Say it Ain't So.... Curve Balls Don't Break Near Plate

[LeftCoastCubFan]

Batters throughout Major League Baseball may be struggling with an optical illusion when they try to hit a curveball.

 

Scientists suggest in new research that curveballs don’t actually break near home plate -- it just appears that way as a hitter switches modes of seeing.

 

The break, which appears to be a sudden change from the ball’s curved path, may come from the way the human eye shifts between central and peripheral vision, according to the research, released yesterday by the journal PLoS One. The scientists explained the “rise” in a fastball the same way.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-13/baseball-curveballs-break-near-plate-only-in-batters-minds-study-says.html

[jersey cubs fan]

Wait I thought they didn't actually curve at all.

[lumafia]

Wait I thought they didn't actually curve at all.

 

Wow. I would love to read the thread where somebody said that curve balls didn't actually curve.

[jersey cubs fan]

Wait I thought they didn't actually curve at all.

 

Wow. I would love to read the thread where somebody said that curve balls didn't actually curve.

 

not a thread, some physicist or somebody made the claim a long time ago. Don't remember details.

[lumafia]

Wait I thought they didn't actually curve at all.

 

Wow. I would love to read the thread where somebody said that curve balls didn't actually curve.

 

not a thread, some physicist or somebody made the claim a long time ago. Don't remember details.

 

That's awesome. They must have made that claim prior to the invention of airplanes.

[erik316wttn]

I thought I saw a series of photographs from about 100 years ago that proved, in fact, that curve balls actually do curve.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

It's not that they don't curve. It's that they don't have anywhere near the curve that they appear to, just a slight bend. Something like never deviating more than 6 inches from a straight line.

[Magnetic Curses]

It's not that they don't curve. It's that they don't have anywhere near the curve that they appear to, just a slight bend. Something like never deviating more than 6 inches from a straight line.

 

add to that the fact that they are off-speed.