Baseball
Photos
(To download a Hi-Res version
(4.5 MB), right click and choose Save As)
Lyman
Briggs: Physics of Baseball
Lyman Briggs,
director emeritus of NIST, and Ossie Bluege, comptroller of the
Washington Senators and, formerly, the club's third baseman and
manager, at Griffith Stadium in 1959. Briggs demonstrated how
to measure the spin of a pitched ball with the aid of a flat measuring
tape affixed to the ball. Other Senators who assisted Briggs were
pitchers Camilio Pascual and Pedro Ramos, catcher Ed Fitz Gerald,
and Manager Cookie Lavagetto.
Wind
Tunnel Measurements
Photograph
shows airflow past spinning ball in a wind tunnel. The wind is
coming from the right at the speed of 60 feet per second. The
spin1000 revolutions per minuteis counterclockwise at right angles
to the wind. (Courtesy of Professor F. N. M. Brown, Notre Dame
University)
