# Can a human cleanly throw a baseball through a pizza box **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 29, 2012, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264 "2012-10-29T22:02:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/221 "2012-11-05T14:42:52Z")
It looks like there are three boxes. The first is filled with sawdust or something. That gets tossed in the air. There’s a puff of [stuff coming out](http://bayimg.com/DaFmkaAEj). When the [box impacts](http://bayimg.com/dAFMLAAEj), it’s in fairly good shape, and the ground is clean. The some[more stuff comes out](http://bayimg.com/dAFmpAAeJ). I first thought that the box was opening, but it looks like it’s just “stuff” spilling. Which makes [a nice pile](http://bayimg.com/eaFMaaAEJ). Seen [more clearly here](http://bayimg.com/eAFmDAAEJ). When our blond plant runs up, the box is 90 deg off, as can be seen between the third and forth photos. This box contains the pizza with the hole. Finally, they use a third box at the end. ---
**Author:** ![Ostrya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/35a633/32.png) [@Ostrya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ostrya)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/222 "2012-11-05T14:44:49Z")
Very interesting, esp the pizza box. Nice work, **Tokyo Bayer**. (ETA - post #113) ---
**Author:** ![Ostrya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/35a633/32.png) [@Ostrya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ostrya)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/223 "2012-11-05T14:54:35Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > When the [box impacts](http://bayimg.com/dAFMLAAEj), it’s in fairly good shape, and the ground is clean. The some[more stuff comes out](http://bayimg.com/dAFmpAAeJ). I first thought that the box was opening, but it looks like it’s just “stuff” spilling. Which makes [a nice pile](http://bayimg.com/eaFMaaAEJ). Seen [more clearly here](http://bayimg.com/eAFmDAAEJ). “oh god; the cheese.” ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/224 "2012-11-05T14:59:02Z")
> [@Sinisterniik](#): > > In the first shot, the sauce is on the outside, not inside of the box. Now that’s the really amazing part of the shot. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/225 "2012-11-05T15:07:06Z")
> [@brazil84](#): > > It looks longer than that to me. I was bored at work so I pulled up a Google satellite image of the Moscone recreation center. If they are in the northeast corner of the park, the width of the dirt area appears to be a more than 50 feet. If the pizza box was tossed 25 feet into the air, that’s a distance of about 55 feet. My question would be, where would a baseball thrown at 80+mph with an upward trajectory land if he misses his target? I’m thinking it lands in the middle of Bay St and causes a car accident. I also intended to muse about the mysterious pile of stuff that came out of the pizza box when it landed, while the pizza box they opened had no powdery stuff inside. Fake. Each item was rigged to explode, and they swapped out pizza boxes while the camera was turned away. I think they only had two boxes, however, the one the girl held up and the one they finally opened are the same, despite the edit cut. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/226 "2012-11-05T15:12:46Z")
> [@Sinisterniik](#): > > If you can find a frame that clearly shows sauce on the _inside_ of the box where the second shot shows dry cardboard, you’ll probably win me over to the “fake” side. No, there are people who I doubt can be won over. 😉 I’m doing this for the others. And for those who can be won over, look [at the box](http://bayimg.com/gAfMmAaEj) corner. The final shot (linked previously) shows a much newer box. > [@](#): > > ETA: And the camera cuts away before showing them open the box. If they have a fake box, why wouldn’t they use the plant in both shots? Why have two fake boxes? Just to mess with us? Pretty much. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/227 "2012-11-05T15:13:24Z")
> [@Sinisterniik](#): > > This is very suspect, but can be explained by the angle. In the first shot, the sauce is on the outside, not inside of the box. The angle covers up much of the interior of the shot, so it doesn’t really show us anything at all. We can’t see the sauce in the second shot because it’s on the other side of that cardboard. I’m in the “fake” camp, but you are correct here, as I see it. The top left corner of that frame is the outside of the box (or, rather, the outside of the flap that slots into the box), and that seems pretty clear to me when you watch the video. However, that corner is pretty sauced-up and tattered. When you see the cut-away to the next angle, the box looks completely fresh and brand-new, with no dimples, dents, or anything. It’s definitely a different box. ETA: Looks like I’ve been ninja’d. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/228 "2012-11-05T15:22:56Z")
> [@Sinisterniik](#): > > If you can find a frame that clearly shows sauce on the _inside_ of the box where the second shot shows dry cardboard, you’ll probably win me over to the “fake” side. Check out the images at 1:17 versus 1:21. In the the first there is a huge blob of sauce on the front left of the inside box . It’s gone at 1:21. There are other missing dribbles of sauce. The latter pizza also looks cleaner with different markings, and the top stains look different. (The markings could have changed if Tory had re-closed the box, but really the whole box/pizza looks neater and cleaner.) ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/229 "2012-11-05T15:39:23Z")
> [@Sinisterniik](#): > > If you can find a frame that clearly shows sauce on the _inside_ of the box where the second shot shows dry cardboard, you’ll probably win me over to the “fake” side. [OK](http://bayimg.com/kaFMcAaEJ). ETA: Blah. Or as **Baal Houtham** says. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/230 "2012-11-05T15:58:27Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > [OK](http://bayimg.com/kaFMcAaEJ). Great job **TokyoBayer**. (A picture with arrows is worth a thousand purely text messages.) It’s strange what pinged wrong for various posters. I still have no trouble with the acting. The kids backing up when the soda bottle explodes looks legit to me. Kari and Tory’s reactions are always cartoonish (which makes me prefer Adam and Jamie’s segments on the show) and didn’t seem different than usual. I’ll be interested in finding out which impacts were honest (if any.) ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/231 "2012-11-05T16:09:08Z")
It is really strange that they’d have two hole-ified pizzas, but the pictures do seem to show this to be the case. And I think it’s plausible that the thrown box had sawdust inside instead of a pizza. So… Myth Busted I guess? Though it doesn’t detract from the claim that whatsisface could hit the box and make a hole in it… ---
**Author:** ![sich\_hinaufwinden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@sich\_hinaufwinden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sich_hinaufwinden)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/232 "2012-11-05T16:09:52Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > Of course, [they don’t use the same boxes for the various shots](http://bayimg.com/oaFlhAaEj). So, I wondered if they may have switched boxes for the hole and the one with the pizza. I believe you have unquestionably solved this - nice job. I wonder if anyone will try to argue that he really did do it multiple times and they simply edited together the best footage from each take. That kind of tortured reasoning is about the only thing left at this point. And since they faked the pizza box… > [@Cheesesteak](#): > > My question would be, where would a baseball thrown at 80+mph with an upward trajectory land if he misses his target? I’m thinking it lands in the middle of Bay St and causes a car accident. I was thinking the same thing just from watching the video, wondering what was behind the backstop that he clearly would have thrown over if he had missed. Now that I’ve looked at the google aerial view I agree with you and can’t imagine they would have had him throwing a ball in that direction. ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/233 "2012-11-05T16:10:39Z")
> [@Sinisterniik](#): > > There’s a very small, barely noticeable amount of lag. You were talking about how our brains play tricks on us. Judging by the fact that no one seems to agree with you on this (at least not yet), I’d say that you’re convincing yourself of lag that isn’t there. Either that or your video is stuttering, causing you to find a lag no one else is. I’m not sure what you are saying here: You seem to agree that there’s a noticeable lag in the most recent little league video I posted. Let me ask you this: On the test video I posted, do you agree that it’s possible to discern where the horizontal bar is to within +/- 1 tick when the sound comes? ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/234 "2012-11-05T16:10:50Z")
Looking at the shots in context, it doesn’t seem clear that what’s going on is “fakery” so much as simple mutliple takes with multiple props. Maybe he hit _three_ boxes and not just one. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/235 "2012-11-05T16:11:51Z")
> [@sich\_hinaufwinden](#): > > I believe you have unquestionably solved this - nice job. I wonder if anyone will try to argue that he really did do it multiple times and they simply edited together the best footage from each take. Haha, that’s me. See below. 😉 But I’m not arguing that it was multiple takes, I’m just suggesting that this is plausible and compatible with what we see on the video. ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/236 "2012-11-05T16:14:10Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > My question would be, where would a baseball thrown at 80+mph with an upward trajectory land if he misses his target? I’m thinking it lands in the middle of Bay St and causes a car accident. Even if he hits the target, the baseball ought to keep going pretty fast. It’s been a while since I studied physics, but if the pizza box just keeps going up and down; and there aren’t big pieces of pizza or cardboard moving in the same direction as the ball, then the ball ought to continue moving at roughly the same speed and direction as if he’d missed the box. ---
**Author:** ![Sinisterniik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/51bf81/32.png) [@Sinisterniik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinisterniik)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/237 "2012-11-05T16:21:55Z")
I’m going to take a closer look at **TokyoBayer** ’s pic and comment on it later, but I just wanted to chime in and say that I broke down and emailed Tory directly for an answer. We’ll see if he responds or not. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/238 "2012-11-05T16:47:36Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > My question would be, where would a baseball thrown at 80+mph with an upward trajectory land if he misses his target? Yeah, that bothered me as well. Here’s a better link to the [Moscone recreation center](http://goo.gl/maps/wz09v). I’m not sure how accurate measurements are when taken on a screen with a ruler, but it looks like the distance to the back of the bleachers was close to 250 feet. I can’t do the math, but that’s like throwing from middle outfield and much further than throwing from deep, deep short to first base. That doesn’t factor in the height of the bleachers. Also Cain’s higher throws didn’t seem to be at the ideal angle for maximum distance (outfielders seem to put a lower trajectory on the ball when shooting for home.) Maybe it wasn’t as dangerous as it looked. Don’t know. We don’t know the pitch velocity for one thing. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/239 "2012-11-05T17:01:50Z")
> [@Baal\_Houtham](#): > > I’m not sure how accurate measurements are when taken on a screen with a ruler, but it looks like the distance to the back of the bleachers was close to 250 feet. I just looked again, and am revising my estimate. It could be as low as 200’. On the satellite image the distance from home to first is only about 3/4 the distance of home to third, so the angle is deceptive. On a full size diamond, the distance from home to second is about 127 feet, and in the picture the distance from the top of the dirt circle to the back of the bleachers is much less than twice that. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/240 "2012-11-05T17:04:33Z")
> [@brazil84](#): > > Even if he hits the target, the baseball ought to keep going pretty fast. It’s been a while since I studied physics, but if the pizza box just keeps going up and down; and there aren’t big pieces of pizza or cardboard moving in the same direction as the ball, then the ball ought to continue moving at roughly the same speed and direction as if he’d missed the box. You can see [the ball](http://bayimg.com/pAfMEAaEJ) for a few frames after impact, but then fades into the sky. The video isn’t clear enough to see exactly where it does. The [path is interesting](http://bayimg.com/PafMIAAeJ). The path of the ball seems to be higher [than his hand,](http://bayimg.com/AafnCAAej) but it’s hard to be certain as the substitution of boxes There’s nothing in the video which rules out having a pitching machine just to the right of Matt. He obviously isn’t taking anything like a major league wind up, and his right hand isn’t shown after he “throws” the ball until after the cut and the new box. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264.md?page=13)