A few notes on the slide thing. 1. everyone has been taking a lead since time began. 2. The slide isn’t just about getting faster it’s also about making the fielders job to tag you harder. A lot less distance to go from catch if you are standing
Number 2 is the big one. You don't want to overrun the base so you have to slow down, and if you're standing it's easier for the fielder to tag you. If you slide you can evade the fielder and maybe steal a base you shouldn't have gotten.
This was the ONE episode I never saw during the show's run on TV. Being that this is my favorite TV show of all time, and I've only now just seen this episode should say a lot. Glad it hit my suggested video feed and I'm not sure why I never thought to search for it.
Oh! So that's where the bat diagram came from! I had no idea it even came from an episode. I thought it was just a neat diorama of a "dissected" baseball bat to look cool. I even thought that it really was how bats looked inside. Shows how much i know about baseball lmao
As a native Torontonian, it was cool seeing Ed Sprague and Roger Clemens in this episode who both played for the Blue Jays. Sprague, as was mentioned in the episode, won a couple of World Series. And Clemens, two of his Cy Youngs were as a Jay.
I find it really interesting that Grant came up with a completely different solution than Adam and Jamie to do the exact same thing. A&J used their pre-existing air cannon and sword-bot to emulate a bat hitting a pitch, but Grant built a more compact and (seemingly) reliable double-swing machine. Was it a matter of working in parallel and not communicating? Did they decide it was too much trouble to ship the cannon to a baseball diamond? Did they decide the cannon setup wasn't reliable enough? I'd love to know the logistics behind all that.
If you ever catch Adam on his "tested" UA-cam channel, he's talked about how hectic their filming schedules get, so I'm sure that played a role. I'd also bet that there's a little bit of competitive spirit and pride, with each group wanting to make their own methodology.
I helped my dad coach a minors team in high school. I was teaching the kids to pitch. I've seen the hide come off a ball once and only once. It was an older ball thrown by a pretty big kid who got her nice and fast and the batter (a frankly jacked farm boy) hit it perfectly square. A seam popped open, the guts flew almost as good as a whole ball right to second base, where it was caught dead on (The baseman wound up crying and needed ice for his hand. Monster of a hit!). So it can happen... But I doubt a new ball would split like that. This was a ratty old ball used for about 8 years and frankly it looked like it was a bit rotten.
The idea of a rising fastball is due to how the four seam fastball appears when it comes out of some pitcher hands, since each pitcher has a different release point, and arm angle when they pitch. Some pitchers have unusual arm angles which can cause the ball to move in ways the hitters are not familiar with. Like a fastball that seems to rise. Plus, players have been trying to find ways to cheat for ages, and pitchers throughout baseball history have tried to effect balls (like using tacks or nails to scratch the ball) or use substances to alter the ball's physics (to make the ball more sticky or heavy or odd weighted) which can also have a dramatic effect on how their pitches move.
I wonder if they could use a really dry ball since it would weigh less. They mentioned pitchers having a harder time with damp balls. They should have tested it with pitches not just hitting.
The issue with the “tear the hide off the ball” test they did was that’s a pretty old myth, but they’re testing it on a modern baseball manufactured to modern standards. At the very least, they probably should’ve found out if older ball construction methods might’ve led to a less secure cover for the ball.
Knocking the cover off a ball is more of a result of the pitcher working his grip on the ball and the cover is looser. Umpires throw these balls out in between pitches. So, this is more common to happen in the college level or high school level where they use the balls longer and not a result of hitting the ball harder.
They should have had Adam swing again with a corked bat to see his swing speed with the corked bat, because he should have been able to swing it faster.
I used to be quite the fan of baseball when I was a kid, from playing for rec clubs to having MLB idols. Then, adulthood got in the way. Seeing this epoxide revived my interest in the sport again for a little while. Thanks!
I'm pretty sure any gains in speed would be diminished by the cork absorbing the impact instead of reflecting it. Just like with the humid balls and how they're softer so the same thing happens.
Makes sense that the slide is faster, since you're throwing your feet in front of you further towards the base than they would be while running and you only need to touch the base rather than cross it. Still, I always thought the point of sliding was to make it harder to get tagged by ducking under the reaching hands.
its safe to say always great to rewatch old mythbusters content again and seeing unseen footage and ofcs Grant imahara. this is also why we got king of random.
They didn't allow for the fact that their rig swinging the lighter corked bat was making contact with the ball a fraction later in the rigs swing, which I think was the true reason that the results came out as they did. If Adam had tweaked the delay time a tiny bit more with the corked bat to allow for the less weight would have had better results I think anyways.
Also the two bats should have been swinging at different speeds. If it's lighter I bet Adam could swing it faster, yet they had them both going the same speed didn't they?
Maybe with Cork Bat, Balls can be played more precicely into the field. Less recoil. More easy to handle to get on a Base. It wasn't about to hit a Homerun.
Rising ball myth may have more to do with batting than pitching. Batter has about 0.2-0.3 seconds to identify ball's course so calculating ball drop is something that is less of a impromptu decision and more of a drill, so when a pitcher throws fastball with faster backspin it has longer hang time that makes the batter misjudge height of a swing and from their point of view it seems like the ball suddenly rose from its projected path.
I wonder why the humid ball one wasn't confirmed yet instead was plausible. Like, they humid ones clearly came shorter, and drier farther. No real debate there. Yet the corked bat one really didn't get much more in depth testing lmao.
humid baseball one has quite a simple explanation: The bat supposedly always has the same weight, so let's say the striking speed and force are constant. Now if we modify the weight of the ball that means, the lighter the object is, the more kinetic energy it receives. Even just a few grams difference. The second factor is the consistency of the ball. The harder it is, the less energy it will absorb and the more will go into kinetic energy, compared to a soft ball, where the ball itself absorbs a lot of the impact.
8:34 I’m not a baseball player, and never looked into it, but I feel like a lighter bat overall would lead to maybe a less dense bat. So I feel like taking a bit of weight out of a heavier, higher density bat could be advantageous compared to just a lighter bat
matching the speed of the swinging bats eliminates the exact physics that makes the lighter bats impart greater energy into the ball. Ted Williams was very clear about this, and no one was more dedicated to the search for more powerful hitting than him. The mass of the bat is a big part of the equation. But it's the swing, the speed of the swing that drives the ball. Simple example; Imagine a 20kg bat - now hold the bat out stationary, pitch the ball so it strikes the bat - home run??? no. No swing, no go. Take a proper weight bat, do the same, get the same result. Now, swing the bat - slowly. Ball goes, a little. Swing faster - ball goes farther. Keep increasing the speed and the ball goes increasingly farther. Speed of swing increases power and distance. Now determine the energy used to swing that bat - NOT the speed. Take a lighter bat, impart the same energy and see the speed of the swing increase - and we know that increased speed of swing sends the ball farther. THAT is the experiment.
@@allanshpeley4284 As I noted; Ted Williams spent his entire career determining and proving that, given the limits on the specs for a legal bat, it is the speed of the swing that will take the ball farther. One more example: how the incredible wind speed of a tornado can push a piece of wheat straw deep into the trunk of a tree. That is definitely NOT about the mass, it's all about the speed. 🙂
@@allanshpeley4284 As for the outcome being the same, mostly likely, yes. IF they are only looking at one or two strikes. The problem happens after repeated use. That said, a long time ago, when I was working construction, my tool belt had two hammers; one 27oz. Rig axe with a wooden handle for doing most active work. And a steel shafted 16oz. for pulling nails and getting into smaller spaces. VERY often, nails are driven deep into the wood requiring what is called a "cat's paw". The small claw is placed on the wood head of the nail, and then struck with the smaller hammer to drive the small paw under the head of the nail. The reason for the second hammer was so the "waffle" face of the hammer side of the rig axe stays sharp.
even if you can swing a corked bat faster than a normal bat, cork is significantly more easily compressed, meaning you will get less transfer of energy onto the ball overall which they did mention in the video. i'd say the biggest impact a corked bat might have would be that a batter's faster swing would allow them more control, giving them a higher chance of getting a good hit, plus the psychological impact giving the batter more confidence.
the cover has been knocked off the ball in live MLB games before! this episode is killing me. of course the ball actually moves when a pitcher throws out! why was that even a question?! sliding isn't about getting there faster, it's about making it harder to be tagged! corking a bat isn't about making it "springy", it's about the bat being much lighter so you are able to swing faster! i could be convinced no one on this show had ever even heard of baseball before this episode.
i recall the formula from physics classes, kinetic energy is the product of half the mass and the velocity squared - seems to me the reasoning is that swinging a bat faster can get you a better hit. swinging at the same speed of course will produce this effect, and sure you can opt to use a lighter bat, personally i'm not familiar with how much lighter is allowed but i think this could have been tested better.
Corking the bat lets you swing the bar faster, increasing force imparted to the ball, resulting in more distance. Having a robot swing it killed the myth immediately
this episode convinced me none of them had ever even heard of baseball before this episode. they actually went out here and tested if the ball actually moves when thrown! WHAT THE HECK!?
yeah Except......... we have results that can't be fucked with . Truth be told , even before the results i suspected that the cork would absorb the force
Two things have long been known about baseball: corking your bat doesn't improve anything, and athletes are infinitely more likely to listen to "conventional wisdom" than actual facts. So bat-corking will continue and whatever the next stupid alternative mystic quantum woo-woo fad is, it will spread like wildfire throughout the sport. (See: those scam "ionized titanium" rope necklaces everyone was wearing not too long ago because people are too stupid for words.)
Balls with a backspin suddenly rising in mid-air isn't that much of a mistery anymore... ask an airsofter or paintballer about a Hopup that's too tight. -Awwww, but that closing statement from Grant, I can't stay mad.
They totally missed the mark on the corked bats.. The whole ideas is that you swing it faster. They needed to see how much faster you can swing a corked bat then swing it at that speed.. of course it is almost still gunna be busted cuz I doubt you can swing a corked bat twice as fast
(8:20) Now I wish we had tested whether a corked bat hits differently than a solid bat of the same weight. (20:00) I think the humid balls aren't just heavier. I suspect that they are also less elastic, so more energy is lost deforming the ball, and less is left as kinetic energy for flight. Don't know if there was a test for that. (27:00) But does the bat being lighter mean that you are swinging faster with the same force? Is the pressure being fed to the bat swing the same? Or was it adjusted to have the same swing speed? Now... what if your bat had a lead core instead of a cork core?
With the corked bat test, you didn't test the difference between how quickly Adam can swing a solid bat compared to a corked bat. I doubt that would impact the speed the ball leaves the bat by as much as it needs to, however it is these things you guys normally pick up on and test.
@@wingerding The vast majority of plays at home require tagging the runner, making it different from first base, which is always a force play. I would add, though, that I'd love to see "to slide or not" tested on plays at home, to see if it's actually better (most of the time, anyway) to try to run through the tag as fast as possible or to try to slide under it.
About that sliding, Finnish baseball uses only diving as it is by far the fastest way. There are videos where players dive from full speed, several meters from the line and are safe quicker then the slow knee-sliding. It keeps the full speed while in the air and extended arms reach safe earlier then leg slowly inching towards the base.
i thought corking a bat was inserting rubber balls into the hollow end of the bat. not actually using cork. increasing the bounce of the ball and making the bat lighter. similar to how a golf ball absorbs and redirects energy.
So funny seeing "nerds" talk and play baseball I love it these guys are awesome miss this show.youball realize how many ppl would try and cancel this show now with all the sensitive ppl these days. When he swing that bat all I could say is technique is all wrong lol
8:04 Major League officials don't want us showing how that's done 8:27 Shows Cross sectional layout of exactly what was done LMFAO, As if there was some secret to it
They can't be serious baseball fans. No one cares about the speed of going into a bag standing versus sliding. If you want to realistically measure the speed to a base, you need to test the conditions to first base, by running through the bag.
I think at the hide myth you missed just one point. What about deterioration of the ball. So maybe if a ball is used to often and the stitching is not that great anymore it may then be plausible ;)
When Tory said 125 inches is _like 10,5 feet_ that sounded way too perfect so i had to look it up, turns out its 10,4167 feet, honestly how Americans get anything done with imperial is beyond me haha. The whole test seemed kind of pointless anyway, because of course adding moisture makes something both softer and heavier, and a heavier softer thing will obviously bounce less/go less far?? But eh, issues aside still a fun episode 😁👍
I will agree with you about the "imperial" system of measurements. But I am astoundingly confused as to how Europeans miss the 'point' of a "decimal POINT", instead using a comma?????????? Commas are used to demonstrate having completed 'thousands' places and changing to the next grouping; thousands, millions, billions, trillions, etc. The decimal POINT is used to separate the whole numbers from the fractions on the number line. 🙂 Have fun!!!
@@haytguugle8656 it usually goes the other way around 1.000.000 or THE MOST COMMON AND LESS DUMB WAY 1 000 000 have a great one (and yes its a comma for decimal, like : 1.323)
@@haytguugle8656 Most of us use space as the thousands separator, making the choice of decimal point or comma irrelevant. For aesthetic purposes, I use a decimal point myself. There is never any confusion. 1 000 000 is one million. 10 000.5 is ten thousand and a half.
@@haytguugle8656I am confused about your decimal point point. It is called a "decimal point" in english, but not every county speaks that language. In my native language we literally say "decimal comma".
Corked bat- is taking out the core leave the outside more springy? even if replaced with cork? Maybe thats the secret. Heavy hollow bat? Also if you are thrown a ball that curves downward, how can you swing at it or down as you swing and hit it?? Once you swing, its a strike, so you dont have time to see when the balls on its way at those speeds to adjust??
Man, back in the day i never noticed how incredibly redundant the narrator is. Cut out every repetition of a statement and these episodes are all 20% shorter at least
The narrator is fine, and the show wouldn't be the same without him. The problem is that, unlike this one, most episodes take a few myths and stretch them out way too long. You also have to remember that this was originally formatted for commercial intermissions, and so that viewers could tune in at any time.
still so crazy they did 2 separate "how far is a ball going?" myths and made 2 separate hitting rigs. Why not just use that same rig (grants) and hit with corked and uncorked bats. Instead of this crazy technical, massive air cannon/computer swing machine
Corked bat overlooks an important factor. Psychology. Picture it. You're catching, you know from the last few batters where balls typically land, there's a really decent area balls are landing. Now the dude goes in with a swing which by all means should be a homer, you watch that bat hit the ball and just as you start off to where you've calculated the ball to go you realise something, that monster swing has a short ball. Panic, guys rush to intercept that ball but it's too late, batter has become Forrest Gump. Would a corked bat not be a brilliant way of messing with the opponents experience during a game?
I don't know why any fielder would base their positioning on how "hard" the swing looked, and not, you know, the trajectory of the ball in the air. the only psychological impact a corked bat would have is on the batter, if they think that the bat they're using is "better" than normal then they might swing with more confidence.
A few notes on the slide thing.
1. everyone has been taking a lead since time began.
2. The slide isn’t just about getting faster it’s also about making the fielders job to tag you harder. A lot less distance to go from catch if you are standing
Number 2 is the big one. You don't want to overrun the base so you have to slow down, and if you're standing it's easier for the fielder to tag you. If you slide you can evade the fielder and maybe steal a base you shouldn't have gotten.
I love how humble the rocket seems. Explaining baseball mechanics with the disclaimer "from my understanding" like he isn't a master at this lmao.
As a Blue Jays fan, Ed Sprague is the highlight of this episode.
Yes
This was the ONE episode I never saw during the show's run on TV. Being that this is my favorite TV show of all time, and I've only now just seen this episode should say a lot. Glad it hit my suggested video feed and I'm not sure why I never thought to search for it.
I'm loving binge watching MythBusters!
Who doesn't? 😊
Nobody cares!
I care. I love hearing things people are enthusiastic about! ❤
Oh! So that's where the bat diagram came from! I had no idea it even came from an episode. I thought it was just a neat diorama of a "dissected" baseball bat to look cool. I even thought that it really was how bats looked inside. Shows how much i know about baseball lmao
“Take your time, buddy” 😂 The narrator makes the show so much better
%100
You know what sucks about that part? In the iTunes version I have in my show library, they cut out that part all together. No funny moment at all.
It actually happened in a game. Somebody hit the cover off of baseball (partially) against the Pirates somewhere in the mid 2010s
Martin Maldonado hit a defective ball for the Brewers against the Pirates, you're right
Adam hitting the bat on the metal tube will never not be funny lol
No what NEVER stops being funny is watching all the flab jiggle and shake on high speed
@@baggieknight8411😢😢🎉🎉🎉4🎉
and jamie is just standing behind him not even laughing
@@idontknowu231 I didn't even see jamie in the background that makes it even funnier man just watching like yep there he goes again
7:17 time stamp for ya mate😂😂
"Robot combat" Grant was one of the best in it.
As a native Torontonian, it was cool seeing Ed Sprague and Roger Clemens in this episode who both played for the Blue Jays. Sprague, as was mentioned in the episode, won a couple of World Series. And Clemens, two of his Cy Youngs were as a Jay.
Sliding might only save a few milliseconds but when you're going to 3rd base and the ball is coming from 1st, that might be enough
I find it really interesting that Grant came up with a completely different solution than Adam and Jamie to do the exact same thing. A&J used their pre-existing air cannon and sword-bot to emulate a bat hitting a pitch, but Grant built a more compact and (seemingly) reliable double-swing machine. Was it a matter of working in parallel and not communicating? Did they decide it was too much trouble to ship the cannon to a baseball diamond? Did they decide the cannon setup wasn't reliable enough? I'd love to know the logistics behind all that.
If you ever catch Adam on his "tested" UA-cam channel, he's talked about how hectic their filming schedules get, so I'm sure that played a role. I'd also bet that there's a little bit of competitive spirit and pride, with each group wanting to make their own methodology.
I helped my dad coach a minors team in high school. I was teaching the kids to pitch. I've seen the hide come off a ball once and only once. It was an older ball thrown by a pretty big kid who got her nice and fast and the batter (a frankly jacked farm boy) hit it perfectly square. A seam popped open, the guts flew almost as good as a whole ball right to second base, where it was caught dead on (The baseman wound up crying and needed ice for his hand. Monster of a hit!). So it can happen... But I doubt a new ball would split like that. This was a ratty old ball used for about 8 years and frankly it looked like it was a bit rotten.
The idea of a rising fastball is due to how the four seam fastball appears when it comes out of some pitcher hands, since each pitcher has a different release point, and arm angle when they pitch. Some pitchers have unusual arm angles which can cause the ball to move in ways the hitters are not familiar with. Like a fastball that seems to rise.
Plus, players have been trying to find ways to cheat for ages, and pitchers throughout baseball history have tried to effect balls (like using tacks or nails to scratch the ball) or use substances to alter the ball's physics (to make the ball more sticky or heavy or odd weighted) which can also have a dramatic effect on how their pitches move.
I wonder if they could use a really dry ball since it would weigh less. They mentioned pitchers having a harder time with damp balls. They should have tested it with pitches not just hitting.
"I can make a robot that can do it"
Oh grant. You are missed. R.i.P
RIP Grant. You will be remembered.
37:10 time stamp for ya 😢❤
It would be interesting to compare the rate at which a pro is able to swing a cork bat vs a regulation bat, as that might be a factor as well.
Exactly. I'd think that a corked bat can be swung faster than a non-modified bat, thus in principle the bat coveys more "oomph" to the ball.
Exactly. That's why you cork the bat -- to increase bat speed.
The issue with the “tear the hide off the ball” test they did was that’s a pretty old myth, but they’re testing it on a modern baseball manufactured to modern standards. At the very least, they probably should’ve found out if older ball construction methods might’ve led to a less secure cover for the ball.
it's happened in MLB games this century. at least twice that i can think of the cover of the ball came off/apart.
Knocking the cover off a ball is more of a result of the pitcher working his grip on the ball and the cover is looser. Umpires throw these balls out in between pitches. So, this is more common to happen in the college level or high school level where they use the balls longer and not a result of hitting the ball harder.
They should have had Adam swing again with a corked bat to see his swing speed with the corked bat, because he should have been able to swing it faster.
Most MLB games, the ball is replaced regularly so the hide and stitches don't have time to weather or fray. Try those tests on a well-used baseball
I used to be quite the fan of baseball when I was a kid, from playing for rec clubs to having MLB idols.
Then, adulthood got in the way. Seeing this epoxide revived my interest in the sport again for a little while. Thanks!
Please upload more seasons 🙏🏼
This is literally my teen years love it
I always thought sliding was more about making it harder for them to touch you than for speed.
With humans swinging, cork makes the bat lighter and can be swung faster leading to the ball going further
I'm pretty sure any gains in speed would be diminished by the cork absorbing the impact instead of reflecting it. Just like with the humid balls and how they're softer so the same thing happens.
Makes sense that the slide is faster, since you're throwing your feet in front of you further towards the base than they would be while running and you only need to touch the base rather than cross it. Still, I always thought the point of sliding was to make it harder to get tagged by ducking under the reaching hands.
It's both of those but also so you don't accidentally over shoot the base.
its safe to say always great to rewatch old mythbusters content again and seeing unseen footage and ofcs Grant imahara. this is also why we got king of random.
They didn't allow for the fact that their rig swinging the lighter corked bat was making contact with the ball a fraction later in the rigs swing, which I think was the true reason that the results came out as they did.
If Adam had tweaked the delay time a tiny bit more with the corked bat to allow for the less weight would have had better results I think anyways.
Also the two bats should have been swinging at different speeds. If it's lighter I bet Adam could swing it faster, yet they had them both going the same speed didn't they?
Really wish they were still around to revisit the cork bat. I'd like to see them make a steel reinforced bat to see if that has the opposite effect.
and also just try swinging the corked bat faster.
The corking of the bat is a massive variable in itself...
Maybe with Cork Bat, Balls can be played more precicely into the field. Less recoil. More easy to handle to get on a Base. It wasn't about to hit a Homerun.
is funny how they not show the "secret technique" to put cork in a bat, you run a drill bit on it, put a cork plug and a wood plug in the end
Lol the baseball diamond drawing had home plate backwards
Rising ball myth may have more to do with batting than pitching. Batter has about 0.2-0.3 seconds to identify ball's course so calculating ball drop is something that is less of a impromptu decision and more of a drill, so when a pitcher throws fastball with faster backspin it has longer hang time that makes the batter misjudge height of a swing and from their point of view it seems like the ball suddenly rose from its projected path.
I wonder why the humid ball one wasn't confirmed yet instead was plausible. Like, they humid ones clearly came shorter, and drier farther. No real debate there. Yet the corked bat one really didn't get much more in depth testing lmao.
I have heard the words "humid balls" far too many times today...
Dry balls are a red flag, man.
humid baseball one has quite a simple explanation:
The bat supposedly always has the same weight, so let's say the striking speed and force are constant.
Now if we modify the weight of the ball that means, the lighter the object is, the more kinetic energy it receives. Even just a few grams difference.
The second factor is the consistency of the ball. The harder it is, the less energy it will absorb and the more will go into kinetic energy, compared to a soft ball, where the ball itself absorbs a lot of the impact.
Grant - shoutout - 'One small step for baseball, one giant leap for mythballs!' :)
8:34 I’m not a baseball player, and never looked into it, but I feel like a lighter bat overall would lead to maybe a less dense bat. So I feel like taking a bit of weight out of a heavier, higher density bat could be advantageous compared to just a lighter bat
Not to mention corking hollows out the bat which would weaken the structure of the bat itself. Meaning it would be far more likely to break.
I was really hoping they’d do the biggest baseball myth of all….. THE SLUMPBUSTER!
Would have been something if the tech was there to have Mythbusters and Slow Mo Guys collaboration for some of these episodes.
matching the speed of the swinging bats eliminates the exact physics that makes the lighter bats impart greater energy into the ball.
Ted Williams was very clear about this, and no one was more dedicated to the search for more powerful hitting than him. The mass of the bat is a big part of the equation. But it's the swing, the speed of the swing that drives the ball.
Simple example;
Imagine a 20kg bat - now hold the bat out stationary, pitch the ball so it strikes the bat - home run??? no. No swing, no go.
Take a proper weight bat, do the same, get the same result.
Now, swing the bat - slowly. Ball goes, a little.
Swing faster - ball goes farther.
Keep increasing the speed and the ball goes increasingly farther.
Speed of swing increases power and distance.
Now determine the energy used to swing that bat - NOT the speed.
Take a lighter bat, impart the same energy and see the speed of the swing increase - and we know that increased speed of swing sends the ball farther.
THAT is the experiment.
I was looking for this comment. They goofed hard on this one, though the outcome is likely the same.
@@allanshpeley4284
As I noted;
Ted Williams spent his entire career determining and proving that, given the limits on the specs for a legal bat, it is the speed of the swing that will take the ball farther.
One more example: how the incredible wind speed of a tornado can push a piece of wheat straw deep into the trunk of a tree. That is definitely NOT about the mass, it's all about the speed. 🙂
@@allanshpeley4284
As for the outcome being the same, mostly likely, yes. IF they are only looking at one or two strikes.
The problem happens after repeated use.
That said, a long time ago, when I was working construction, my tool belt had two hammers; one 27oz. Rig axe with a wooden handle for doing most active work. And a steel shafted 16oz. for pulling nails and getting into smaller spaces. VERY often, nails are driven deep into the wood requiring what is called a "cat's paw". The small claw is placed on the wood head of the nail, and then struck with the smaller hammer to drive the small paw under the head of the nail. The reason for the second hammer was so the "waffle" face of the hammer side of the rig axe stays sharp.
even if you can swing a corked bat faster than a normal bat, cork is significantly more easily compressed, meaning you will get less transfer of energy onto the ball overall which they did mention in the video. i'd say the biggest impact a corked bat might have would be that a batter's faster swing would allow them more control, giving them a higher chance of getting a good hit, plus the psychological impact giving the batter more confidence.
@@CyanPhoenix_
All I can say is to repeat what Ted Williams said; (paraphrase) "It's all in the speed of the swing."
I laughed way too much every time they said "dry balls" and "humid balls".
Glad I’m not the only one. 😂
i don't get it
the cover has been knocked off the ball in live MLB games before! this episode is killing me. of course the ball actually moves when a pitcher throws out! why was that even a question?! sliding isn't about getting there faster, it's about making it harder to be tagged! corking a bat isn't about making it "springy", it's about the bat being much lighter so you are able to swing faster! i could be convinced no one on this show had ever even heard of baseball before this episode.
This should be a good one. I love baseball it was my favorite game growing up. I played it so much on my Atari.
Crazy how times have changed.. 80mph being an average fastball, now if you're throwing less than 95 you're throwing too slow
I’m pretty sure the corked bat is more about increased bat speed/control than it is about springy-ness
It's interesting that all these years later, the average MLB fastball speed is now 93.8 mph.
Destin from SmarterEveryDay managed to get a baseball from a cannon so fast... that it disintegrated the ball when it hit a solid steel plate.
i recall the formula from physics classes, kinetic energy is the product of half the mass and the velocity squared - seems to me the reasoning is that swinging a bat faster can get you a better hit. swinging at the same speed of course will produce this effect, and sure you can opt to use a lighter bat, personally i'm not familiar with how much lighter is allowed but i think this could have been tested better.
Corking the bat lets you swing the bar faster, increasing force imparted to the ball, resulting in more distance. Having a robot swing it killed the myth immediately
I don't know why but I have a feeling they kinda did it that way on purpose to make other batters hesitate to use a corked bat.
@@terryduling4773 Maybe they should fill the bat with lead instead of cork
this episode convinced me none of them had ever even heard of baseball before this episode. they actually went out here and tested if the ball actually moves when thrown! WHAT THE HECK!?
33.59 this is the second time I've caught Jamie saying FUCK. Totally my favorite guy
Plot twist the MLB paid the MythBusters to say the corked bat is worse so that guys stop doing it.
yeah Except......... we have results that can't be fucked with .
Truth be told , even before the results i suspected that the cork would absorb the force
What made me laugh is how they wouldn't show how it was done, like anyone who wanted to do it couldn't work it out in less than a minute....
@@christopherdean1326
Exactly, especially with the visible cut lines on the bat
Worse for range, better for control.
Two things have long been known about baseball: corking your bat doesn't improve anything, and athletes are infinitely more likely to listen to "conventional wisdom" than actual facts. So bat-corking will continue and whatever the next stupid alternative mystic quantum woo-woo fad is, it will spread like wildfire throughout the sport. (See: those scam "ionized titanium" rope necklaces everyone was wearing not too long ago because people are too stupid for words.)
Nolan Ryan threw hard enough where it looked like it rose to the batters eye, but it actually came in nearly flat on the overall trajectory
Ill never understand why Jamie and Adam hated each other....they seem to get along so nicely.
Balls with a backspin suddenly rising in mid-air isn't that much of a mistery anymore... ask an airsofter or paintballer about a Hopup that's too tight.
-Awwww, but that closing statement from Grant, I can't stay mad.
I'm surprised they didn't factor in baseball materials. I'd be really surprised if they've stayed the same over the past 1+ centuries.
You have to put the cork lower and leave the top of the bat solid
They totally missed the mark on the corked bats.. The whole ideas is that you swing it faster. They needed to see how much faster you can swing a corked bat then swing it at that speed.. of course it is almost still gunna be busted cuz I doubt you can swing a corked bat twice as fast
A more fascinating one would be the knuckle ball
(8:20) Now I wish we had tested whether a corked bat hits differently than a solid bat of the same weight.
(20:00) I think the humid balls aren't just heavier. I suspect that they are also less elastic, so more energy is lost deforming the ball, and less is left as kinetic energy for flight. Don't know if there was a test for that.
(27:00) But does the bat being lighter mean that you are swinging faster with the same force? Is the pressure being fed to the bat swing the same? Or was it adjusted to have the same swing speed? Now... what if your bat had a lead core instead of a cork core?
With the corked bat test, you didn't test the difference between how quickly Adam can swing a solid bat compared to a corked bat. I doubt that would impact the speed the ball leaves the bat by as much as it needs to, however it is these things you guys normally pick up on and test.
I have covid and these vids are the only thing getting me through
No, you don't.
Get a grip and turn off the TV.
@@astronomyphilly goat lover
COVID still? Positive test?
good thing they didn't show us exactly how to drill a hole....
28:44 the mojo of the throw though?
(31:10) I don't think the slide is about being faster. I think it's about dodging a "tag" out.
Being from the UK I thought cricket was boring but after watching baseball WOW! That takes boring into the statosphere!
The slide is about dodging the tag not speed.
Maybe the cork is for bunting.
The "slide or not" myth is about diving into first base rather than running through. It has nothing whatsoever to do with second base.
What about home?
@@wingerding The vast majority of plays at home require tagging the runner, making it different from first base, which is always a force play. I would add, though, that I'd love to see "to slide or not" tested on plays at home, to see if it's actually better (most of the time, anyway) to try to run through the tag as fast as possible or to try to slide under it.
About that sliding, Finnish baseball uses only diving as it is by far the fastest way. There are videos where players dive from full speed, several meters from the line and are safe quicker then the slow knee-sliding. It keeps the full speed while in the air and extended arms reach safe earlier then leg slowly inching towards the base.
i thought corking a bat was inserting rubber balls into the hollow end of the bat. not actually using cork. increasing the bounce of the ball and making the bat lighter. similar to how a golf ball absorbs and redirects energy.
So funny seeing "nerds" talk and play baseball I love it these guys are awesome miss this show.youball realize how many ppl would try and cancel this show now with all the sensitive ppl these days. When he swing that bat all I could say is technique is all wrong lol
shame they didnt know how to use an Ash bat...the swing machine had the bat on the flat of the grain CRACK!!
You can swing a lighter bat faster
Why didn't Adam and Jaime just use the B team rig? Just change the bats...
4:03 court bat need to fix the name of the chapter
Court bat is the legal disclaimer chapter 😅
8:04 Major League officials don't want us showing how that's done
8:27 Shows Cross sectional layout of exactly what was done
LMFAO, As if there was some secret to it
They can't be serious baseball fans. No one cares about the speed of going into a bag standing versus sliding. If you want to realistically measure the speed to a base, you need to test the conditions to first base, by running through the bag.
"Court" bat?
Humid balls, eh?
First episode of this show I've seen. Are the conversations usually this stilted and pre-written sounding?
I think at the hide myth you missed just one point. What about deterioration of the ball. So maybe if a ball is used to often and the stitching is not that great anymore it may then be plausible ;)
6:13 oh how wrong you are Adam. If only he knew what it would take to shoot a baseball past Mach 1
When Tory said 125 inches is _like 10,5 feet_ that sounded way too perfect so i had to look it up, turns out its 10,4167 feet, honestly how Americans get anything done with imperial is beyond me haha. The whole test seemed kind of pointless anyway, because of course adding moisture makes something both softer and heavier, and a heavier softer thing will obviously bounce less/go less far??
But eh, issues aside still a fun episode 😁👍
I will agree with you about the "imperial" system of measurements. But I am astoundingly confused as to how Europeans miss the 'point' of a "decimal POINT", instead using a comma?????????? Commas are used to demonstrate having completed 'thousands' places and changing to the next grouping; thousands, millions, billions, trillions, etc. The decimal POINT is used to separate the whole numbers from the fractions on the number line. 🙂
Have fun!!!
Agree. Europeans are dopes with their decimal and comma placement.
@@haytguugle8656 it usually goes the other way around 1.000.000 or THE MOST COMMON AND LESS DUMB WAY 1 000 000 have a great one (and yes its a comma for decimal, like : 1.323)
@@haytguugle8656 Most of us use space as the thousands separator, making the choice of decimal point or comma irrelevant. For aesthetic purposes, I use a decimal point myself. There is never any confusion.
1 000 000 is one million. 10 000.5 is ten thousand and a half.
@@haytguugle8656I am confused about your decimal point point. It is called a "decimal point" in english, but not every county speaks that language. In my native language we literally say "decimal comma".
Corked bat- is taking out the core leave the outside more springy? even if replaced with cork? Maybe thats the secret. Heavy hollow bat? Also if you are thrown a ball that curves downward, how can you swing at it or down as you swing and hit it?? Once you swing, its a strike, so you dont have time to see when the balls on its way at those speeds to adjust??
its actually to lighten the bat while keeping it solid, allows for a faster swing
Man, back in the day i never noticed how incredibly redundant the narrator is. Cut out every repetition of a statement and these episodes are all 20% shorter at least
The narrator is fine, and the show wouldn't be the same without him. The problem is that, unlike this one, most episodes take a few myths and stretch them out way too long. You also have to remember that this was originally formatted for commercial intermissions, and so that viewers could tune in at any time.
I have seen the skin of a baseball start to come off the before that just after months of use
That's why the MLB changes the ball after each hit if I'm not mistaken, just any irregularity on the skin might change how the ball behaves
So MythBusters concluded what every man could have told you, dry balls are better 😂
7:36
still so crazy they did 2 separate "how far is a ball going?" myths and made 2 separate hitting rigs. Why not just use that same rig (grants) and hit with corked and uncorked bats. Instead of this crazy technical, massive air cannon/computer swing machine
Nobody likes humid balls
480p.... Thanks?
Corked bat overlooks an important factor. Psychology. Picture it. You're catching, you know from the last few batters where balls typically land, there's a really decent area balls are landing. Now the dude goes in with a swing which by all means should be a homer, you watch that bat hit the ball and just as you start off to where you've calculated the ball to go you realise something, that monster swing has a short ball. Panic, guys rush to intercept that ball but it's too late, batter has become Forrest Gump.
Would a corked bat not be a brilliant way of messing with the opponents experience during a game?
I don't know why any fielder would base their positioning on how "hard" the swing looked, and not, you know, the trajectory of the ball in the air. the only psychological impact a corked bat would have is on the batter, if they think that the bat they're using is "better" than normal then they might swing with more confidence.
Clemens cheated with steroids - not the best role model
Is the vacuum pump itself not going to remove some of the humidity already? Just asking out of interest.
I don't think they're stuck on the pump long enough to have any effect. In the clip it looks like a few seconds at most.
The "cover off the ball" ua-cam.com/video/22H7Jx0sE64/v-deo.htmlsi=oEN4uk6aioNEE3ZE
29:05 we really gotta bleep the word pissed on tv? i cant listen to this kinda shit anymore
Jamie and Adam always sound brilliant....
until they talk about sports.
Roidger Clemems sucks.
Was i the only one or everyone thought the Black and White baseball player looked like jamie
My God it looks like Adam and Jamie have never swung a bat before.