[SAump]

I will now recollect the details of ONE of many visits to a local batting cage. One machine was set at 80 mph. I was told that a handheld radar was used to confirm that 80 mph speed setting. After inserting 2 tokens, the machine would toss 10 yellow dimpled batting cage baseballs every 6 seconds. The rotating arm (lever) would rebound violently after a toss and then rise at a prescribed rate, pick up another baseball and toss it towards the strike zone. As I stood in the batters box swinging at pitches that would enter the strike zone, I quickly recognized some pitches were high and others were low.

After a few rounds of batting practice it became very clear that only half of the 10 pitches were actually groved right down the middle of the strike zone. The range or variance between max and min height must have been over two feet. I find it very difficult to believe that a rotating mechanical arm would actually vary spin rate between pitches to account for this vertical range. Therefore, I must assume that GRAVITY is the CULPRIT. My test confirm that gravity does not treat each pitch equally. Can GRAVITY and SPIN discriminate against yellow dimpled baseballs. Could each yellow dimple baseball actually have individual characteristics to account for this large variance? After investingating the predicted flight path using the standard equations of motion, I found that these equations only provide a realistic MODEL. The equations are USELESS for predicting the actual location of each individual pitch. They serve as an average barometer of what might happen on an ideal pitch.

I gathered my results into 3 seperate categories. Those pitches 1 standard deviation above average, those pitches within 1 standard deviation of average, and those pitches 1 standard deviation below average. Feeling that I did my best to classify each pitch location, my results indicate the following conclusions. Half the pitches were grooved into the stike zone. These pitches appear to FLY STRAIGHT. Some of the pitches ROSE above normal. These pitches appear to RISE on their way to the plate. Some of the pitches FELL below normal. These pitches appear to SINK on their way to the plate. SEEING IS BELIEVING

It is the belief of this AUTHOR that these results can be duplicated by physics experts across the nation. It is the belief of this author that every psychologist in the nation will also confirm the same results with thorough scientific follow-UP testing and analysis of REALTIME DATA. The MYTH of a RISING FASTBALL NOT RISING should become an OLD WIVES TALE. CAUTION: more money is needed to test whether some people continue to believe OLD WIVES TALES after reading the results of this investigation. PERCEPTION IS NOT ACTUALLY SEEING, PERCEPTION IS BELIEVING RISE IS NOT POSSIBLE.