Juiced Balls as Conspiracy Theory

Richard Hershberger

Richard Hershberger is a paralegal working in Maryland. When he isn't doing whatever it is that paralegals do, or taking his daughters to Girl Scouts, he is dedicated to the collection and analysis of useless and unremunerative information.

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3 Responses

  1. Michael Cain says:

    By eye, the graph looks consistent with a step function with steps around the late 19-teens, the mid 1940s, and the late 1980s. What changes, if any, happened at those points?

    As a side note, the problems at Coors Field in Denver for the first few years turned out to be not altitude, but humidity. A dried-out ball is livelier than one stored in more humid conditions.Report

  2. El Muneco says:

    Went to the HOU@SEA game on Friday. Admittedly, it was a warm night for Safeco, the usual after-dark cooling and rising winds never showing up. But I can say that to Mark One Eyeball, something is juiced this year. Not more than one fly ball ended up shorter than it “should” have given the initial contact sound and trajectory.

    Of course, in the old Kingdome, I once saw Jay Buhner in BP hit one at about a 60-70 degree angle and immediately get on to asking for the next pitch. About 30 subjective seconds later, the ball landed a few rows above the aisleway in left… So what do I know?Report

  3. Doctor Jay says:

    So now you have made me wonder what happens to doubles and triples. Do they track with home runs? Does a “juiced” ball yield more doubles as well as home runs? What would a graph of “doubles per nine innings” look like? I did a little poking around on the web, but I don’t know the good sources, it would seem.Report