The Science Of Baseball

Lovers of baseball may find it convenient to keep in inind this explanation of the pi tchcr's curve f rom Mr. ft. A. Proctor: If the ball is advancing without spin, or is spinning on au axis lying along its course, the cush on of compressed air carried f orward by it is eonical - or rather conoidal - and therefore resiste the progress of the ball equally on all sides, affecting only the velocity. But in the case of the curve, whcre the ball is spinning on an axis square to its course, tbe air in front of the advancing side of the spinning surface cannot escape so readily a-s if thcre were no spin, and escapes more readily on the other side. Henee the resisting cusbion of air is thrown toward that side of the ball where the spin is forward, and removed from the other side, and tbe ball is deflected f rom the región of est resistance.