# Theoretical lower baseball speed limit. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 2, 2007, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theoretical-lower-baseball-speed-limit/410233 "2007-07-02T15:35:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2007, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theoretical-lower-baseball-speed-limit/410233/21 "2007-07-03T13:54:07Z")
[QUOTE=Least Original User Name Ever] Byunh Hyun Kim, Mike Myers, and Corey Bradford. For a bonus funky delivery, check out Pat Neshek. Hell, there’s even Bert Blyleven. [/QUOTE] And, as appropriate for your your username, there is Joe Smith. And you mean Chad Bradford. ---
**Author:** ![Ichbin\_Dubist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ichbin\_Dubist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichbin_Dubist)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2007, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theoretical-lower-baseball-speed-limit/410233/22 "2007-07-03T16:24:48Z")
[QUOTE=Malacandra] Not bad, but we have first slip, second slip, third slip, … short fine-leg, fine-leg and deep fine-leg. [/QUOTE] I don’t know much about cricket, but I think the fact that there are more positions than players is just great. For instance, I would like the DH rule a lot more if the DH also had to pitch the 8th inning and sell Cracker Jack during the seventh-inning stretch. [QUOTE=RealityChuck] No, he didn’t. At least, no more than on any other pitch. He also tends to pitch with a low release point – sidearm more than overhand. [/QUOTE] I’ll watch more closely the next time he pitches, but I’m pretty sure that all of Duque’s agonizingly slow pitches are curveballs. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2007, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theoretical-lower-baseball-speed-limit/410233/23 "2007-07-03T17:04:40Z")
[QUOTE=Freddy the Pig] There had to be a slight arc on it, even if it wasn’t visible. Gravity will drop a 53 mph pitch eight feet during the seven-tenths of a second it takes to reach the plate. [/QUOTE] That’s a given. You can’t throw a baseball without some arc. I just wanted to rule out an very high arc (e.g., the Eephus pitch). I think that’s an issue with the calculation: the assumption is that the ball is released (say, about 7 feet above the level of the plate, if you count the pitcher’s height and the height of the mound) and travels in a straight line to the level of the batter’s knees. But to throw that way would require a very **fast** pitch, not a slow one (the faster you throw the ball, the flatter the arc you need to use). ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2007, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theoretical-lower-baseball-speed-limit/410233/24 "2007-07-03T17:52:02Z")
[QUOTE=Ichbin Dubist] I don’t know much about cricket, but I think the fact that there are more positions than players is just great. [/QUOTE] Yes, it adds a whole extra dimension to the game. For instance, if your fast bowler is having a good day and getting the ball to swing out and bounce at pace, you can cash in by setting four slips and a gully to maximise the chance of a catch off an edged shot - but that leaves only four fielders (other than 'keeper and bowler) to cut off the run-scoring shots, so you may get your man quickly or bleed lots of runs quickly. Rarely, _nine_ slips have been seen (an arc from the batsman’s six-thirty through to eight-thirty, if the bowler’s at twelve o’clock) - such as when there’s only one man to get out and a hopeless amount of runs to be scored. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2007, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theoretical-lower-baseball-speed-limit/410233/25 "2007-07-03T20:39:20Z")
> [@](#): > > That’s a given. You can’t throw a baseball without some arc. I just wanted to rule out an very high arc (e.g., the Eephus pitch). I think that by “no arc”, people are assuming that the ball never rises above the height at which it’s released. That is quite physically possible. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2007, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theoretical-lower-baseball-speed-limit/410233/26 "2007-07-03T21:03:46Z")
[QUOTE=Malacandra] Yes, it adds a whole extra dimension to the game. For instance, if your fast bowler is having a good day and getting the ball to swing out and bounce at pace, you can cash in by setting four slips and a gully to maximise the chance of a catch off an edged shot - but that leaves only four fielders (other than 'keeper and bowler) to cut off the run-scoring shots, so you may get your man quickly or bleed lots of runs quickly. Rarely, _nine_ slips have been seen (an arc from the batsman’s six-thirty through to eight-thirty, if the bowler’s at twelve o’clock) - such as when there’s only one man to get out and a hopeless amount of runs to be scored. 😃 [/QUOTE] Five-thirty to three-thirty, of course. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2007, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theoretical-lower-baseball-speed-limit/410233/27 "2007-07-03T21:22:53Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] I think that by “no arc”, people are assuming that the ball never rises above the height at which it’s released. That is quite physically possible. [/QUOTE] How is it possible to do that and throw a strike, given that a ball released in the horizontal plane (at 53 mph) falls eight feet on the way to the plate? ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2007, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theoretical-lower-baseball-speed-limit/410233/28 "2007-07-03T23:26:11Z")
[QUOTE=Freddy the Pig] How is it possible to do that and throw a strike, given that a ball released in the horizontal plane (at 53 mph) falls eight feet on the way to the plate? [/QUOTE] I don’t know how tall the pitcher’s mound is, but if the pitcher is tall enough and the batter is short it’s conceivable. Also, a faster ball won’t drop as much before it gets to the strike zone. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2007, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theoretical-lower-baseball-speed-limit/410233/29 "2007-07-04T02:32:11Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] I think that by “no arc”, people are assuming that the ball never rises above the height at which it’s released. That is quite physically possible. [/QUOTE] Very much so – but in order to get a flat trajectory, you have to throw the ball very hard, which means the pitch would be fast. If you throw a “straight” pitch at 50 mph, it’ll never reach the plate. I’m not disallowing an arc, just not an excessive one like in an Eephus pitch. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theoretical-lower-baseball-speed-limit/410233.md?page=1)