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Re: [Phys-l] Baseball



At 13:29 -0500 10/22/06, E Muehleisen wrote:

II fear that you are overlooking the correct answer on the question as to
why the pitcher bends forward, sometimes, to read the signal from the
catcher. Baseball like most sports is highly idiosyncratic. If a particular
attitude, motion, manner of spitting, etc looks neat to the viewer it is
readily adopted by others. Every youngster I knew or coached who watched
major league pitchers put a hand on the knee, leaned forward with the ball
behind the back and read the signs from the catcher. Once seen nearly every
young feller has adopted the same procedure. In modern parlance, such
behavior was cool. Note, however, some pitchers stand tall with ball in
glove and glove about chin level. Not all are cool, thank goodness.

Careful observation should show that the second stance is normally taken when there are runners on base, and the pitcher has an interest in keeping them as close to the base bag as possible to inhibit their stealing the next base. the stance in question here is the one usually used by the pitcher when there are no runners on base, or the possibility of stealing is nil, even with runners on.

Nevertheless, the observation that the stance is "cool" probably has some merit. World class athletes are notorious for being superstitious, and if they have been imitating some famous pitcher since they were little, they might believe that that stance has something to do with their success, and they don't want to "break the spell" by changing it.

Hugh
--

************************************************************
Hugh Haskell
<mailto:haskell@ncssm.edu>
<mailto:hhaskell@mindspring.com>

(919) 467-7610

When you are arguing with a stupid person, it is a good idea to make sure that
person isn't doing the same thing.
Anonymous