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The Physics Behind Sosa's Bat
Aired June 04, 2003 - 14:26 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
O'BRIEN: Say it ain't Sosa. That's the lament heard across baseball's fields of dreams today. Legendary slugger Sammy Sosa is apologizing for using an illegal bat but the record-setting homerun hitter's reputation might have splintered, shall we say, last night along with his cork-filled weapon.
We get more from Jim Wagner of our affiliate station CLTV.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM WAGNER, CLTV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "Say it ain't Sosa." "I picked the wrong bat." "Busted." Those are the headlines in Chicago today and fans say at this point they certainly want to believe Sammy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this point I believe him right now. If the other 30, 40 bats, whatever they took, if those are corked or some of them are corked then I'm going to have a problem.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're hoping for the best. We hope you're telling the truth Sammy.
WAGNER: Major League Baseball security officials carrying the evidence away, the league office will now take a close look at it in deciding Sammy Sosa's immediate future.
Sammy says he only uses the cork bat for batting practice and he simply grabbed it by mistake before stepping up to the plate.
SAMMY SOSA, CHICAGO CUBS: I know that I love the fans and they are being great to me. You know, it's a mistake and I take the blame for it.
WAGNER: Sammy stepped up to the plate with a corked bat but thousands of Cub fans in Chicago say they're supporting him today because he stepped up to the plate immediately afterward by admitting he made a mistake.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: All right, but that's of course not the end of it. Why all the fuss about corked bats you might ask?
I want you to meet Bob Adair. He is the author of "The Physics of Baseball." He's a retired professor of physics at no less an august institution than Yale University and was once, get this, the official physicist for the National League. The official physicist, who knew?
It's good to have you with us, Bob. I understand that Bart Giamatti was the one who signed you up in that role?
BOB ADAIR, FMR. NLB OFFICIAL PHYSICIST: Yes, Bart called me up one evening and asked me to look into a few things, including corked bats.
O'BRIEN: All right, Bob, we're going to show the videotape. I know you can't see CNN but I know you've seen it by now. I want to point out to folks so they can fully understand what we're talking about here. It's sort of in the -- it's lower in the bat than you might expect.
I'm going to try to highlight it here. It's almost like the shape of an arrowhead. There it is. It looks like an arrowhead or an almond or something and it appears that it was put in sort of laterally. Is that the typical way that a bat is corked?
ADAIR: No. I've never heard of anybody doing anything like that.
O'BRIEN: It seems on the face of it, I'm no expert, but it seems as if that would make the bat more likely to break.
ADAIR: Make it more likely to break and I can't see that it would do anything particular about making the ball go better.
O'BRIEN: All right, well let's talk about what's more likely a scenario if, in fact, someone were inclined to cork a bat. We've got a bat here. This is an official Louisville Slugger. Dale Murphy signed this one.
As I understand it, you tech me on this Bob if I'm wrong, usually what happens is a hole about a quarter inch in diameter is drilled right up in the top.
ADAIR: Oh, about an inch and a quarter hole.
O'BRIEN: Inch and a quarter and it goes how far down?
ADAIR: Oh, maybe six inches. This is just typical.
O'BRIEN: All right, six inches down right down the top, and what's put in? Is it always cork?
ADAIR: Well, people put in all sorts of stuff. That's superstition.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
ADAIR: People put in cork, super balls, whatever strikes their fancy.
O'BRIEN: Super balls, interesting. So, what that implies is that what you're creating here is a little more elasticity in the bat and that has sort of a slingshot effect on the ball. Is that really what happens?
ADAIR: No.
O'BRIEN: Well, tell us what really happens then.
ADAIR: Well, what really happens is you have a little lighter bat and...
O'BRIEN: And that's a good thing. You want a lighter bat, right?
ADAIR: Well, not necessarily a good thing. Babe Ruth used a 47 ounce bat and even...
O'BRIEN: Forty-seven ounce?
ADAIR: ... and even a 56 ounce bat.
O'BRIEN: Forty-seven ounces. My goodness. You'd need a pneumatic device to lift it up. That's something. So -- but these days, the theory is lighter is better, right?
ADAIR: Not my theory.
O'BRIEN: Really?
ADAIR: Mickey Mantle used a 38 ounce bat.
O'BRIEN: Really?
ADAIR: That's right.
O'BRIEN: So why then, for a moment, let's...
ADAIR: By and large, a heavier bat drives the ball better, but of course, it takes longer to swing. So there's a tradeoff. With a lighter bat, it takes a little less time to swing, so you have a little better timing on the pitch, but you're actually not going to drive the ball quite as far.
O'BRIEN: Oh, interesting. So really, by drilling it out, putting cork or superballs, or whatever you want to put in there, you're potentially hurting yourself as a hitter?
ADAIR: Well, it may improve your timing and you may hit the ball a lot more often. It will probably take a few feet off of a long home run.
O'BRIEN: So, in other words, it makes you more of a Wayne Boggs than a Sammy Sosa?
ADAIR: Well, a man like Sosa hits the ball so far anyway he doesn't have to worry about taking a few feet off, and it may be that gaining a few thousandths of a second, six inches on the fast ball, may be worth more to him than losing a few feet on a home run that goes into the 20th row of the stands rather than the 22nd or something.
O'BRIEN: Which begs the question, why, oh why would Sammy Sosa, a person with such incredible skill, bother with all of this?
ADAIR: Well, these ball players -- they are not stupid people. They understand their game very well, but some of the technical aspects, there's superstition involved. They are not trivial. And my guess is that Sammy was a little misled on things.
O'BRIEN: A little misled. A little superstition. There you have it, that's baseball in a nutshell, isn't it? It will be interesting to see if there are any more cork bats that were in his possession at one time or another. Bob Adair, great to see you. Thanks for your insights on all of this.
ADAIR: Thanks for inviting me.
O'BRIEN: And giving us the real facts, the Newtonian fact, physics from Bob Adair, the baseball physicist.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired June 4, 2003 - 14:26 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
O'BRIEN: Say it ain't Sosa. That's the lament heard across baseball's fields of dreams today. Legendary slugger Sammy Sosa is apologizing for using an illegal bat but the record-setting homerun hitter's reputation might have splintered, shall we say, last night along with his cork-filled weapon.
We get more from Jim Wagner of our affiliate station CLTV.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JIM WAGNER, CLTV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "Say it ain't Sosa." "I picked the wrong bat." "Busted." Those are the headlines in Chicago today and fans say at this point they certainly want to believe Sammy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At this point I believe him right now. If the other 30, 40 bats, whatever they took, if those are corked or some of them are corked then I'm going to have a problem.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're hoping for the best. We hope you're telling the truth Sammy.
WAGNER: Major League Baseball security officials carrying the evidence away, the league office will now take a close look at it in deciding Sammy Sosa's immediate future.
Sammy says he only uses the cork bat for batting practice and he simply grabbed it by mistake before stepping up to the plate.
SAMMY SOSA, CHICAGO CUBS: I know that I love the fans and they are being great to me. You know, it's a mistake and I take the blame for it.
WAGNER: Sammy stepped up to the plate with a corked bat but thousands of Cub fans in Chicago say they're supporting him today because he stepped up to the plate immediately afterward by admitting he made a mistake.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: All right, but that's of course not the end of it. Why all the fuss about corked bats you might ask?
I want you to meet Bob Adair. He is the author of "The Physics of Baseball." He's a retired professor of physics at no less an august institution than Yale University and was once, get this, the official physicist for the National League. The official physicist, who knew?
It's good to have you with us, Bob. I understand that Bart Giamatti was the one who signed you up in that role?
BOB ADAIR, FMR. NLB OFFICIAL PHYSICIST: Yes, Bart called me up one evening and asked me to look into a few things, including corked bats.
O'BRIEN: All right, Bob, we're going to show the videotape. I know you can't see CNN but I know you've seen it by now. I want to point out to folks so they can fully understand what we're talking about here. It's sort of in the -- it's lower in the bat than you might expect.
I'm going to try to highlight it here. It's almost like the shape of an arrowhead. There it is. It looks like an arrowhead or an almond or something and it appears that it was put in sort of laterally. Is that the typical way that a bat is corked?
ADAIR: No. I've never heard of anybody doing anything like that.
O'BRIEN: It seems on the face of it, I'm no expert, but it seems as if that would make the bat more likely to break.
ADAIR: Make it more likely to break and I can't see that it would do anything particular about making the ball go better.
O'BRIEN: All right, well let's talk about what's more likely a scenario if, in fact, someone were inclined to cork a bat. We've got a bat here. This is an official Louisville Slugger. Dale Murphy signed this one.
As I understand it, you tech me on this Bob if I'm wrong, usually what happens is a hole about a quarter inch in diameter is drilled right up in the top.
ADAIR: Oh, about an inch and a quarter hole.
O'BRIEN: Inch and a quarter and it goes how far down?
ADAIR: Oh, maybe six inches. This is just typical.
O'BRIEN: All right, six inches down right down the top, and what's put in? Is it always cork?
ADAIR: Well, people put in all sorts of stuff. That's superstition.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
ADAIR: People put in cork, super balls, whatever strikes their fancy.
O'BRIEN: Super balls, interesting. So, what that implies is that what you're creating here is a little more elasticity in the bat and that has sort of a slingshot effect on the ball. Is that really what happens?
ADAIR: No.
O'BRIEN: Well, tell us what really happens then.
ADAIR: Well, what really happens is you have a little lighter bat and...
O'BRIEN: And that's a good thing. You want a lighter bat, right?
ADAIR: Well, not necessarily a good thing. Babe Ruth used a 47 ounce bat and even...
O'BRIEN: Forty-seven ounce?
ADAIR: ... and even a 56 ounce bat.
O'BRIEN: Forty-seven ounces. My goodness. You'd need a pneumatic device to lift it up. That's something. So -- but these days, the theory is lighter is better, right?
ADAIR: Not my theory.
O'BRIEN: Really?
ADAIR: Mickey Mantle used a 38 ounce bat.
O'BRIEN: Really?
ADAIR: That's right.
O'BRIEN: So why then, for a moment, let's...
ADAIR: By and large, a heavier bat drives the ball better, but of course, it takes longer to swing. So there's a tradeoff. With a lighter bat, it takes a little less time to swing, so you have a little better timing on the pitch, but you're actually not going to drive the ball quite as far.
O'BRIEN: Oh, interesting. So really, by drilling it out, putting cork or superballs, or whatever you want to put in there, you're potentially hurting yourself as a hitter?
ADAIR: Well, it may improve your timing and you may hit the ball a lot more often. It will probably take a few feet off of a long home run.
O'BRIEN: So, in other words, it makes you more of a Wayne Boggs than a Sammy Sosa?
ADAIR: Well, a man like Sosa hits the ball so far anyway he doesn't have to worry about taking a few feet off, and it may be that gaining a few thousandths of a second, six inches on the fast ball, may be worth more to him than losing a few feet on a home run that goes into the 20th row of the stands rather than the 22nd or something.
O'BRIEN: Which begs the question, why, oh why would Sammy Sosa, a person with such incredible skill, bother with all of this?
ADAIR: Well, these ball players -- they are not stupid people. They understand their game very well, but some of the technical aspects, there's superstition involved. They are not trivial. And my guess is that Sammy was a little misled on things.
O'BRIEN: A little misled. A little superstition. There you have it, that's baseball in a nutshell, isn't it? It will be interesting to see if there are any more cork bats that were in his possession at one time or another. Bob Adair, great to see you. Thanks for your insights on all of this.
ADAIR: Thanks for inviting me.
O'BRIEN: And giving us the real facts, the Newtonian fact, physics from Bob Adair, the baseball physicist.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
