Would a baseball player of McGwire’s ability, using a regulation wood bat, swinging at a pitched golf ball, be able to get as much distance as say Tiger Wood using a golf club off of a tee? What about with an aluminm bat?
It’s not an issue of whether or not a golf club is better at hitting a golf ball than a baseball bat. The only issue is how the distance of mark mcgwires homeruns would be affected by using a golf ball instead of a baseball.
How far tiger tees off is a known quanity, I think. On his best day tiger will drive a ball, what, 400-450 yards max?
McGwire on his best swing at a fastball will drive the ball 550 feet or ~ 183 yards. The mere fact that a golf ball is lighter and designed to go farther should at least triple McGwires distance (assuming he doesn’t crack the ball into a thousand pieces).
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=15566
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=7485
I followed the suggested threads and found that Goose Gossage won a BALF driving contest in 1996 with a drive of 225-yards. Assuming he followed the Balf rules, which call for:
(1) using a Clat, which is a slightly modified wooden fungo bat,
(2) striking the ball with the Clat after throwing the golf ball up in the air,
its fairly easy to conclude that McGwire, or any other active MLB home run hitter should easily drive a pitched golf ball 350+ yards
. . . especially considering Goose Gossage isn’t exactly in his prime now. And though he is a HOF-caliber guy, he doesn’t have near the power of some guys today.
My memory might be off, but wasn’t Goose Gossage a pitcher? Not really known for his batting prowess.
Pardon my ignorance, but HOF?
Hall Of Fame