by T. Alan Christensen

We have to deal with physics.

A thrown baseball will always sink. It is called gravity. A thrown ball will always return to earth.

With the additional height of the pitchers mound a thrown ball sinks proportionate to the speed it is thrown. For a fast pitched ball to rise, unless thrown underhand, it would have to be thrown somewhere near 25,000 MPH.

A curve ball’s rotation dictates the amount of curve the ball makes during a pitch. Once the ball leaves the pitchers hand the spin cannot be altered, therefore, a curve ball will spin a set amount of times during the journey and the curve orbit will be consistent from hand to catcher’s glove. It cannot change. There can be NO late braking curve or slider.

Where does this put us with a "spit ball". Again all "loaded" pitches sink. If the fingers are made slicker and arm motion is correct the ball slides out off the hand forward and the last finger touching the ball is the thumb (see Gaylord Perry - Me and the Spitter) therefore the ball rotation is straight forward. This spin along with the speed of the pitch allows the ball to curve in a more shallow arc and always downward. A good spitter will generally end up in a ground ball.

Now to make an pitch (or throw) sail we deal with the same dynamics. These balls still sink.

What we do is grip the ball more to the side (i.e. the load is moved more to the side of the ball) and the result is a ball that appears to sink less than anticipated therefore, appears to sail. (This is the exact pitch that Jack Hamilton threw Tony Conigliaro that ended Tony C.’s career).

This same issue is what will cause balls to "sail." A thrown ball that sails, because of spin type, simply doesn’t sink as much as our eyes (and mind) think it should and our logic answer with, "the ball was rising."

We are often faced with this same issue on a bounding ball on artificial surface.

Over time we have seen bouncing items. We know the pattern that these items follow. When we see a ground ball bounce on an artificial surface we "expect" to see that same bounce pattern. When the second bounce on artificial surface "flattens" out the only answer we can get from our brain center is: "The ball speeded up!" It could not have. For spin to impact a bounce that rate would have to be near 2,500 rev per min. That Ain’t Gonna Happen!

Now let’s talk about "exploding" fastballs.

When an umpire starts working higher levels of baseball he will eventually be confronted by a fast ball that appears to "speed up" or "explode" during the last 10’. Again, a ball is delivered at a set speed and CANNOT, by the rules of physics, gain speed during its journey to the plate.

What actually happens is that our eyes (and therefore our brain) are fooled into believing that the only way the pitch could have done what it did was that it "exploded" at the end. Over many, many years I have discovered that this can happen at any time. We get comfortable with a pitchers speed, he reaches back to find a little extra and "BAM" we see the pitch "explode".

As umpires we are faced with a substantial task to do our job well. We work leagues that use several different sets of rules, we work great quality players one day and then kids who just wanna play the next . . . we work at ball parks that have no fences one day, at a High School Field the next and then one day get to work at an actual "closed in" baseball diamond on Saturday.

Yet every fan, coach and player expect more from us than even their own teammates!

OK T Alan, why all this "stuff"?

It has been proven that the human eye cannot differentiate happens that occur closer than .04 of a second. I read people asking about "does the tie go to the runner?" And I always answer, "there ain’t no ties, Baby!" and that, of course is WRONG! It is just that our eye cannot tell what comes first. It is that tough sometimes to be "The Guy Who Makes the Calls!"

Remember, in every game there is a winning pitcher and a losing umpire.

Strikes & Outs!

Strikes & Outs! Is a column written specifically for Baseball Umpires. The column is a mixture of anecdotes, rule discussions, comments on Umpire Equipment and Umpire Equipment Suppliers, discussions of Major League Baseball Umpires and a ‘newsletter’ to communicate with our brethren in blue.

The author, T. Alan Christensen, is a 27 year veteran umpire and an award winning newspaper author. Christensen has umpired all levels of baseball from High School State Tournaments to Major League Inter-squad games.

Christensen, who resides in Beaverton, OR, is currently a member of the Portland (OR) Baseball Umpires Association.