# Corked bats, why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 28, 2003, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corked-bats-why/215764 "2003-11-28T20:16:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Erik\_B.Johnson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Erik\_B.Johnson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erik_B.Johnson)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corked-bats-why/215764/1 "2003-11-28T20:16:31Z")
If force is equal to mass x acceleration, what would a baseball player gain by corking his bat? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corked-bats-why/215764/2 "2003-11-28T20:46:32Z")
Because an elastic object, like a corked bat or a tennis racket, transmits less energy to you and puts more of it back into the object being struck. Thus the batter gets some extra range. ---
**Author:** ![Capt\_B.Phart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Capt\_B.Phart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_B.Phart)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corked-bats-why/215764/3 "2003-11-28T21:04:38Z")
So this isn’t about rendering vampire bats safe? [Skinner] Lucky for you this is just a warning bat. Next one won’t be corked [/skinner] ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corked-bats-why/215764/4 "2003-11-28T21:05:27Z")
It has also been remarked that a corked bat is lighter, and therefore easier to swing, and can be swung harder. Never claimed this made sense; just reporting what I’ve heard. ---
**Author:** ![Erik\_B.Johnson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Erik\_B.Johnson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erik_B.Johnson)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corked-bats-why/215764/5 "2003-11-28T21:19:52Z")
If the bat is lighter due to the corked material , wont it have less mass ? Even if it could be swung faster (greater acceleration) it(ball) would not be acted upon with as much force due to the loss of mass. Does the elastic effect more than compensate for the loss of mass? ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corked-bats-why/215764/6 "2003-11-28T21:30:18Z")
Robert Adair, in his book ‘The Physics of Baseball’ pretty much debunks the 'advantage from cork thing. God knows I can’t follow the math but IIRC the maximum advantage is about 3-5 feet, if that. And that only if the bat is corked perfectly. If not the imperfections introduced by the corking may actually _rob_ the batter of energy introduced to the ball. Of course, this may be disinformation from the Commissioner’s Office. Adair was made the ‘Official Physicist of Major League Baseball’ by Bart Giamatti. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corked-bats-why/215764/7 "2003-11-29T08:38:08Z")
I think there is a possible advantage to a corked bat, despite Adair’s analysis. For each player, there is an ideal bat weight. If a corked bat has the same weight as an uncorked one, the corked bat can have a larger diameter. This would allow the player to hit the ball squarely more often with the same force. I’m a little suspicious of strictly analytical approaches to this question. A person swinging a bat at a pitched ball is a complex system, and it’s possible that Adair is not modeling it accurately. I’d like to see experimental results based on blind testing. I don’t know how one would design such an experiment, since I assume any good batter would be able to tell the difference between a corked and an uncorked bat by how the bat feels. But good science verifies theory with experiment, and this hasn’t been done (as far as I know). Here’s a possible experimental design that wouldn’t rely on blinding. Let a batter hit pitches with corked and uncorked bats - say 100 pitches with each type of bat. Every time he hits one over the wall, he gets a cash prize. See if the batter hits more home runs with the corked bats than with the uncorked bats. Presumably, the cash prize for hitting a home run would compensate for the batter being able to tell which bats were corked - the money would have to be enough for the batter to want to hit a homer on every pitch. For the sake of consistency, one could use a pitching machine rather than a human pitcher. This experiment could be repeated with many different batters. ---
**Author:** ![Erik\_B.Johnson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Erik\_B.Johnson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erik_B.Johnson)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/corked-bats-why/215764/8 "2003-11-29T17:39:04Z")
Interesting points to ponder. Thank everyone for your feedback.