My daughter (12 years old) came up with the theory that a football can be thrown further than a baseball because a football is streamlined.
I pointed out that there are other factors- size, weight, etc.
But it did start me thinking about the record for throwing each.
Looking on the web I found some Canadian that threw a baseball (not in a game) 445 feet.
What kind of records exist for this?
No cites, but I’d go for the baseball being thrown futher.
The football is just too large for the hand to get a solid grip on, as well the action of throwing it with enough of a spiral for the ‘streamlining’ to overcome the wind resistence from it’s size.
A comparison in a game situation wouldn’t be possible, though; football fields are shorter than most major league center fields.
I’ve watched the Quarterback Challenge a couple times. Basically they take some of the best QBs from the NFL and they have a competition in various QB related skills, one of which is the long sistance throw. IIRC they top out around 70-80 yards.
Doing the quick conversion that’s 210-240 feet, a far cry from the 445 feet for the baseball throw.
Do footballs even stay pointed to the front (i.e. long axis along direction of travel)? I’ve never even played American football but generally speaking, spinning things tend to want to spin around the short axis. It’s the most stable configuration. NASA once launched a cylindrical satellite that spins around the long axis, and it soon tumbled out of control. It started to spin around the short axis and was no longer able to keep its antenna (or was it the solar panel?) oriented correctly.
Density is another factor that determines how far you can throw a ball. A ball uses momentum to overcome air resistance. Momentum is proportional to weight while air resistance is proportional to cross-section area, so dense objects have an advantage. (You can’t throw a styrofoam ball very far, can you?) It also means larger objects have an advantage (less surface-to-volume ratio), but if it’s too big you can’t throw it as fast so there’s an optimal size somewhere.
Glen Gorbous, right? He was a Canadian who played for the Phillies. But I think it was actually 446 feet. The speed of that throw, as it left has hand, has been estimated at around 120 m.p.h., about 10 m.p.h. faster than the fastest pitcher can throw from the mound (the pitch slows down significantly by the time it reaches the plate). But Gorbous was running at the time he threw, so that accounts for the extra speed.
They do, if you throw them right. The combination of the spiral and air resistance keeps them pointed in the right direction. There is no air resistance in space.
I would say many major league outfielders could throw a baseball exceeding 250 feet on the fly, but few NFL quarterbacks could toss a football that far.
You seldomn see that distance in baseball because of the premium on accuracy and the throws need to be flatter, in order for the cutoff man to throw to another base. A pass can be 5 yards off the mark without necessarily ruining the play, but in baseball, being off the mark that much has little chance of success.
If my memory’s correct, I once saw Bo Jackson throw out a runner at home on the fly on a ball he retrieved near the left field fence. Such a throw probably carried more than 300 feet.
I saw Jesse Barfield, on more than one occasion, throw the ball to the plate on the fly from beyond 300 feet/100 yards. Other outfielders have done that, too - the aforementioned Bo Jackson, Glenn Wilson, Roberto Clemente. I’ve never seen a football thrown that far; I doubt any NFL quarterback could throw a football from one goal line to the other.
Eight times in NFL history there have been completed passes of 99 yards. That doesn’t really answer the question of how much farther they could have thrown it in a non-game situation. From http://www.nfl.com/randf/indiv_passing.html
The length of a pass completion doesn’t really say anything about how far the ball was thrown. Dante Culpepper could throw a shovel pass one yard to Randy Moss and Moss could run it 99 yards for a touchdown and it would show up in the box score as a 99 yard pass play.
One would tend to assume that those were 99 yards between the catch and the run after the catch, though. I didn’t see anywhere (and I don’t know if they even keep this stat) yards purely on the pass part and ignoring the run after the catch.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t really answer of how far it was thrown, either. A one yard completion with the receiver gaining an additional 98 yards is a 99 yards pass play.
That’s what happens when I pretend to know football. I knew I should have stuck to baseball.
I’m sure that many of you folks have seen many more football games than me but the longest pass I can recall in a game was Doug Fluties 1984 Hail Mary for Boston College. It was scored a 48 yard reception but Flutie passed from well behind the line of scrimmage and the receiver was deep in the end zone when he took it. When I saw the footage it was so spectacular I just laughed.
I think that football passes generally look more spectacular than baseball throws of an equal distance because a football field is considerably smaller than a baseball field, so in relation to the playing area the football throw looks like it went a longer distance. For instance, in football, a 40-yard pass is considered a long pass. Not an amazing throw or anything, but definitely a long pass. 40 yards is approximately the disance from third base to first.
It’s okay Bib, we knew you didn’t know. But you have fine research skills.
FWIW, there are stories of Joe DiMaggio and Willie Mays, two of the greatest hitters of all time, and both center fielders IIRC, throwing a catch from the center field wall through the strike zone on home plate to throw the one base runner out. Depending on the park this could easily be 300 feet. The distance of the throw is not all that remarkable, as baseballs can be thrown further. Rather the speed at which the decision to throw is made, and the accuracy at that great distance required to be confident to make the play, rather than the customary throw to second relay to home (which takes longer and is more accurate, but might not be in time to catch the runner) is an amazing feat of athleticism. It must be thrown hard and fast. Pitchers cannot generally count on that kind of accuracy and are much closer (although trying to do something a bit different.) Although DiMaggio billed himself as the best living ballplayer during his lifetime, most neutral enthusiasts will place him in the top dozen. Mays is generally regarded as the best all around player ever. He hangs out at Pac Bell Park to watch his godson Barry Bonds go after his records. (Willie is much more approachable than Barry, but still take it easy.) The nicest Giant I ever met though, was Willie “Stretch” McCovy. A first baseman who could hit like the dickens and was a wonderful first baseman. Think Mark McGwire without the steriods.
I seem to remember a ‘QB challenge’ sometime in the mid-late 80’s or early 90’s where Randall Cunningham (While he played in Philly) threw a football 101 yards in the air. Have absolutely no cite for this however.
Spartacus…the distance from just about every center field wall, to the plate, would be 400 ft. I knew a guy who swears he saw Reggie Smith do it for the Red Sox at Fenway Park.
I saw John Elway as a college sophomore scramble in his own end zone and overthrow a receiver who was on the opposing 40-yard line, so the ball went easily 65 yards in the air.
Michael Vick threw a ball from the field 3/4 of the way up the stadium. That had to be more then 100 yards in the air.
I know it was true because I saw it on TV, and the magic picture box never lies to me, especially where sports are concerned.