Cheaters never prospor, for long....

"Corked bats don't kill people, people kill people!"
I don't know. It just doesn't have the same ring.

The other 60 or so bats Sammy had, were uncorked. As were the bats he donated to the Hall of Fame.
And some physicists have stated that corking a bat actually takes some distance off the struck ball. The bat moves faster, but the cork dampens some of the impact.

I'm waiting for the Feds to file suit against the match and cigarette-lighter industries! Do you realize how many fires are started each year by matches and cigarette lighters? Including, probably, 100% of all arsons?

Anti corked bat activists claim to have internal documents that reveal that the corked bat makers targeted chiildren in their marketing.

SAVE THE CORKED BAT

For a generous contribution of just $50.00, you can help save this endangered species: the rare corked Bat. Often found dejectedly hanging upside down while smoking ganga in abandoned bullpens, the Midwestern Corked Bat has been hounded almost into extinction by irresponsible overdevelopment of its native habitat.

You owe it to your children to preserve this fine specimen of nature's glory - a small donation today will help ensure that the corked bat will produce mildly hallucinogenic guano for generations to come.

For a generous contribution of just $50.00, you can help save this endangered species: the rare corked Bat.

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!

Brilliant! Thank you, Cassandra, for cracking me up.

At this point, however, I suspect that the ìrare corked batî isnít just quite rare enough for Sosa.

SAVE SAMMY SOSA!!!

He's so doggone cute---how could such a cutey really be a coorked...err... crooked player? It just ain't fair!

I say the corked bat people are anti Cuban. They have a vendetta against cigar companies and with Hillary's new tell all book-----well..I'ts all become a convoluted MESS!

Whaddya bet Pete Rose knows the odds of the outcome of this corker?

AYEEEEE!---Northern Michigan catnip ROCKS! In the famous word (singular) of a Stoner post: "whooooaaaa"!---or in this case from his 2 word posts: "double whooaaa"

some random guy,

I don't think bat speed has anything to do with it. You achieve higher bat speed with a lighter bat, but the quantity that is conserved is momentum, which is speed * mass. Of course, what you gain in bat speed is exactly canceled out by the lesser mass of the corked bat. (Actually, the relevant mass is not the mass of the corked bat, but the mass of the batter + bat. You get the same result, though.)

I think that the two relevant variables here are

(1) Elasticity -- how much of the batter + bat's momentum is transferred to the ball

(2) Time of contact -- how long is the bat in contact with the ball. The longer this is, the more time the batter has to continue his swing and continue powering the ball.

A metal bat, such as those used in high school and NCAA ball and softball, is super-elastic, but the time of contact with the ball is almost zero. The ball jumps right off the bat. All empirical evidence points to the fact that you do get longer distance with a metal bat.

This is going to sound silly, but imagine swinging at the ball with a huge pillow. Now the collision has almost zero elasticity, but the time of contact will be large. The ball will sink into the pillow, and you and the pillow will probably be knocked back from the momentum of the ball. If you are strong enough, you may be able to maintain your swing and get the pillow and the ball moving forward again, but the ball probably isn't going to fly very far.

So these are two extreme results that yield very different answers. Of course, the elasticity and the time of contact for both wooden bats and corked bats are going to lie somewhere in the middle. I'd guess that the elasticity of a corked bat is less than that of a wooden bat, since it's less dense, but that the time of contact might be longer (because the cork inside can deform slightly). I'd also guess that a corked bat will give you less distance than a wooden bat, as it seems that elasticity is more important than time of contact. I wouldn't be surprised if I were wrong, though. It's really hard to tell without a lot of experimental evidence.

Still a funny article posted by Scott, though.

Maybe the Midwestern Corked Bat would be more resilient if we used genetic engineering to enhance its natural elasticity. This added resiliency might help it adapt to the environmental changes perpetrated by an uncaring human-centric society.

Excuse me - I have to go and save the fruit bat now.

I hate to think of the expression on their little bat faces when you swing at them with a huge pillow...

PS: Is bat speed as good as ganga? Or is it more like warp speed?

Sorry to be such a smart aleck, but since I can't say anything remotely intelligent about physics I figured the next best thing was to make wisecracks :)

Cassandra---go easy on the tequila, eh? (:~})

With my video mind being as it is---I did get a laugh out of the expression on the little bats face as the pillow is heading toward him.

Click my name for said "bat".....This one looks pretty confident and changes my whole attitude toward bats.

They say the truth will set you free - unless you did it.

Down WIth the Aluminum Bat!

It is ruining the game. Young players get inspired by going to big league games. They dream of the day when they step up to the plate, swing at ball, and hear the perfect *CRACK* of a home-run ball.
And what happens in their little league games when they get a hit? *TINK!*
What a let down.

Restore the purity of the game. Switch back to wood.

Well, as long as the suit is in Cook county, the coorkers stand no chance :) They'd better pay up or else :)

LPB

Everyone knows the Aluminum Bat flies funny anyway....a Corked or Wood Bat, on the other hand, is poultry in motion.

i wan to than all my fan who suppor me an wan to appologi for not knowin the differen from a cork ba an a no cork ba. i also wan to say tha baseball ben berry berry good to me.

than you,

Sammy

If I look out me office window, I can see a six-story baseball bat leaning up against the H&B; factory/museum. I wonder how much cork there is in it?

If I look out my office window, I can see my miniDachshund "Sausage" lying in a patch of sun on my patio. I think a six-story Dachshund would scare the &*(^%! out of me... :)

as I look out my "office" window I see where my neighbor used to live. When he ( who isn't even close to 6 ft tall) tried to run over the landlord several weeks ago----it sure scared the $&#^*# out of the landlord.

{upshot: one of the cops that showed up on my back porch was kind to the eyes(:~}}

Sausage is now destroying my flower beds. He thinks he has found a critter behind the water fountain and dived into a mass of siberian iris and started digging like mad. I suspect it may be only a garden snail.

CASSANDRA!...Sausage has found a FRENCHMAN in your flowerbed!...which is still better than the other "bed" option!

No wonder he's growling...

Cassandra...you did say you suspected he found a SNAIL, yah?....Wiener Dogs history is that of findng and eliminating various and sundry "varmints"! (just learned that the other day from my mini dachsund owning friends)

Casserole

As for me to your house there is me coming.
The Dachshund sausage is much loved elegant here. We eat with rice and the midwestern bat which is done the corked. All your iris is saved. ¶ )

Grrrrrr..............

....BRING IT!!!----Il!

...Go ahead...make our day!

Some Random Guy wrote:

"The other 60 or so bats Sammy had, were uncorked. As were the bats he donated to the Hall of Fame."

I love this argument. That's like saying, "Hey that cheating gambler was using loaded dice, but the monopoly dice, yahtzee dice, and bunko dice at his house were all fine" or "the pitcher did have vaseline on the cap he was wearing during the game, but they checked the other 60 hats he owns, including his cowboy hat and his dual beer-sipping hat, and they were all fine"

Cheaters aren't dumb enough to cork all their bats, but are smart enough to know which one to take to the plate. Apparently, though, they are dumb enough to swing at an inside fastball capable of cracking their favorite bat in two.

Cheaters aren't dumb enough to cork all their bats, but are smart enough to know which one to take to the plate.

Except for Albert Belle.

To all you scientists out there who never played baseball:

As was explained in the sports section of the local newspaper several day ago: It is not really a matter of transferrance of power (e=mc2) or something like that. The cork allows the batter to have a lighter bat without reducing the size of the barrel ie a less dense bat.
This allows increased bat speed the point of which would be not to increase the result of einstein's equation but to get the bat around and onto the ball squarely.

As any batter or golfer knows its not how hard you swing its how good the quality of contact is. The amount of cork used by Mr. Sosa increased his potential bat speed 1-2 mph. enough to make the difference between a solid hit through the middle or a foul behind the dugout.

Every aging slugger faces the fact that not only the eyesight goes but the reactions. They can't get around on the old heater anymore. A thinner bat is not an option; too hard to hit with. Shaving the handles is not an option. They 're about as narrow as they can get now (see all the shattered bats in the last ten years.)

Yahoo:

Whooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!
Double Whoooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaa!

That's deep, man, real deep! I'm gonna thaw out Uncle Ted and tell em. maybe he can start up his career again.

Base-a-ball has been berry berry goood too me.
I never us de cork. No in my bat anyways. Only sos i doan have to go durin de game, you know. dank you danky berry much.

>As was explained in the sports section of the >local newspaper several day ago: It is not >really a matter of transferrance of power
>(e=mc2) or something like that. The cork allows >the batter to have a lighter bat without >reducing the size of the barrel ie a less dense >bat.
>This allows increased bat speed the point of >which would be not to increase the result of >einstein's equation but to get the bat around >and onto the ball squarely.

Uh...I don't know who wrote this, but this is a load of nonsense, for the following two reasons:

(1) If mass were the the only important characteristic of a bat, everyone would be using legal bats made of pine or some wood that is lighter than the ubiquitous ash.

(2) Einstein's equation E=mc^2 is totally irrelevant. Nothing in the collision is traveling at anywhere close to the speed of light.

As was explained in the sports section of the local newspaper several day ago: It is not really a matter of transferrance of power (e=mc2) or something like that. The cork allows the batter to have a lighter bat without reducing the size of the barrel ie a less dense bat.
This allows increased bat speed the point of which would be not to increase the result of einstein's equation but to get the bat around and onto the ball squarely.

As any batter or golfer knows its not how hard you swing its how good the quality of contact is. The amount of cork used by Mr. Sosa increased his potential bat speed 1-2 mph. enough to make the difference between a solid hit through the middle or a foul behind the dugout.

Every aging slugger faces the fact that not only the eyesight goes but the reactions. They can't get around on the old heater anymore. A thinner bat is not an option; too hard to hit with. Shaving the handles is not an option. They 're about as narrow as they can get now (see all the shattered bats in the last ten years.)

Sorry, let me try again.

(1) The mass of the bat is largely irrelevant. You can get an alumnium bat that weighs more or less than a regular bat. Regardless of its weight, the alumnium bat will be a better bat. The loud "crack" you hear when a ball hits a wooden bat is wasted energy. You don't get that with an aluminum bat.

Again, if a MLB player just wanted a lighter bat, he could easily obtain lighter legal bats made of different woods.

(2) Again, bringing up Einstein's equation makes no sense, since nothing is traveling at a relativistic speed.

Me again.

Okay, so the guy also makes the point that a lighter bat will allow you to get the bat around the plate faster. Maybe that might help a wussy slap-hitter like Ichiro, but will that really help a dead-pull hitter like Sammy Sosa or Albert Belle?

I think the MLB Commissioner should pass a rule immediately mandating the use of anti-cork bat-lock as soon as the technology is available.

Yes, I need to get a life.

Yes, serious analysis has no place on Scrappleface.

Nevertheless...

A 90 mph fastball takes about .45 seconds to travel the 60.5 feet from the pitcher's mound to home plate.

Everyone says a batter has about .25 seconds to decide whether or not to swing. That leaves .2 seconds of actual swinging.

The head ot the bat travels about 6 feet from the batter's shoulder to the place where it contacts the ball.

The average speed of the head of the bat is therefore 6/.2 = 30 feet per second.

Assuming the acceleration of the bat is uniform, the top speed of the head of the bat is twice that, 60 feet per second.

If a 32 ounce bat is shaved down to 30 ounces by corking, the ratio of the two masses is 1.067.

Kinetic energy is 1/2 mv^2. If the mass goes down by a factor of 1.067, the maximum bat speed will increase by a factor of the square root of 1.067, which is 1.033.

(1.033 - 1) * 60 = 1.97, so the maximum bat speed goes up by about 2 feet per second.

As the bat is whipping around home plate, the hands stay mostly still. Only the bat is changing its angle. The bat is about 34 inches, or 2.83 feet long.

(2 feet per second) / (2.83 feet) = .706 radians per second. The increase in angular velocity using a corked bat is about .706 radians per second, or about 40 degrees per second.

The duration of the swing is about .2 seconds. 40 degrees per second * .2 seconds is about 8.1 degrees, or about 9% of the total angle of the fair-ball territory (90 degrees).

Does this make much of a difference?

a) Cassandra, you are my intellectual idol
b) Edward Lee: Lighten up, it's baseball
c) In case anyone cares, Joe Morgan (H of F 2d baseman) wrote an article on ESPN.com this past week saying that the EXACT same thing happened to him in 1983 in a game when he was playing for the Giants.
d) I love Sammy (Platonically, of course). Aside from his personal black eye, his absence (again) hurts the Cub lineup. The challenge will make this initial trip (in my lifetime) to the Series all the sweeter. You heard it hear first.
e) I am taking the high road regarding the failure to find WMD in any of his bats.

yaksun

Mr. Lee:

I will not challenge you on your calculations, which I am sure are impeccable and far superior to anything I could even attempt. I must, however, question your empathy -- in fact, I question the empathy of everyone who has posted on this thread.

I do NOT understand how you people can turn a deaf ear to the pitiful supersonic squeaks of the Endangered Midwestern Corked Bat.

Just listen to a few examples of how Edward Lee and his Physics-spouting ilk would treat this poor creature:

If a 32 ounce bat is shaved down to 30 ounces by corking...

OUCH! SHAVED BATS - YOU PEOPLE ARE BARBARIANS!

...imagine swinging at the bat with a huge pillow. Now the collision has almost zero elasticity, but the time of contact will be large. The bat will sink into the pillow, and you and the pillow will probably be knocked back from the momentum of the bat. If you are strong enough, you may be able to maintain your swing and get the pillow and the bat moving forward again, but the bat probably isn't going to fly very far.

I SHOULD SAY NOT! How far would YOU fly after being swung at by a GIANT PILLOW???

...corking a bat actually takes some distance off the struck ball. The bat moves faster, but the cork dampens some of the impact.

WELL THANK GOD FOR THE TENDER MERCIES OF SRG...

I'd guess that the elasticity of a corked bat is less than that of a wooden bat, since it's less dense*....It's really hard to tell without a lot of experimental evidence.

*Oh, so you admit Corked Bats are smarter...

SURE - FINE - GO AHEAD...EXPERIMENT AWAY ON THE POOR DEFENSELESS CORKED BAT... JUST REMEMBER TO WATCH YOUR BACK THE NEXT TIME YOU STEP INTO AN ABANDONED BULLPEN.

As the bat is whipping around home plate, the hands stay mostly still. Only the bat is changing its angle. The bat is about 34 inches, or 2.83 feet long.

GREAT - IN YOUR SOULLESS QUEST FOR BAT ELASTICITY, YOU HAVE MANAGED TO STRETCH THIS POOR FELLOW OUT TO 3 TIMES HIS ORIGINAL LENGTH, AND NOW YOU HAVE HIM "WHIPPING AROUND HOME PLATE"...IS THERE NO END TO YOUR CRUELTY???

I must say, the lack of sensitivity on this issue is a big disappointment to me and my furry friends.

Shame - shame on you Mr. Lee.

ps: I forgot - click on my name in the previous post to confront the victim of your nefarious bat-schemes.

pps: Yaksun:

a) Cassandra, you are my intellectual idol

***Ah, but I must defer to Mr. Lee on the subject of physics and to everyone else on most other topics. In the field of BS, on the other hand, I am the Queen. :)

b) Edward Lee: Lighten up, it's baseball

***Mr. Lee, I am only ragging on you because you know too much. Tomorrow during Happy Hour on ScrappleFace, we'll raise a beer to each other, to you, Yaksun and the ever-persuasive tom (please make peace) and to finding WMD in Iraq so we can argue about something else.

Now I must get some work done or I will be up all night finishing it...

Cassandra

You got your wings all up in a wad over this bat stuff, poor thing? Your plea for the little creature was funny, though.(:~})

I dare say that the creature in the picture you linked to your name has already been subjected to unthinkable cruelty.

It appears someone has split an umbrella in half and then stitched the 2 sides to the legs of a rodent!! A large pillow would be a comfort!

I lost it when this thread started. Somehow I can't get the image of Bat meets ball out of my mind...sick, isn't it?

OK Cassandra----let me take you a little further down this mad path you're on.

Fruit bats eat....???? Right!

Grapes (and other fruits) are made into wine.
and WHAT is used to "cork" wine bottles???....

If you live anywhere near a vineyard you should pay a visit and do some investigating and see if they don't have an unusually large amount of pillows which are probably used to "harvest" their corks!

LOOK WHAT YOU"VE DONE TO ME,Cassandra! LOL

corked bats, and breakfast cereals, and sloths...

LFC:

I may never be able to drink wine again...but just to be sure, I'd better go check out some of those vinyards. Just as a scientific experiment, you understand...I certainly wouldn't enjoy drinking...err..testing...all that wine.

By the way, the Midwestern Corked Bat is quite sensitive about its appearance. It does not appreciate comparisons to rodents and umbrellas.

...sort of a sensitive, New Age Bat

Cassandra!"By the way, the Midwestern Corked Bat is quite sensitive about its appearance. It does not appreciate comparisons to rodents and umbrellas.----...sort of a sensitive, New Age Bat

L M [F] O!!....
[considering your understanding of bat feelings--I'm curious--like Dorie in Finding Nemo speaks whale----do you then speak bat? (:~})]

Here's the deal though---the wine is probably fine...just don't lick the cork! Also...as for the sensitive bat---it sounds to me rather "liberal" then. Now, if you take another look at that thing--you may be hard pressed to disagree with my description.(:~})

I love most animals---but with bats (and a few other creeepy/crawly creatures)---just can't go there. They're freaky--they wig me out!---SSHHH...don't tell the sensitive new age ones. I'd hate for them to spitefully show up on my porch..OR in my hair (which is NOT a wig)!

E=mc2... force equals mass time velocity..lotsa hot air equals a bucket of warm spit. What did you learn at MIT besides how to be a major a##hole? My point was made and it stands. Take two and hit to right.

YOU SICK BAS#ARDS!

Sosa and MLB was my second best buyer!

The wine industry is first, and that is slumping because of the french wine boycott.

I long for the good old days when our gaskets were on every auto engine, and adorned every fisherman's bobber!

Then rubber and plastic, all but replaced us!

You think we are done, but just watch out, some dark night we will unite, and 'WHAM' plug all of your orifices while you are asleep!

MUHA HA HA HA HA!!!

When is somebody going to impant cork tree genes into an ash tree? By the time they clone Sosa, that's when :)