Baseball bats - Ash vs. Maple?

[-MIKE-]

97 mph fastballs, that's why not. :-)

[Zz Yzx]

In certain situations, 4 outs can be recorded in one inning, as per the following example:

Tie game. One out, runners on first and third. Batter hits fly ball to outfield, caught (2 out). Runner on third tags and is called safe on the attempted put-out at the plate. Runner on first is thrown out at third (3 out). Defense appeals the tag-up at third (runner left early); he's called out (4th out) and defense succesfully removes the run scored.

It's actually in the rule book last time I checked.

-Zz

[Stuart]

Jeff Thomson recorded at 99.8 mph

bowling machines used in practice are rated up to 95mph

only reports I have heard of a cricket bat breaking were in more recent times when they were trying out different materials and laminates.

[Doug Winterburn]

> The only reports I have heard of a cricket bat breaking were in more

[-MIKE-]

> The only reports I have heard of a cricket bat breaking were in more

Well, there ya go.

[Andy Dingley]

18th century cricket bats used to be solid, triangular in section and tapered. Bowlers bowled slowly underarm. All was good. As bowlers speeded up and bowled overarm, these heavy bats could no longer be swung easily enough to respond. Batsman sought a lighter, faster bat and began to use a thinner and more "paddle shaped" bat, as today, made of lighter timber like willow. However willow isn't strong enough for this and they broke where the narrow handle broadened into the blade. The fix was to insert a stronger cane handle into a vee slot in the blade - which I believe to be a local invention (Sudbrook, by the chap who was also chief engineer of the Severn Tunnel).

[Stuart]

>

That's very good but one must remember that a cricket ball is heavier.

A Cricket ball must weigh between 155.9 and 163g. The mean of which is

159.45

A Baseball ball weighs between 142 and 149g. The mean of which is 145.5g

The damage caused by any projectile depends on its energy which is given by the simple formula E=1/2mass x Velocity squared.

A cricket ball travelling at 99.8mph (4461 cm/s)

has an energy of 1586569037 erg

On the other hand, a baseball ball travelling at 103mph (4604 cm/s)

has an energy of 1542068364 erg.

There may not be a lot in it but the cricket ball is therfore capable of doing more damage.

I would therefore assert that willow is just as viable for Baseball bats as your traditional ash.

[Stuart]

Youp, stick to willow.

[-MIKE-]

I'm agreeing with that. I'm just agreeing with the mph thing.

In any case, isn't a cricket bat flat? That has to play into the equation. I'm also curious about the density of willow compared to ash/maple. Also, how much wood is there in each bat? Like how much volume?

What I'm getting to is would willow be too heavy for a baseball bat... or too light, for that matter. There's an equation for baseball that goes something along the lines of each ounce added to the weight of the bat at the same speed of swing adds X distance to the ball's travel. Each mph of bat speed for the same weight bat adds X distance to the ball's travel. So the quandary left to the baseball batter is whether he can swing a heavier bat fast enough to make up the difference in speed lost to the lighter bat.

The trend has seemed to go to the favor of lighter bats to get faster bat speed. Babe Ruth and other prolific hitters of his time used very heavy bats, well over 40oz. If you see old footage of Babe Ruth's swing, you can see that bat speed wasn't of much concern to him. :-) He sort of flicked the bat out and caught the ball at the apex of his swing, allowing the trampoline effect of the wood's flex to transfer all that mass to the ball.

Home run hitter of today are only concerned with bat speed. They will us a 32 oz bat and let bat speed do the work.

[-MIKE-]

Oops, *NOT* agreeing. :-)

[Stuart]

It's about 50 years since I last had a cricket bat in my hands.

The face of the bat is sort of flat but has a slight curve to it in section. It's also basically triangular in section. It thickens towards the end away from the handle.

Any pro cricketer will have a bat made to his own requirements, its length will depend on his height for a start, so it's impossible to say how much wood might be used.

[Kevin]

And they are also putting that weight out in the barrel by making the handles thinner, and voila they break more often. There's no minimum diameters specified, only the maximum.

[-MIKE-]

Thinner handles contribute to more flex, too, adding to the trampoline effect.

I hit another homerun tonight and it was all bat. :-)

[Robatoy]

That musta really left that rubber tee flapping, eh? . . . . g, d & r

[-MIKE-]

:-) Reminds me of those tees at the driving range. Golf is not my forte'. My golf and bowling scores are usually about the same.

[Stuart]

Personally, I'd rather spend my time in the shop. ;-)

[-MIKE-]

I saw the smiley, but I find that a good balance is beneficial. I can get shop fever when working too long. Some physical activity out in the fresh air seems to recharge the old batteries, mentally and physically.

[Stuart]

Ah, don't misunderstand me. Once a month my eldest daughter and I go for a walk along a canal somewhere. Her boyfriend drops us off and picks us up at the end of the walk. Typically we walk 10-12 miles and hopefully finish in a pub.

I have also recently joined

I also have a number of other hobbies including photography, which also gets me "out and about" and playing 12-string guitar which doesn't. :-)

[-MIKE-]

That's better than walking laps inside the shopping malls like there do, here.

Are you kidding? How about playing in one of those pubs you end up in? :-)

[Stuart]

Well, my daughter (flute, "penny" whistle) and I used to play in a ceilidh band, which was great fun, but the guy who lead it decided to call it a day.

In some pubs it would probably go down fine in others......

August we wound up at a place called Fazley junction. The weather was beautiful, there were loads of people about and the canal was busy with boats. It was a good pub, couple of friendly, youngish lads behind the bar and a very nice cider on draught. We sat outside in the sunshine by the tow-path and I reckon we could easily have attracted an appreciative audience if we'd been playing.

September found us in a former mining town called Bedworth in a run down tatty pub where the only cider was bottled and the only "beer" came from one of those chemical factories they sometimes call "breweries". The sort of stuff they "Blow" out of the kegs with CO2. The few locals stared at us like we shouldn't have dared step in through the door and the landlady was a miserable middle aged woman.

Strictly speaking, it would also depend whether the pub had a license to allow live music on the premises (Quaint English law)

Of course, after walking 12 miles or so, what we really want to do is sit down, relax and slake our thirst with a pint or two. :-)