baseball Bat Bahill, Terry | Karnavas, William New Scientist. Vol. 130, no. 1763, pp. 26-26. 6 Apr. 1991. I'm surprised this excellent article is not referenced by the authors of the article.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWell yes, their setup was much the same for the corked bat testing, with mechanical batting and air cannon pitching machines. They used a higher pitching speed of 80mph, however.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFor the ball humidity tests, they started indoors with simple ball drops for the flat plate testing. The batting machine testing was done out of doors. The humidity soak-in was done according to the Rockies equipment manager's reported spec IIRC.
The classy bit simply refers to the non-referral not the testing procedure. Recent (Aug 2007) highly public work. If you wish to get huffy over the TV show bit, fine. It's not Brainiac, though.
As I understand the research into the physics of bat corking, the conclusions reached are based on testing of the bats in isolation instead of looking statistically at the bat/batter combined performance.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAfter the hard numbers are stated there are many *suppositions* made about if, who, and how benefits are produced in the batter/ pitcher contest, BUT NO OBSERVATIONS.
My understanding of this contest is that in the crucial milliseconds that determine the outcome, the pitcher has the upper hand. It would seem that ANY added advantage given to the batter would make a significant difference to the game by making the contest more about the batters skill and intelligence, and less about raw power and the uncertainty of chance encounters between two rapidly moving/spinning irregular convex masses.
I might further point out that this prevailing analysis is based on the assumption that winning at baseball is about power hitters and home run hitting. Perhaps requiring *everyone* to use a corked bat would lead to more intelligence, less steroid use, and a more interesting game for the growing majority of Americans who are bored by the statistics heavy, brute force loving approach to "America's Game."
Is it symbolic that heavy steroid use is associated with small testicles, lowered intelligence, dishonesty, and big biceps.
As I understand the research into the physics of bat corking, the conclusions reached are based on testing of the bats in isolation instead of looking statistically at the bat/batter combined performance.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAfter the hard numbers are stated there are many *suppositions* made about if, who, and how benefits are produced in the batter/ pitcher contest, BUT NO OBSERVATIONS.
My understanding of this contest is that in the crucial milliseconds that determine the outcome, the pitcher has the upper hand. It would seem that ANY added advantage given to the batter would make a significant difference to the game by making the contest more about the batters skill and intelligence, and less about raw power and the uncertainty of chance encounters between two rapidly moving/spinning irregular convex masses.
I might further point out that this prevailing analysis is based on the assumption that winning at baseball is about power hitters and home run hitting. Perhaps requiring *everyone* to use a corked bat would lead to more intelligence, less steroid use, and a more interesting game for the growing majority of Americans who are bored by the statistics heavy, brute force loving approach to "America's Game."
Is it symbolic that heavy steroid use is associated with small testicles, lowered intelligence, dishonesty, and big biceps.