Big Mac finally comes clean

[ausbacker]

Is this a last one to post wins thread. :confused2:

I'm not going to bother anymore. It's pointless.

 

[Synovia]

No doubt improved concentration and alertness are important factors in the game.

I'm just trying to help the intellectually challenged understand why some might look upon the addition of 30lbs of muscle and strength differently from a drug that affects "alertness, decreases in fatigue levels and what not" as you put it.

I know I'm not on top of my game without a few cups of coffee in the morning. It improves my "alertness, decreases in fatigue levels and what not" as well - but I'd never compare the drug caffine to steroids any more than I would compare amphetamines to steroids.

As McGuire says, steroids make you stronger, but they don't help you hit.

Amphetimines, don't make you stronger, but they DO help you hit. Increased hand eye coordination/awareness is going to lead to more solid contact, which will lead to more hits, and hence, more homeruns.

 

[JoeSixPat]

As McGuire says, steroids make you stronger, but they don't help you hit.

Amphetimines, don't make you stronger, but they DO help you hit. Increased hand eye coordination/awareness is going to lead to more solid contact, which will lead to more hits, and hence, more homeruns.

:singing: Amazing. Just Amazing.

Now if you and ausbacker could just convince all those who play professional (and amateur) baseball that increased strength has nothing to do with balls traveling out of the park, you guys might just be able to put an end to steroid use.

Of course your contention that hitting home runs is as simple as increasing hand-eye coordination and has nothing to do with strength would probably drive up Amphetamine use. But give it a go!

You might want to recommend that players avoid listening to any discussion of the physics of home run hitting though:

The 1990s marked the dawn of a new era in professional baseball in which the sport’s best players began hitting unprecedented numbers of home runs. Between 1995 and 2003, several players hit between 20 and 50 percent more home runs than the top players of the past century, according to Roger Tobin, a physics professor at Tufts University. Tobin demonstrated how steroids might be the reason for this spike in a packed Friday lecture, “Sox and Drugs: Baseball, Steroids and Physics.”

“Babe Ruth’s record of 60 [home runs] was set in 1927,” Tobin said. “Over 71 years, this record changed by one. And then in 1998, Mark McGwire hit 70.”

To prove that steroids – which are used to increase strength by building lean muscle mass – might explain the spike in home runs, Tobin broke a home run down into its major components.

“First you have to hit the ball, which means you have to bat and you have to not strike out and not walk,” Tobin said. “The reason for dividing it up this way is that whether or not you hit the ball has really rather little to do with how strong you are.”

Because strength is not correlated to whether or not a person hits the ball, Tobin suggested looking at a player’s number of home runs per balls in play. Before 1980, 10 percent of all balls that the top baseball players hit would be home runs, he said. After 1980, however, that statistic increased to near 15 percent.

“But then you look at, say, McGwire – his average was 18 percent,” Tobin explained. “There were two years when he was close to 20 percent. Think about it: if you actually hit the ball, one out of every five was a home run.”
If a player is already good at hitting the ball, the added strength from steroid usage increases the speed of the bat’s motion, Tobin said, which would explain the higher number of home runs. A 10 percent increase in muscle mass – which is common if someone uses steroids – leads to a 3 percent increase in a batted ball’s speed, he added. Because of the rarity of home runs, this small increase in speed is enough to raise the proportion of balls that make it over the fence by 30 percent.

“Home runs are particularly sensitive to these small increases in muscle mass,” he said.

http://thedartmouth.com/2010/01/25/news/baseball

Ultimately your argument isn't with me... it's with the Laws of Physics.

So if McGwire truly believes what he says, do you have a theory for why he engaged in such a tearful and contrite discussion with the Widow Maris?

 

[ausbacker]

As McGuire says, steroids make you stronger, but they don't help you hit.

Amphetimines, don't make you stronger, but they DO help you hit. Increased hand eye coordination/awareness is going to lead to more solid contact, which will lead to more hits, and hence, more homeruns.

Dont bother Synovia. JoeSixPat is a specialist in the area of the google search cut and paste opinion.

 

[JoeSixPat]

Dont bother Synovia. JoeSixPat is a specialist in the area of the google search cut and paste opinion.

I take it you use a search engine that tends to disregard the Laws of Physics in which balls hit furtherer, by stronger players WON'T leave the park?



Do you seriously disagree with a Physicist who's research supports that "radical" notion that how strongly a ball is hit has some correlation with home runs?

Actually I'd disagree with the Professor when he says that improved strength doesn't help you hit the ball... hitting a baseball is more than just hand eye coordination. The bat needs to be moving fast enough to make contact, to do what the hand and eye want it to do.

There are plenty of players who lack the strength to get the bat around fast enough to hit, say a 95 mph fast ball, regardless of how good their hand eye coordination is.

So in that respect Steroid assisted strength can both help a player make contact AND hit a ball further.

Where's your evidence that says that Steroid assisted strength has no effect or a negative affect on how far a ball travels. (And be sure NOT to use a search engine, otherwise I will mock you! )

 

[Synovia]

:singing: Amazing. Just Amazing.

Now if you and ausbacker could just convince all those who play professional (and amateur) baseball that increased strength has nothing to do with balls traveling out of the park, you guys might just be able to put an end to steroid use.

Could you please point out where I said that Joe?


No, you can't, because you're just making **** up. Of course increased strength helps hit balls go further. ******* troll.

 

[Synovia]

I take it you use a search engine that tends to disregard the Laws of Physics in which balls hit furtherer, by stronger players WON'T leave the park?

No, and I ddin't say that. You just made it up.

Do you seriously disagree with a Physicist who's research supports that "radical" notion that how strongly a ball is hit has some correlation with home runs?

No, again, I didn't say that. You're making **** up.

Where's your evidence that says that Steroid assisted strength has no effect or a negative affect on how far a ball travels. (And be sure NOT to use a search engine, otherwise I will mock you! )

I don't need evidence because I have not once claimed that, despite your continued insistence.

 

[JoeSixPat]

Could you please point out where I said that Joe?


No, you can't, because you're just making **** up. Of course increased strength helps hit balls go further. ******* troll.

As McGuire says, steroids make you stronger, but they don't help you hit.

Amphetimines, don't make you stronger, but they DO help you hit. Increased hand eye coordination/awareness is going to lead to more solid contact, which will lead to more hits, and hence, more homeruns.

My mistake - I thought you were quoting Mark McGwire who still to this day contends that he would have hit just as many home runs without taking steroids.

I have no idea who this "McGuire" person is that you're talking about.... does he (and you) acknowledge that the distance a ball travels might be a factor in whether a ball is a home run or an out?

Because "as McGwire says," taking steroids DOESN'T help players hit home runs. You might want to go back and be clear on just what it is Mark McGwire's non-admission was all about if indeed you're quoting McGwire and not McGuire.

I do realize however is that your particular conspiracy theory is that everyone going back to (and including?) Babe Ruth was taking steroids, including Roger Maris. You're certainly welcome to that opinion, no matter the lack of any evidence you can produce.

Conversly, as confirmed by the Laws of Physics, there no shortage of evidence that steroids help players hit the ball further and increase home run totals.