9781422274750

KEY ICONS TO LOOK FOR: A baseball, or softball, needs a considerable amount of energy to make it across home plate so pitchers use a windup to put enough force on the ball to do that. This windup uses the largest muscles (those in the lower body) first. Thus, when the pitcher releases the ball it has the force of more than an arm alone can provide. THE WORLD’S FASTEST PITCH According to the Guinness Book of World Records , the fastest baseball pitch ever thrown by a man was clocked at 105.1 miles (169.1 kilometers) per hour. It was thrown during a game at PETCO Park in San Diego, California. Cuban-American pitcher Aroldis Chapman threw the stunning fastball. He was the pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds in a game against the San Diego Padres on September 24, 2010. For reference, the average speed of a baseball thrown in MLB is roughly 92 miles (148.06 kilometers) per hour. More than manipulating speed alone, pitchers use a further understanding of physics and aerodynamics to control how the ball rises, turns, or sinks at the last possible second. These moves create a further challenge for batters that goes beyond the speed and strength of the pitch alone. This is where the unique engineering and design of the ball itself comes into play. The distinctive seams that hold each baseball together also serve to create the wind resistance that pitchers use to create the sinking, rising, and side-to-side motion of the baseball down toward the ground, much like it does with the spilled popcorn and discarded peanut shells that litter the stands after a game. Lift counters the effect of gravity as its upward motion moves the ball skyward. Drag comes in the form of wind resistance as the ball flies through the air toward its target and works with gravity to bring that ball back to the ground.

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10 CONNECTING STEM AND SPORTS | BASEBALL AND SOFTBALL