Physics of Baseball, The

by Robert K. Adair

A Sterling Professor of Physics at Yale University provides a unique and fascinating perspective on America's favorite pastime. Did you Know . . .

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Science, Nonfiction, Physics

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this when I was a kid (of course I did, because it perfectly combined two of my geeky obsessions) but I suspect a fair fraction flew over my head. Now, having studied quite a lot more physics, I can see that it's not really meant to be a popular treatment of the subject, so much as it is a first draft to a thorough technical analysis. As a result, it can be an intimidating read for layfolk, but also a fairly accurate window into how professional physicists attack new research problems.

The book opens with a blast of fluid dynamics, describing the flight of the baseball. By its nature, fluid dynamics is one of the more opaque sub-branches of physics -- the realm of turbulence, chaos and ad hoc empirical approximations. (Turbulence is one of the great unsolved problems in physics, and a solution to it could win you a cool million dollars.) It is a hard topic to present at the best of times but Adair actually does a pretty good job getting to the heart of why a curveball curves. The explanation could probably benefit from just a bit more exposition and explanation of basic concepts, and there are a few sentences here and there that leave you scratching your head, but a solid effort.

The later chapters on pitching and batting have more to do with materials and kinematics than fluid flow, and are less complicated but a bit duller and more repetitive. Much of the content of the book comes from simple models of throwing and hitting baseballs, based on likely approximations and squeezing information out of what little experimental data exists. When things get too dry, the author does his best to spice things up with baseball lore. In fact, one of the really cool things about the book is how he tries to address and assess the opinions and wisdom of pro baseball players, and provide explanations for many of the common features of the game.

[Jim Townsend · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rhought it was a good book with a seldom-thought way of looking at baseball.

[Larry Hostetler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would have given it 3.5 if allowed.

Definitely a learned exposition about the physics of baseball. Just enough application and illustration from baseball to keep me reading it even when I got lost in computations and physics formulae.

I was glad to read the physics behind the curve ball and other pitches (like the knuckleball).

Things I learned: a curveball thrown at 70 mph with a normal rpm of 1600 "curves" (the physics term is deflection) of 14.4 inches, most of it in the last 15 feet before crossing the plate.

A ball is unlikely to be hit more than 550 feet.

Cool Papa Bell was clocked going completely around the bases in under 13 seconds, which is one second slower than Carl Lewis could cover the same distance in a straight line.

If I want to see home runs I should go to games with low barometric pressure (6' added for each inch on the barometer) and temps in the 100s. And in Denver fast balls get to the plate 1' quicker than at sea level, and curves don't curve as much.

While it's nice to have the scientific proof, and it is a good exposition, it still leaves a lot of room for study. But then, that's what's great about baseball.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent, of course!

[Don LaFountaine · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are not too many baseball books I say this about, but this was not a book I enjoyed.

Basically, this book discusses the physics of the aspects of a baseball game; pitching, hitting, fielding, catching, and throwing to name a few. It felt like reading a textbook, complete with equations and proofs. Though it was interesting in parts, in discussing the physics of the game it felt to me that the heart and beauty of play of the game of baseball were removed.

Basically, it comes down to this: For those who are interested in analyzing every aspect of the game with advanced metrics, this book is for you. Reading it, I felt that the book is the beginning of the trend all the new advanced analysis. For fans of the game who are more interested in the action of the field, and feel that statistics are a part of the game that compliments the action but should not cloud the action, you may feel as I do about this book not being for you. This is not to say that one view is better than the other, just that there are distinct "camps" when it comes to viewing the National Pastime, and this book is more about the advanced metrics camp.

I would recommend this book to baseball fans that are interested in the advanced metric statistics that permeate baseball today as this book will give an idea to fans where they came from. It is not a book for "casual" reading, nor for fans that are looking for a story of the game.

[Dean Mundy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short book (106 pages plus an index) introduces one to some of the physics behind baseball. Because there are so many possibilities, it can only give estimates and guesses noted in chapter 1. The other four chapters analyze the flight of the baseball, pitching, bating the ball and properties of bats.

A very enjoyable book which made me wonder, with the advances in technology, might some of these analyses become more concrete and less estimates and guesswork.

This led me to the inevitable Google search which brought me this website. The Physics of Baseball at the University of Illinois (http://baseball.physics.illinois.edu/). I imagine I will be wasting some time at this website! There are papers and calculators for all kinds of baseball events.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the most approachable book at first blush, but a REALLY fun perspective on baseball. So much of what I learned through practice or innately is explained here - and explaining WHY it is so. Baseball has evolved around physical truths and rules, but without precision science - rather, it's been learned experience. Much like discussions of advanced statistical metrics show more advantageous ways of playing the game, this book deals with what physical factors can influence play - both natural and from the player.

Well worth the read if you enjoy baseball and/or physics in daily life.

[Nate Hendrix · Rating 1 out of 5]

My rating this book one star is not a reflection on its quality. This is an amazing explanation of the physics involved in the sport of baseball. Unfortunately, the explanation goes right over my head. The level of education that is required to understand most of this book is well beyond me. This book was mentioned in another baseball book that I did enjoy. I skimmed most of this one. So, please don't misunderstand me. I did not like this book because I am to stupid to understand it, not because it is badly written. If you are a math wiz try this one on for size.

[Brent Soderstrum · Rating 1 out of 5]

I do love baseball but I forgot how much I disliked physics from taking it long ago in college. I didn't think there was anyway a book could make baseball dull but this book accomplished it.

Former Major League Baseball Commissioner Bart Giamatti asked Adair, a fellow Yale professor, to write a book about the physics of baseball. The late commissioner loved the game so it is hard to believe he would do this to us. However, I am sure there are those who love physics and love the game of baseball. This book is for them.

[Elba M]

I see this book being read by coaches and trainers

This book analyses most of baseball plays, but I see this book as a helper for training players. When you are playing, you are not going to be thinking about what Physics recommended what to do! But it is a very useful tool for training.

[Lewis Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting book! Some of the "physics" explanations were a little difficult to follow, but I persevered. The best part, according to me, was the references to so many historical "big" league players (pitchers, fielders, and batters). I greatly enjoyed this book, and recommend it to any lover of baseball.

[Nicholas Yannuzzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Sterling Professor at Yale examines what a baseball does when thrown or batted under certain conditions--and why. Complete with understandable charts and graphs, baseball lore, and entertaining anecdotes about players and incidents, this book will fascinate and delight fans in a whole new way.

[Tatiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Illuminating. And thankfully, most of the heavy physics calculations and exposition are in technical notes after the main chapters so easily readable for someone who has forgotten most physics lessons.

[Van Gonzalez · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read that should be enjoyable for any baseball fans - more so for those that have an understanding of physics. Since I love physics, I would have liked it to be a little more in depth but the author does keeps the reader engaged throughout the duration of the book. Lots of cool tidbits that any true fan of the sport should appreciate and find interesting.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty dense

[Kaiulani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating brief look at the physics of baseball and the extreme difficulties therein.

[Jamie Trigg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not an easy read, but well worth it if you're a baseball fan.

[Danielle Mintzlaff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really good book.

[Lisa Adams · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m out. Can’t finish it. I was hoping the author would break it down more for we non-mathematicians. Sigh.

[Fred Daly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes the physics overwhelms the baseball, but I learned a few things.

[Derek Bain · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too technical.. while I understood the concepts, this one reads too much like a physics textbook.

[Nainoa Pascual · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave it a 4 because it’s a good way for people to learn the sport of baseball since it’s a hard sport to play and watch with everything that is going on.

[Phoenix (Books with Wings)]

Read this for a book report for my physics class, so I'm not going to leave a rating. It was interesting to look at physics this way but a lot of this was confusing and extremely dense.

[Beth Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was fascinating. Really easy to say: "He's a fast runner", or "He pitches well". This went into the science of why and how. Loved it.

[Mannix Wilhoit · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was rooting for this book.

I just can’t justify a book that took me TWO MONTHS to read.

The baseball part of me enjoyed this book while the “physical” part of me said no thanks.

At the end of the day I am glad I ended up finishing it because there was plenty of information in the book that I deemed to be interesting. So 3 stars because it took me so long to read, but I also found some use in it.

[Fiona · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cool book to read to learn more about the background of how to min max a baseball bat swing. I am trying to get into baseball more because my fiance is an avid fan and I do enjoy going to the games, but I was curious about what made a hit better than another, a pitch harder to track than a different type of pitcher throw.

Although my copy of this book was barely 100 pages long, it still felt very long to read. This was expected since the first bit of the book talks about how it is a formal physics paper but put into book format. I did find that it helped to give me a better idea of how this game ticks. It seems to be that there is a plethora of variables that factor into how a player can maximize ball hit distance and direction. Some of these factors include temperature outside, temperature of the ball, type of wood used in the bat, length of the bat, where the player holds the bat (i.e. choke), altitude of the stadium, and more. I did find this book to be very informative, however it is incredibly dry (though has some good bits of humor sprinkled in since it is a passion project). Would recommend to any baseball fan that also has an interest in physics.

[Tiffany · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I'd gotten a good chunk of the way into this book, I checked to see what other Goodreaders said about it. It seemed like everybody thought it was wonderful, and I wondered if maybe I was on crack, because I didn't like it. Now that I've finished it, and still didn't find it any better, I looked at the reviews again and this time saw a few 2-star ratings. Okay, I'm not the only one. But when I looked at *why* people gave it 2 stars, I felt like a loner again -- most of the reviews that I quickly skimmed gave it 2 stars because it was *too basic*. Wha huh?!?

Okay, I've said it before, and I'll say it again (but not out loud, because this is something I rarely ever admit out loud): I am not the dumbest person in the world. I took math classes left and right in high school and college, and did decently in my chemistry and physics classes in high school and college. That said, most of this book went over my head. What is it with these math and science books that are supposed to be written for the "common person," yet totally boggle me?!? "I have written this book for those interested in baseball, not in the principles of physics..." Wow, fooled me. I have an interest in baseball, *some* in physics, and yet most of the explanations were too physicy for me. Grrr.

But I gave it two stars anyway because there was some good to the book. The content of the book kind of falls into three categories for me: 1) stuff that went over my head; 2) stuff that I understood; 3) stuff I was too bored by the writing to really pay attention to. The stuff that went over my head at least *sort of* explained some things to me, or at least I sometimes sort of felt like I kind of sort of maybe started to make some sense of what he was saying (sometimes). The stuff I understood was sometimes like "Duh" things, or things you just *get* from watching baseball intensely for long enough. And then there were things that I'm sure I understand, or I'm sure I would have learned, if the writing just weren't SO DRY at times. So, overall, not a book I'd recommend. I was generally either baffled or bored.

And then, here's my other main gripe with this book. Judging by the author's picture, he's a pretty old gentleman. Okay, that's fine. But this version of the book is the third edition, updated in 2002. Could you please use some examples of players who have played *after* the 1920s?!? I mean, granted, that's not *important* to the book, but come on. You can only cite players who most readers nowadays have only *heard* of? Those were the only worthwhile players ever?? Let's skim the index -- Okay, 74 names (and I'm not counting the multiple times some of them showed up, over and over), and only 13 of those played in the 1980s or 1990s. Now, I do realize that there was way more time before the 1980s, so there are more names to use; however, really, you can't use more examples from current(ish) times? Randy Johnson is mentioned twice; Greg Maddux, once; Mark McGwire a whopping five times; Sammy Sosa, twice; Nolan Ryan, once (what?!?), and Ken Griffey, Jr. -- none! Okay, so you loooooove Mark McGwire, but in a book about pitching and hitting and catching, you only refer to Greg Maddux + Randy Johnson + Nolan Ryan + Ken Griffey, Jr. a total of *four* times? In a book that's been revised in 1994 and 2002?!? And when you wrote "The old-timers [outfielders] prided themselves on their ability to turn and run to the long ball without looking back, but you seldom see that today" (153), you didn't even think to add something like "except players like Ken Griffey, Jr."? Yes, I know I'm a hometown girl, but c'mon, the rest of the world knows who Ken Griffey, Jr. is (was). Puh-leeze. If this book is ever updated again, add some new players. Baseball did not end in the '70s.

[Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm surprised at the paltry reviews given here. This book is among the most insightful and demystifying baseball books I've read. Even the positive reviews consider this a quirky way to look at baseball. Umm...now, it should be framed as the mechanics behind the major elements of the game.

I read this to improve my performance in recreational softball, primarily to hit the ball farther; it certainly didn't disappoint.

In rec softball, when a girl was at-bat we would use a smaller ball that would travel much farther when hit. The book explained why; the larger the surface area, the more drag there is on the ball. (You'd have to move more air out of the way; it had less to do with the ball's weight.)

Another useful insight is that the energy transfer from one's torso and thighs is greater than that from the arms. This helps me restructure my workout regiment to focus on my core instead of the arms.

I suck at physics too. My training is in applied math, and we did some physics problems in my program. But they just gave you an equation and you have to solve it, that's it. When you're doing physics, you have to determine which equation to use, which was difficult for me. But when I didn't understand something in the book, I just go online and ask people. For example, when if you swing too late you'll hit the ball too early. I'm like what? So I went online, and people explained how that is so. Since the pitch is going in the opposite direction of your bat, if you swing late the ball arrives too early.

We all know if you swing early you'll pull it, swing late and you'll "go the other way," (in Taiwan they call it "pushing" the ball), and it's harder to hit it more solidly if you go the other way. Now I know why. When you swing late, your swing isn't done accelerating. When you swing early, you've already decelerated but the speed is still greater than that before you hit the maximum speed.

Adair makes a lot of measurements instead of dedicating his attention to just concepts. For most of those, I didn't get into the weeds because I didn't want to hurt my head over something I wasn't getting paid or getting academic credit for. But the equation in the second-to-last chapter relating the maximum velocity of a hit to the mass of the bat and the batter was very useful.

Some of the reviews here are complaining about its being about too much physics and not enough baseball. I wonder what book they're reading. He did use anecdotes from the major leagues, but he's about ninety years old and the examples he uses are like Honus Wagner and Bob Gibson.

The only subject matter missing that would improve the book, I believe, are explanations of the relationship between how pitchers grip certain pitches and the path that those pitches travel. This book excludes such explanation.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Physics of Baseball is about what it sounds like: physics, as applied to baseball, and how it affects the game. It should be pretty obvious from the title whether this would appeal to you. There's no real surprise here.

The book starts with a model for the flight of the ball through the air, then covers batting (including biology: how batters perceive incoming pitches and make decisions based on them, and how far a ball can go), pitching (including various types of pitches, how they're used, and why they behave the way they do), properties of bats (mostly size and weight), and fielding (including how players successfully catch fly balls). Each section has some amount of heavy physics that I was generally too impatient to really understand, and much more discussion of the impact of these results on the game. I've certainly found understanding some of these principles valuable in understanding tactical details of the game, like how batters fail and how pitchers choose pitches. (It was also interesting how little of the physics of the game is truly understood. In fact, all of the models are just educated guesses, and the path of the ball itself through the air is not actually that well understood.)

Favorite examples from the book include:
- the difference between a two-seam and four-seam fastball, and that a 2 MPH difference, all else being equal, can mean the difference between square contact and completely swinging *under* the ball (not behind it).
- how pitchers dominate with pitches that cause batters to make multiple, compounding errors (e.g., a slow curve causes a batter to swing over and early), and how pitchers fail when the batter's errors cancel each other out (e.g., a hanging curve)
- why there's an inherent tension between hitting for average and hitting for home runs
- Mickey Mantle's monster home run, which was probably aided by a strong wind that, if blowing the other direction, likely would have resulted in a routine fly at the warning track.
- the description of how people judge where to run to catch a fly ball, which if nothing else points out how complex a task it really is.

I'm glad I read it, though it was a bit slow going at times.

[Zach Foster · Rating 3 out of 5]

Robert Adairs book Physics of Baseball makes you realize how much baseball is actually a game of inches. From the beginning to the end of the book Robert Adair will explain to you how much little things affect the game itself.



The novel The Physics of Baseball is about physicist from Yale, Robert K. Adair and his experiment into finding the motions of a baseball during a baseball game. He wrote this book to his friend Bart Giamatti to explain all of the physics that actually go into the sport of baseball. The novel has many important facts and a lot of ideas but the novel mentions three main ideas which happen to be particular motions during the game of baseball.

The first motion is hitting, which is about when to swing the bat to hit the ball to different parts of the field. The second motion is pitching,which is when the pitcher throws the ball to the batter.The final motion is fielding, after the batter makes contact with the ball and the ball flies in the air. In the book it explains all of the different angles that take place in the game of baseball and how these angles affect the outcome of a certain play.

I recommend this book The physics of Baseball to really anybody who is into sports especially those who are into baseball. I think that this book would interest them because of how the author explains each aspect of the game. First starting with all of the little aspects of hitting, and then pitching, and fielding. It really makes you realize all of the possible outcomes that could happen and how baseball is a game of inches.