Why It's Hard to Hit a Curve Ball

[El Cajone]

Check out this really neat illusion that shows how your senses can fool you:

https://illusioncontest.neuralcorrelate.com...-the-curveball/

I wonder if it's a similar phenomenon to the one where drivers fix their gaze on something on the side of the road, like flashing emergency lights, and then drive right into it?

 

[wheatonFJR]

So... where is the ball? Falling vertically or at an angle?

Which do I swing at?

 

[user 6393]

whoa dude.........I shoulda had my coffee 1st

 

[exskibum]

Very interesting. Thanks for that.

 

[dcarver]

Ain't nothing. You should see what knuckleball does to the senses..

 

[exskibum]

Ain't nothing. You should see what knuckleball does to the senses..

EXACTLY, Don! Wasn't going to say it, but back in the day (yeah, before dirt was born), I could hit a curveball. The two pitches I could NOT hit were a hard slider that made me think it was a fastball at my shoulder and a knuckleball. (Don't recall anyone throwing splitters back then, but I probably couldn't have hit those either -- the same as with riseballs in softball years later.)

I had a team mate (Ed Malec) my first year in Pony League who was 2 years older than me -- a lefty with great fastball, curve, etc., and the occasional no-hitter. Then when I played JV HS in 10th grade, he was varsity and had developed 3 different knuckleballs (I believe he held them differently, but they definitely broke differently). A couple times a week, we'd play intramural games with the varsity, and Ed made me look stupid every AB. I used to curse and dare him to throw something else. I recall grounding out once, and other than that fouled a couple or three off. Those were the only times I ever faced a pitcher who could actually throw one right and make it do what it do.

Jittering almost all the way to the plate, it owned my a$$ even before it did that breaking sh&t out in front of the plate -- I mean, you KNOW what it is tens of feet before it gets to the plate, and that's a big part of the problem. After I had no success lunging and waving at it, I got to the point where I just swung through the general area it seemed to be heading. The extent of my success at that was the above-mentioned foul balls. The weak ground out was on a fastball, which also owned me because I was so consumed anticipating a knuckleball every pitch. I was kinda surprised I never heard of him making it in baseball; another HS team mate played 20+ years in the majors -- all but a couple in RF in Fenway.

 

[ShinyPartsUp]

Ain't nothing. You should see what knuckleball does to the senses..

EXACTLY, Don! Wasn't going to say it, but back in the day (yeah, before dirt was born), I could hit a curveball. The two pitches I could NOT hit were a hard slider that made me think it was a fastball at my shoulder and a knuckleball. (Don't recall anyone throwing splitters back then, but I probably couldn't have hit those either -- the same as with riseballs in softball years later.)

I had a team mate (Ed Malec) my first year in Pony League who was 2 years older than me -- a lefty with great fastball, curve, etc., and the occasional no-hitter. Then when I played JV HS in 10th grade, he was varsity and had developed 3 different knuckleballs (I believe he held them differently, but they definitely broke differently). A couple times a week, we'd play intramural games with the varsity, and Ed made me look stupid every AB. I used to curse and dare him to throw something else. I recall grounding out once, and other than that fouled a couple or three off. Those were the only times I ever faced a pitcher who could actually throw one right and make it do what it do.

Jittering almost all the way to the plate, it owned my a$$ even before it did that breaking sh&t out in front of the plate -- I mean, you KNOW what it is tens of feet before it gets to the plate, and that's a big part of the problem. After I had no success lunging and waving at it, I got to the point where I just swung through the general area it seemed to be heading. The extent of my success at that was the above-mentioned foul balls. The weak ground out was on a fastball, which also owned me because I was so consumed anticipating a knuckleball every pitch. I was kinda surprised I never heard of him making it in baseball; another HS team mate played 20+ years in the majors -- all but a couple in RF in Fenway.

Was that Dewey Evans? Great RF. Arm for the ages with a little long-ball in his bat.

 

[exskibum]

Was that Dewey Evans? Great RF. Arm for the ages with a little long-ball in his bat.

Yep, but we all knew him as Dwight. I think he picked up the "Dewey" nickname after he started playing professionally. Number 24 played in every game in a couple World Series (including the Buckner error game in '86) and had a big role in probably the greatest baseball game ever played (no. 6 in the '75 Series). He also played in 2 or 3 All Star games. After he got to Boston, I used to love watching on TV when a single got hit to right with a runner on first; I was always up off the couch screaming as the ball passed the runner! Cannon for an arm, and he worked on his fielding so that he was always in position to take it out of the air on the way in.

There's a long story about a particular high school game that I won't tell, but I'll tell the arm story from it. Chatsworth High against Lincoln High, 1969 L.A. City quarterfinals, taking outfield before the game. Good friend I'd played with since I was 9 (Tim) was in CF, Dwight in LF, scouts along the LF side of the field watching. Dwight gets 3 balls hit to him to throw home. Not kidding: he rifles all three between the cutoff man's upstretched hands, on the plate maybe 12 to 24 inches off the ground, NO hop. On ALL THREE!! Tim's comment was priceless: "Jaysus, Dwight, nice time to do that!" I've never seen an arm like he had*, though they used to say that he and Dave Parker were in a league by themselves in that category.

* BTW, he also pitched back then. Guess what he mostly threw.