Corked Bats

[Phil_in_CS]

Do they really work?  The Link

I think they used to say curve balls didn't really curve, so who knows.

[Limey]

Quote:
I think they used to say curve balls didn't really curve, so who knows.

Then along came Scooter...

Also, riding / rising fastballs don't actually ride or rise.

[Billy Zabka]

Of course they work.  You can swing a bat with the same surface area faster.

Of course, as stated earlier, I will reserve final judgment until I get a ruling from Scooter.

[Ankh]

Of course they don't work.  Not only does cork screw up the harmonics of the kinetic energy transfer, cork actually absorbs energy from the impact.

It's like literally adding wet noodle to your bat.  Sure, it's lighter, but you ain't hitting the ball further.

[HudsonHawk]

Quote:
Of course they work.  You can swing a bat with the same surface area faster.

Of course, as stated earlier, I will reserve final judgment until I get a ruling from Scooter.

Surface area ain't got nothin' to do with it.  You could make a bat out of styrofoam with the same surface area, that doesn't mean it'll hit a baseball farther.  As Ankh says, it's a kinetic energy, conservation of momentum thing.

[At Ease]

Quote:
Of course they don't work.  Not only does cork screw up the harmonics of the kinetic energy transfer, cork actually absorbs energy from the impact.

It's like literally adding wet noodle to your bat.  Sure, it's lighter, but you ain't hitting the ball further.

The best hitters are those who can see the ball the longest-- and if a corked bat can speed up the bat and allow you to wait longer, while maintaining a virtually identical overall performance to a non-corked bat (per this guy's experimentation?), there would seem a significant advantage there.

[Amorican_Idol]

Not all corkers are the same. It's like saying everyone scuffs the exact same way Scotty did.

Corking/scuffing depends on how good you were in shop class and of course the ingredients. (not always cork)

My favourite incident was when Sabo's cork exploded and he only laughed after he was ejected. What a craven paltroon!

[shortstop]

If there is any benefit at all, I think it's purely phsychological. My favorite incident was when Billy Hatcher got sawed off and the bat broke spewing superballs all over the infield. He got tossed immediately. After the game he said it was not his bat ... he was using a bat borrowed from Dave Smith (a closer)

[Limey]

Quote:
The best hitters are those who can see the ball the longest-- and if a corked bat can speed up the bat and allow you to wait longer, while maintaining a virtually identical overall performance to a non-corked bat (per this guy's experimentation?), there would seem a significant advantage there.

At the risk of taking this off on a tangent, the same perceived advantage of a corked bat can be achieved by the liberal use of steroids.

[This is for all those who claim that Bones still has to hit a baseball and steroids doesn't help that!]

[HurricaneDavid]

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After the game he said it was not his bat ... he was using a bat borrowed from Dave Smith (a closer)

Ohhhhhhh, the closer.  I thought you meant Dave Smith the usher.

[astro pete]

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At the risk of taking this off on a tangent, the same perceived advantage of a corked bat can be achieved by the liberal use of steroids.

[This is for all those who claim that Bones still has to hit a baseball and steroids doesn't help that!]

Riiiiiiiiiiight.

[Fredia]

roids and corked bats/baseball dictionary definiton.. sosa, sammy

[Limey]

Quote:
roids and corked bats/baseball dictionary definiton.. sosa, sammy

Belt and suspenders.