The Science of Baseball

Explains how to select or design an optimal baseball or softball bat and create models for bat-ball collisions using only fundamental principles of mechanics from high school physics

Describes the results of the collision between baseball and bat using basic mathematics such as equations for the speed of the ball after the collision, bat speed after the collision, and bat rotation after the collision

Adopts a lucid writing style using term s accessible to high school and undergraduate students as well as non-technical aficionados of the science of baseball

Maximizes reader understanding of batting based on human physiology, eye-hand cross-dominance, and bat-ball interactions

Elucidates the accuracy and margins of simulations, including MLB homerun distances

Illustrates design of an optimal baseball or softball bat

Explains models for bat-ball collisions using only fundamental mechanical principles from high school science

Auteur
Terry Bahill is an Emeritus Professor of Systems Engineering and of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He served as a Lieutenant in the United States Navy. He received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of eight engineering books and over two hundred and fifty papers, over one hundred of them in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Bahill has worked with dozens of high-tech companies presenting seminars on Systems Engineering, working on system development teams and helping them to describe their Systems Engineering processes. He holds a U.S. patent for the Bat Chooser™, a system that computes the Ideal Bat Weight™ for individual baseball and softball batters. He was elected to the Omega Alpha Association, the systems engineering honor society. He received the Sandia National Laboratories Gold President's Quality Award. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), of Raytheon Missile Systems, of the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He is the Founding Chair Emeritus of the INCOSE Fellows Committee. His picture is in the Baseball Hall of Fame's exhibition "Baseball as America."

Contenu

Types of Bat-ball Collisions.- Configurations of Bat-ball Collisions.- Equations for Bat-ball Collisions.- The ConLaw Model for Bat-ball Collisions.- Alternative Models.- The Ball in Flight Model.- Accuracy of Simulations.- The Bat's Vertical Sweetness Gradient.- The advantage of eye-hand cross-dominance for baseball batters.- Dénouement.- General Modeling Principles.