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Hey, don't try what you're about to see at home.

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We're what you call experts.

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That's right.

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We do this for a living.

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On this episode of Mythbusters, we're taking you out to the ball game.

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I wanna see you take a full swing and that beanie still stay on your head.

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Legendary pitcher Roger Clemens joins the Mythbusters All-Stars for a baseball special.

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Fastball's like watching a dart go, man.

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It's beautiful.

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And we reveal the physics of a ball in flight.

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That is sweet.

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We're going to touch base with four big myths and answer once and for all some of baseball's

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burning questions.

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Step up to the plate with Adam and Jamie.

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That is a bat.

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That's not a broomstick.

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And find out, does parking your bat give you more clout?

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That's the head.

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And can you hit a ball so hard that the hide comes clean off?

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Wow.

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Meanwhile, Carrie, Tori and Grant discover if a humid ball is harder to hit.

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Nice.

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Woo!

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And does sliding into base actually slow you down?

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Wow, that looks like a herd.

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Who are the Mythbusters?

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Adam Savage.

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Is everybody ready for time?

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And Jamie Heidemann.

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Yes, me all worked up just looking at it.

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That was beautiful.

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Joining them more than 30 years of special effects experience.

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That was heavy.

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Joining them, Grant Imahara.

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Jamie makes it look so easy when he does it.

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Tori Bellachy.

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Somebody ordered some exploding pants.

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And Carrie Byron.

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High explosives and electricity.

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Woo!

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They don't just tell the myths.

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They put them to the test.

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Everything says America quite like baseball.

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Baseball is one of the great common denominators of American life.

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When game time rolls round, there are no social barriers.

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Hot dogs and home runs.

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Base sliding and big hits.

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For decades, it's been the country's national pastime.

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And so you guys figured it would be the perfect arena for the Mythbusters to take a swing

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and a myth.

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You guys like baseball?

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Are you kidding?

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I love going to the ball game.

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Well so do our fans.

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And they have inundated us with baseball myths to bust.

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So what do we got?

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Can a cork bat hit a ball further?

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What about whether sliding into base is quicker than running?

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How about the one does a dry ball go farther than a humid ball?

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Exactly.

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And can you hit a baseball so hard, you knock the hide right off.

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Me.

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And we have got a real baseball legend to help us out.

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Who?

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None other than the Roger Clemens.

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Roger Clemens?

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How did we get him?

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Turns out the Rockets fan of the show.

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Let's play ball.

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That's right.

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It's the Mythbusters and the Mythbusters.

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He's one of the all time baseball greats.

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Richard Roger Clemens.

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In a career spanning more than 20 years, the man they call the Rocket has won a World Series

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and taken out the prestigious Cy Young Award an amazing seven times.

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He also happens to be a big fan of Mythbusters and Jamie's stammering with excitement.

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I'm speechless to have the Roger Clemens here helping us deal with these baseball issues

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Later in the show we'll study the mojo of the throw and answer once and for all the age

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old question can a baseball really slide and curve or is it just an optical illusion?

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I'm going to try and give it my best out here so you can tell what this baseball actually

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does with these high speed cameras.

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We'll return to Roger later.

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In the meantime, our first baseball myths are real Corker.

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Man how great is it to have Roger Clemens helping us do baseball myths?

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Yep, can't wait to see him do his stuff.

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Well our first myth is a total classic, the Corked Bat.

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What's a Corked Bat about?

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Here's the idea.

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You drill a hole in the end of a normal regulation Major League Baseball bat, you put some Cork

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in there, you plug it back in with wood and that bat is all of a sudden able to hit balls

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a lot farther.

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Is that legal in baseball?

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It's ever so slightly totally illegal.

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You bet it's illegal.

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In 2003 the baseball world was wrought when star slugger Sammy Sosa's bat split during

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a game exposing a Cork core.

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He claimed it was a practice bat he picked up by mistake but Sosa was immediately ejected

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from the game and suspended for seven matches.

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What do you think our general plan is?

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Well we get a bunch of bats, figure out how to Cork some of them and see which one will

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hit a ball further.

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I think we should remove the human element from this as much as we can.

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Let's make a machine that swings the bat the exact same speed every time.

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Yeah and while we're at it we need to do the same sort of thing with a ball only we can

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use a cannon instead of the swinging machine.

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You know what?

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I'm thinking that we've already built everything we need to test this myth for previous episodes.

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We don't need to go out anywhere.

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It's all right here in the shop.

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Yeah a few modifications maybe but they'll work.

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Excellent.

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Ladies and gentlemen it's a myth busters first.

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No blueprint diagrams, no time consuming bills.

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This baseball myth will be totally off the shelf.

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Kerry Gretton Torrey built a sword swinging rig when they were doing sword cutting a sword

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that's perfect for swimming in a baseball bat.

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In 2002 Jamie and I already built an air powered cannon.

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That is so wrong.

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Which is perfect for throwing baseballs at speeds well up to the supersonic range I think.

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Now a Roger Clemens fastball fizzes towards the batter at between 90 and 100 miles per

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hour.

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There we go.

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But Adam and Jamie will go for a more average fastball speed about 80 miles an hour.

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Let's just quickly try 7 psi.

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The air pressure required to do that is around 7.5 pounds per square inch.

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At 7.5 psi.

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Here we go.

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79 miles per hour.

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Close enough.

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Next gotta get the batting rig into the swing of things.

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I'm going to swing this bat on high speed camera and we're going to measure how fast

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it is and calibrate this machine so it swings about just as fast.

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Adam's clean swing clocks 62 miles per hour.

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That equates to air pressure of 70 psi.

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All they have to do now is cork some bats.

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But baseball authorities don't want us to show exactly how that's done.

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And as Adam tampers with the timber he's wondering if this whole quirky cork caper isn't a case

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of mind over matter.

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Since 1970, 6 major league hitters have been caught using a cork bat.

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It kind of makes you wonder if there's something to it.

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Well the act of corking a bat does remove some weight.

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But if you want to swing with a lighter bat there's nothing in the regulations that prevent

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you from just going and getting a lighter bat.

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Then why do it?

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Well to a major league hitter the psychological advantage may be huge.

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If you believe your bat has special power you may be more likely to get that hit.

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That could be the difference between being struck out or making a home run.

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Exactly.

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Testing baseball myths with cannons and robots.

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Isn't that so myth busters?

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Something's going to go someplace where it shouldn't.

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We're going to have mayhem and destruction one way or another.

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What the heck it's all in the name of science.

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The next hitter in this baseball special, the rocket launches.

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You know it's good when the catcher doesn't catch you.

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And next, when robots rebel.

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Tori, Kari and Grant get the drop on a controversial baseball myth.

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Wow, good bouncing.

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It's the myth busters baseball special and the next myth's hot off the fan site.

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I've got a really cool baseball myth.

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This one is all over the internet.

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Alright, let's hear it.

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Well the idea is if you keep your baseballs in a humidor like the thing that you keep

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your cigars fresh with that it makes it really hard to hit a home run with.

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Yeah, I saw this one on our website and according to the fans at one stadium in particular once

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they started keeping their balls in a humidor the number of home runs went down dramatically.

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For years the Colorado Rockies home ground in Denver had the highest home run rate in

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the majors but since they started storing baseballs in a humidor the run rate has dried

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up.

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Is there a link?

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Well to test this myth I think first off we're going to need to build a humidor and stick

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some baseballs in it.

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You know what we should also do is dry out a set of baseballs so that we have something

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to compare to.

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So before we go to the park and start hitting balls around I think what we should do is

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set up a small scale experiment in our shop.

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We'll drop both the dry balls and the humidor balls from the same height and see which bounces

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higher.

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Out in the car park the guys set up to get the drop on this baseball myth.

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You're going to be dropping from a height of 125 inches so it's like 10 and a half feet.

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They'll drop 10 balls.

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The first five have spent two weeks locked in an old fridge with a dehumidifier which

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cut humidity to just 10 percent.

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That's some good bouncing.

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These are all about 110 centimeters.

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Ball five.

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Thank you.

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Ball five.

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Not in baseball there's no ball five.

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But on myth busters.

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Wow.

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The high speed camera shows the dry balls bounced an average height of 106 centimeters.

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That's pretty consistent.

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Great.

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Let's move on to the humid balls.

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The other five balls spent the same time in a makeshift humidor.

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Carrie put a block of waterlog foam in a perforated plastic container and then put that and the

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balls in a cooler.

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As the water evaporated vapor escaped through the holes.

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Seal this up.

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Raising the humidity inside the cooler to a damp 90 percent.

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Humid ball number one.

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Feel that.

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Just from touching it you can tell that it's softer.

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Can this match scale the same dizzy heights as the dry balls?

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Wow.

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All right.

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After soaking up the atmosphere in Carrie's cooler it seems the humid balls just can't

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bounce back.

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The average height of a humid ball bounce is 91 centimeters as opposed to 106 centimeters

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for the dry balls.

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That's a difference of 14 percent.

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Now in your typical baseball scenario with an outfield of say 425 feet 14 percent is

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almost 60 feet which is a difference between an out or a home run.

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That is really amazing.

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I think it definitely warrants for their investigation.

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Yeah I say we get out to the baseball field and start hitting these balls and see which

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ones go farther.

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Well I just don't think we'll be able to both pitch and hit consistently every time.

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And what we really need to do is isolate the variable of humidity.

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You know what I'd also like to do?

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I'd like to introduce a control into this experiment.

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You know a mid-range humidity that we can test against the two extremes.

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All right.

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Sounds good.

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Now Adam and Jamie have already got the batting machine and the pitching cannon tied up trying

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to crack the case of the court bat.

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So Grant's gone the one better and designed a robot that bats and pitches.

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Here's the deal.

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The robot will have two arms one holding a bat one holding a ball.

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A motor turns the arms, bat connects with ball, ball goes flying to the fence.

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It's going to be geared for raw power.

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Is this our gear?

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Yeah that's it.

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It looks like a saw blade.

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The robot batters wired up.

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Grant gives it the juice.

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Three, two, one.

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The ball jolted free before contact.

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The bat smashed into the springs really hitting a groove.

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So we're going to ditch the springs and go with some foam.

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Some kind of rigid blue foam.

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When the bat comes through it'll hit the ball and break the foam not breaking the bat.

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Hopefully this will work.

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And three, two, one.

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Hey!

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Good job!

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The bat is still intact.

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Looks like the mad batter is ready to be taken out to the ballpark.

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Stay tuned.

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Soon Roger Clemens will be letting fly.

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I might reach 90 miles an hour today for y'all.

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And after the break, more manic mechanized mayhem as the court bat myth hits home.

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That's the hit!

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00:14:12,720 --> 00:14:19,600
On the Mythwesterz baseball special, Carrie, Tori and Grant have been bouncing around the

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00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:24,920
myth that a humid baseball is harder to hit out of the park.

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00:14:24,920 --> 00:14:28,920
Tori, Carrie and Grant are off to get some ballpark figures.

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00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:37,920
Here we are in beautiful San Jose and look at the crowd!

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00:14:37,920 --> 00:14:43,160
Ladies and gentlemen, get ready because you are about to witness dry balls versus humid

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00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:44,160
balls.

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00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:45,160
This is how we're going to do it.

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00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:50,760
We're going to use our robot batting machine and we are going to hit 30 dry balls and 30

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00:14:50,760 --> 00:14:51,760
humid balls.

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00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:57,760
And whichever goes farther, takes it all home.

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00:14:57,760 --> 00:15:02,520
This would all the way in the big league, but in this case, an aluminum bat might better

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00:15:02,520 --> 00:15:04,920
cope with the riggers of the rig.

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00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:07,800
We've got three sets of balls.

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00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:13,880
Humid balls at 90%, dry balls at 10%, finally a control group at about 50%.

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00:15:13,880 --> 00:15:16,720
Our baseball hitting robot is situated right on home plate.

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00:15:16,720 --> 00:15:19,120
It's going to hit balls into the outfield.

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00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:23,400
Tori and Carrie will be out there with different colored flags, one for each type of ball.

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00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:28,400
They'll mark the point where the ball first hits the ground.

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00:15:28,400 --> 00:15:33,520
Now the robot worked okay in the show, but you guys know only too well how things go

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00:15:33,520 --> 00:15:35,240
on this show.

275
00:15:35,240 --> 00:15:39,840
It's a brand new, intricate rig with high speed moving parts.

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00:15:39,840 --> 00:15:43,800
Seriously, what are the chances of it working first time?

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00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:49,040
Okay, first we have the control at 50% humidity with the aluminum bat.

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00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:51,040
Three, two, one.

279
00:15:51,040 --> 00:15:53,040
Nice!

280
00:15:53,040 --> 00:16:01,320
Well, I'll be.

281
00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:08,120
Far from striking out, the mad batters striking those balls as clean as Babe Ruth himself.

282
00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:10,720
One small step for man.

283
00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:15,200
One giant leap for mankind.

284
00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:21,400
I'm really happy with the rig.

285
00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:22,400
So shoot.

286
00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:32,320
The guys mix it up, sending a barrage of dry, normal and humid balls soaring into the sky.

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00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:33,320
Nice!

288
00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:35,640
This is where all the magic happens.

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00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:36,640
This is the data.

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00:16:36,640 --> 00:16:44,640
This is what the experiment is all about.

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00:16:44,760 --> 00:16:49,120
No wind to affect the flight of the ball, test conditions are perfect.

292
00:16:49,120 --> 00:16:52,640
And already, Grant can see a pattern developing.

293
00:16:52,640 --> 00:16:59,680
Yellow flags, which are the most humid balls, are closer to home plate.

294
00:16:59,680 --> 00:17:03,280
The control balls, which are pink, are a little bit further out.

295
00:17:03,280 --> 00:17:08,400
And out here in the outfield, the dry balls, which are the red flags, are the furthest

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00:17:08,400 --> 00:17:09,400
out.

297
00:17:09,400 --> 00:17:18,600
They're still too early to call, but this might be a trend.

298
00:17:18,600 --> 00:17:19,600
That's good.

299
00:17:19,600 --> 00:17:21,520
They're starting to group together.

300
00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:27,160
Like some medieval war machine, the rig keeps kissing leather till the ammo runs out.

301
00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:31,360
And there's definitely a pool of yellow, pink and red flags.

302
00:17:31,360 --> 00:17:33,800
That means that the human balls didn't go as far.

303
00:17:33,800 --> 00:17:35,960
Then comes the control at 50% humidity.

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00:17:35,960 --> 00:17:40,000
And the furthest with a 10% humidity, dry balls all the way at the outer edge.

305
00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:42,320
And that totally agrees with our small scale tests.

306
00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:45,400
Yeah, it's a spread of plus or minus 15 feet.

307
00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:52,800
You know, I think there's some truth to this myth, because there's definitely a pattern

308
00:17:52,800 --> 00:17:55,720
where the dry balls were going farther than the humid balls.

309
00:17:55,720 --> 00:17:59,680
It's funny how such a small thing can make such a huge difference all in the game.

310
00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:03,760
Yep, there's so many variables in baseball, I think it would be hard to attribute a decrease

311
00:18:03,760 --> 00:18:05,720
in home runs to just humidity.

312
00:18:05,720 --> 00:18:09,000
You know, it's weird though, starting this season, Major League Baseball teams are keeping

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00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:10,000
their balls in humid ores.

314
00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:11,440
Well, that settles it for me.

315
00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:13,440
This is definitely plausible.

316
00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:14,440
Plausible.

317
00:18:14,440 --> 00:18:15,440
Plausible.

318
00:18:15,440 --> 00:18:29,720
Meanwhile, Adam and Jamie have been put in a cork in it.

319
00:18:29,720 --> 00:18:34,120
Now the rules of baseball state that a bat must be a single piece of wood.

320
00:18:34,120 --> 00:18:36,240
That's how they leave the factory.

321
00:18:36,240 --> 00:18:42,880
But in the search for more spring, some players hollow out bats replacing wood with cork.

322
00:18:42,880 --> 00:18:45,240
But does cork equal cloud?

323
00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:46,640
I'll just let Adam explain.

324
00:18:46,640 --> 00:18:49,240
The heart of this experiment is a timer.

325
00:18:49,240 --> 00:18:51,840
One that fires a ball, one that swings a bat.

326
00:18:51,840 --> 00:18:52,840
Here's how it started.

327
00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:54,160
I release the safety, I click this.

328
00:18:54,160 --> 00:18:56,280
This sends electrical signals all the way down here.

329
00:18:56,280 --> 00:18:58,600
Follow me.

330
00:18:58,600 --> 00:19:03,080
To our bank of air tanks, which we built for the Pirate Special Cannon, these two solenoids

331
00:19:03,080 --> 00:19:04,880
are activated by that timer.

332
00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:07,800
They activate these valves, releasing all the air from these tanks into the bottom of

333
00:19:07,800 --> 00:19:09,600
this barrel, in which is one of these balls in a sabre.

334
00:19:09,600 --> 00:19:11,920
The ball starts traveling down the barrel.

335
00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:15,960
As the ball travels down the barrel, a second electrical impulse activates this quick release

336
00:19:15,960 --> 00:19:20,360
on a valve, which releases this bat, which is on the spring on this cylinder here, swinging

337
00:19:20,360 --> 00:19:21,360
all the way around.

338
00:19:21,360 --> 00:19:24,840
Hopefully, at the very moment the ball is leaving the barrel, hitting the bat right

339
00:19:24,840 --> 00:19:29,240
at the point of impact we want, capturing it on high speed camera, knocking it out of

340
00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:31,960
the park and answering our question once and for all.

341
00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:35,480
The reason we're doing it this way is we need to isolate the effect of the cork.

342
00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:39,640
Now, if the bat is swinging at the same speed each time and the cannon is firing the ball

343
00:19:39,640 --> 00:19:44,400
at the same speed each time, the only variable here is the corked bat, and that should make

344
00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:47,880
it really obvious if the corked bat is providing extra spring.

345
00:19:47,880 --> 00:19:51,440
First, a regulation uncorked bat.

346
00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:54,720
I'm going to fire both of these things at precisely the same second.

347
00:19:54,720 --> 00:19:55,960
Okay.

348
00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:58,960
The tricky part of this experiment is the timing.

349
00:19:58,960 --> 00:20:04,160
The ball will be flying at 80 miles per hour and the bat swinging at 60 miles per hour

350
00:20:04,160 --> 00:20:08,680
for a combined collision speed of 140 miles per hour.

351
00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:14,280
If Adam's timing is out, even by a couple of milliseconds, the two won't connect.

352
00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:20,200
In, three, two.

353
00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:21,200
Strike one.

354
00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:27,200
Cannon and robot weren't in sync, but never fear the game's not over yet.

355
00:20:27,200 --> 00:20:30,600
High speed says that we've dialed into our correct batting speed.

356
00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:37,200
The mechanical bat is swinging just as fast as I was able to, 62 miles an hour.

357
00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:43,280
However, the ball is showing up to the party 141 milliseconds early.

358
00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:45,320
Adam tweaks the timer.

359
00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:48,360
I've delayed the ball by 141 milliseconds.

360
00:20:48,360 --> 00:20:49,360
Everybody ready?

361
00:20:49,360 --> 00:20:53,360
In, five, four, three.

362
00:20:53,360 --> 00:21:02,480
Hey, hey, hey, hey, we hit it.

363
00:21:02,480 --> 00:21:03,840
Woo!

364
00:21:03,840 --> 00:21:09,040
This time, Adam's timing was spot on, but the ball rocketed off the bat and smashed

365
00:21:09,040 --> 00:21:11,200
a chunk out of the scale.

366
00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:13,200
The guys reset.

367
00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:14,200
Yo.

368
00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:17,200
That's the hit.

369
00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:21,600
This batting robot's really got its eye in.

370
00:21:22,040 --> 00:21:25,040
That was another good hit.

371
00:21:25,040 --> 00:21:26,040
Oh.

372
00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:29,920
It hit one side of your shot, but then the other.

373
00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:30,920
Oh, there it is.

374
00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:32,240
It's in the armature wire.

375
00:21:32,240 --> 00:21:34,920
That's great.

376
00:21:34,920 --> 00:21:38,560
Now that we've seen a number of hits with a regulation bat, what the high speed camera

377
00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:42,680
is telling us is that the ball is consistently leaving the cannon at 80 miles an hour, which

378
00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:45,480
happens to be about the speed of the Roger Clinton's pitch.

379
00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:49,400
It's also leaving the bat once it gets hit at 80 miles an hour.

380
00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:54,560
The next thing we need to do is test how fast it leaves the bat when the bat is caught.

381
00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:58,000
If it leaves faster, that'll answer our question.

382
00:21:58,000 --> 00:21:59,000
Three.

383
00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:04,160
That was a hit.

384
00:22:04,160 --> 00:22:05,160
That was a hit.

385
00:22:05,160 --> 00:22:06,240
The ball is over here.

386
00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:07,880
And the bat is still there.

387
00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:11,520
So with any luck, that's data.

388
00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:15,640
The ball is coming into the bat at about 80 miles an hour, but it is leaving that bat

389
00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:18,640
at half that speed at about 40 miles an hour.

390
00:22:18,640 --> 00:22:23,360
Remember, when they tested the regulation bat, the ball was arriving at 80 miles per

391
00:22:23,360 --> 00:22:27,360
hour and leaving at almost the same speed.

392
00:22:27,360 --> 00:22:28,840
Try again.

393
00:22:28,840 --> 00:22:33,480
That looked like a beautiful hit.

394
00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:39,120
That looked like a perfect line drive back towards your welder.

395
00:22:39,120 --> 00:22:40,120
That's perfect.

396
00:22:40,120 --> 00:22:44,480
That's as good as our best one with the non-cork bat.

397
00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:49,840
Our earlier data points with the normal uncork bat had the ball leaving the bat pretty much

398
00:22:49,840 --> 00:22:54,120
at exactly the speed it was going towards the bat at.

399
00:22:54,120 --> 00:22:58,760
And these and both of our good data sets on the cork bat is leaving it half the speed.

400
00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:03,800
Loading your lumber with lightweight cork poses two problems.

401
00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:09,200
The bat might be lighter and easier to swing, but reduced weight means less energy delivered

402
00:23:09,200 --> 00:23:10,200
to the ball.

403
00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:15,760
Also, instead of adding extra spring, the cork actually absorbs some of the impact.

404
00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:20,480
Those two factors add up to blunted batting ability.

405
00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:25,240
A ball hitting a cork bat is going to leave that bat at a slower speed than a ball hitting

406
00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:27,720
a regulation unmodified bat.

407
00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:32,360
I mean, they made this thing to hit a ball really efficiently.

408
00:23:32,360 --> 00:23:36,040
I don't think it warrants any modification.

409
00:23:36,040 --> 00:23:41,480
Looks like this baseball mitt's been knocked out of the park.

410
00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:42,480
Guess what?

411
00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:43,480
What?

412
00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:45,800
I made a commemorative plaque for this mitt.

413
00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:48,800
A corked bat, okay.

414
00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:52,520
Well, you know, one way or another it looks like the guys that got caught using a cork

415
00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:54,680
bat got themselves suspended for nothing.

416
00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:58,120
Yeah, you know, while our sample size might have been small, our results were totally

417
00:23:58,120 --> 00:23:59,120
unambiguous.

418
00:23:59,120 --> 00:24:03,080
Every time a ball came up the cork bat, it was coming off at half the speed that it was

419
00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:04,680
off of a normal bat.

420
00:24:05,040 --> 00:24:07,840
Yeah, far from acting like a spring, it was a lot more like a sponge.

421
00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:10,240
I gotta say, this one is totally busted.

422
00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:11,240
Total.

423
00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:12,240
It's busted.

424
00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:20,960
Ahead on this baseball special.

425
00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:22,880
Well, there could be some blood.

426
00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:25,440
The mythbusters really let things slide.

427
00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:27,600
You can leave it all on the field.

428
00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:29,320
My blood, my teeth.

429
00:24:29,320 --> 00:24:35,920
Up next, Roger Clemens unleashes his arsenal so we can take a close look at the physics

430
00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:37,440
of a ball in flight.

431
00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:38,440
Sweet.

432
00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:46,400
We do a lot of crazy stunts in this show, but none of it is stuff you should try at

433
00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:47,400
home.

434
00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:54,960
On this mythbusters baseball special, it's time for our rock and Roger Clemens to step

435
00:24:54,960 --> 00:24:55,960
up to the plate.

436
00:24:56,240 --> 00:24:59,680
I might reach 90 miles an hour today for y'all.

437
00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:03,920
Roger's agreed to throw his whole taxonomy of pitches for us while we shoot it with the

438
00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:07,920
high-speed camera from several angles, and that really ought to allow us to break down

439
00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:12,240
what's going on from a physics perspective with each of these pitches.

440
00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:18,040
The team is hoping to use the high-speed camera to unravel the mojo of the throw.

441
00:25:18,040 --> 00:25:22,960
But to warm up that famous arm, the rocket first puts some pitches in front of Adam and

442
00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:23,960
Jamie.

443
00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:24,960
Room service is right there.

444
00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:27,960
Somebody bring in your breakfast in the morning.

445
00:25:27,960 --> 00:25:28,960
I'm going to put it right there.

446
00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:29,960
You can't miss it.

447
00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:30,960
You can close your eyes and hit it.

448
00:25:34,960 --> 00:25:35,960
That is a bat.

449
00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:36,960
That's not a broomstick.

450
00:25:36,960 --> 00:25:38,960
Now swing like you're f***ed off.

451
00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:42,960
Hey!

452
00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:43,960
All right!

453
00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:49,960
The mythbusters may be struck out, but with the rocket firing on all cylinders, it's time

454
00:25:49,960 --> 00:25:53,440
to unravel the parameters of the pitch.

455
00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:56,760
Next up, a basic four-seam fastball.

456
00:25:56,760 --> 00:26:02,040
We hold the fastball in this manner, and from my understanding, this ball rotates when I

457
00:26:02,040 --> 00:26:03,880
let it go in this manner.

458
00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:06,400
Four seams, these seams will catch that wind.

459
00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:07,400
That ball will track.

460
00:26:07,400 --> 00:26:12,440
The fastball is like watching a dark go, man.

461
00:26:12,440 --> 00:26:13,440
It's beautiful.

462
00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:18,720
Looking at the high-speed, the fastball pitch does exactly what Roger said it to do.

463
00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:23,360
The backspin keeps the ball on the straight and narrow as it rifles over the plate at

464
00:26:23,360 --> 00:26:25,240
more than 80 miles an hour.

465
00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:28,000
But what happens when Roger changes his grip?

466
00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:34,040
Basically, if you're a fastball here, you're in this area for the slider, and you're offset

467
00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:37,400
and you're basically cutting the side of the ball.

468
00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:42,160
It should go maybe down four inches and away from a right-handed hitter four inches.

469
00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:43,160
That's a true slider.

470
00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:45,720
There we go.

471
00:26:45,720 --> 00:26:48,400
You know it's good when the catcher doesn't catch you.

472
00:26:48,600 --> 00:26:51,440
Roger's found perfect pitch again.

473
00:26:51,440 --> 00:26:54,840
The slider veers away to the right of the plate.

474
00:26:54,840 --> 00:26:57,520
Curveball.

475
00:26:57,520 --> 00:27:01,400
While a classic curveball suddenly dips in midair.

476
00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:05,000
The curveball, again, you're using a seam, and it's based on your middle finger.

477
00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:09,840
You're grabbing a seam and locking down with pretty firm pressure on this finger here.

478
00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:11,480
This one just guides it.

479
00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:15,680
And it is a motion where you're throwing it like a fastball, but as you get to the reach

480
00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:18,080
point, you turn your wrist.

481
00:27:18,080 --> 00:27:23,120
Even out of Roger's right paw, it's almost as if the ball has a life of its own.

482
00:27:23,120 --> 00:27:24,120
I can see that curving.

483
00:27:24,120 --> 00:27:26,280
Yeah, in this speed you'll definitely see it curving.

484
00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:30,840
But while the high-speed shots show as the ball swerving and dipping, they can't tell

485
00:27:30,840 --> 00:27:33,160
as much about how it happens.

486
00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:39,080
And that's why Cary, Tori and Grant are at NASA's Ames Research Center in San Francisco.

487
00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:43,720
Luckily for us, scientist Rabindra Mehta is a big baseball fan.

488
00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:50,600
The beauty of our lab is that we study aerodynamics, fluid mechanics as applied to airplanes or

489
00:27:50,600 --> 00:27:52,400
space shuttles.

490
00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:57,640
But it's the same fluid mechanics, aerodynamics, that's applied to baseballs or soccer balls

491
00:27:57,640 --> 00:27:59,040
or what have you.

492
00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:03,360
So basically you have married your two passions for science and sports.

493
00:28:03,360 --> 00:28:04,360
Isn't that wonderful?

494
00:28:04,360 --> 00:28:08,720
Okay, so we heard that you actually have a tank where you can show us all these things

495
00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:09,720
visually?

496
00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:11,600
Yes, absolutely.

497
00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:16,240
What we'll do now is go over to this water channel where we have a baseball.

498
00:28:16,240 --> 00:28:19,840
As you see, it's mounted on a motor, so we're able to rotate it to show you the effects

499
00:28:19,840 --> 00:28:20,840
of rotation.

500
00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:26,240
But when you see what's going on here, I think it's going to be really cool.

501
00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:35,600
To simulate airflow around a baseball, they introduce streams of fluorescent dye.

502
00:28:35,600 --> 00:28:41,160
While it's still, the dye flows in a symmetrical pattern around the ball.

503
00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:45,600
Now imagine that ball has just been fired from Roger Clemens' fist.

504
00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:49,480
Oh wow, look how the aerodynamics change.

505
00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:52,520
As it spins, the airflow is disrupted.

506
00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:55,920
The air pressure on the ball's underside suddenly drops.

507
00:28:55,920 --> 00:29:01,600
And this ball now will have a force downwards as it's flying through the air.

508
00:29:01,600 --> 00:29:05,120
So this would be your classic current ball.

509
00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:09,800
Lower air pressure on the bottom of the ball makes it dip during flight.

510
00:29:09,800 --> 00:29:13,520
The principle's exactly the same for each different pitch.

511
00:29:13,520 --> 00:29:17,480
It is the axis of spin that determines what type of pitch it is.

512
00:29:17,480 --> 00:29:22,840
With a standard fast ball, which is released with backspin, you get an upward lift force.

513
00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:27,840
With a slider, the axis of spin would be more or less vertical.

514
00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:33,760
And in which case, the ball would tend to go towards the left because of that.

515
00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:41,680
And the curve ball tumbling, spinning about the horizontal axis, makes it go down.

516
00:29:41,680 --> 00:29:48,400
So our high-speed shots and NASA show that bendy baseball behavior is no myth.

517
00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:51,720
So what about the infamous rising fast ball?

518
00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:57,200
Many hitters swear that some fast balls suddenly lift in mid-air as they hurdle towards the

519
00:29:57,200 --> 00:29:58,360
plate.

520
00:29:58,360 --> 00:29:59,360
Is that a myth?

521
00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:04,560
Now for it to rise, the lift force due to the spin would have to exceed the weight of

522
00:30:04,560 --> 00:30:05,560
the ball, right?

523
00:30:05,560 --> 00:30:06,560
That's pretty simple.

524
00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:12,840
Now it turns out that for the type of conditions which we find in baseball, the maximum lift

525
00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:18,600
force is only equivalent to about half the weight of the ball.

526
00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:23,400
Not even a picture as prodigious as Roger Clemens can make a baseball fly in the face

527
00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:24,900
of physics.

528
00:30:24,900 --> 00:30:30,700
Showing a fast ball that rises is about as likely as Adam and Jamie hitting home runs

529
00:30:30,700 --> 00:30:33,660
in the World Series.

530
00:30:33,660 --> 00:30:37,700
You know, hanging out with Roger Clemens, it becomes really clear that pitching is just

531
00:30:37,700 --> 00:30:40,020
as much of an art as it is a science.

532
00:30:40,020 --> 00:30:41,020
Totally agree.

533
00:30:41,020 --> 00:30:43,980
And while we were there, we had the added bonus of another myth busted.

534
00:30:43,980 --> 00:30:46,300
Yep, the myth of the rising fast ball.

535
00:30:46,300 --> 00:30:51,140
It turns out that for the backspin to exert enough force to lift the ball, it'd have to

536
00:30:51,140 --> 00:30:53,700
exert more force than the weight of the ball.

537
00:30:53,700 --> 00:30:54,700
Which it can't.

538
00:30:54,700 --> 00:30:59,220
Yeah, it might be possible with a beach ball, but not a baseball.

539
00:30:59,220 --> 00:31:00,220
Busted.

540
00:31:00,220 --> 00:31:01,220
Totally busted.

541
00:31:01,220 --> 00:31:14,220
You know, the editors made it look like Jamie and Adam's cork bat rig worked the first

542
00:31:14,220 --> 00:31:15,220
time.

543
00:31:15,220 --> 00:31:20,340
If you want to find out what really happened, log on to discovery.com slash mythbusters,

544
00:31:20,340 --> 00:31:21,220
the magic of editing.

545
00:31:25,220 --> 00:31:31,020
On this baseball special, it's time to get down and dirty as the mythbusters All Stars

546
00:31:31,020 --> 00:31:33,700
take a long run up at the slide.

547
00:31:33,700 --> 00:31:36,860
Alright, this baseball myth is all about the slide.

548
00:31:36,860 --> 00:31:37,860
The what?

549
00:31:37,860 --> 00:31:39,300
Do you watch any sporting events?

550
00:31:39,300 --> 00:31:42,700
Yeah, robot combat.

551
00:31:42,700 --> 00:31:43,700
It's a sport.

552
00:31:43,700 --> 00:31:44,700
Right.

553
00:31:44,700 --> 00:31:47,940
Well, you know in baseball when you see a guy run to the base and he slides into it?

554
00:31:47,940 --> 00:31:50,300
Oh yes, I have seen that.

555
00:31:50,300 --> 00:31:52,540
But wouldn't it be faster just to run?

556
00:31:52,540 --> 00:31:53,540
Well that's the myth.

557
00:31:53,540 --> 00:31:57,380
A lot of people think that on bases that you can't overrun that it's faster to slide into

558
00:31:57,380 --> 00:31:58,380
them.

559
00:31:58,380 --> 00:32:00,420
Alright, sounds like that's worth testing.

560
00:32:00,420 --> 00:32:01,420
Yeah.

561
00:32:01,420 --> 00:32:05,060
The slide is part and parcel of baseball.

562
00:32:05,060 --> 00:32:10,780
In trying to beat the tag and hit the bag, a runner sends the kitty litter flying.

563
00:32:10,780 --> 00:32:15,340
But when a player hits the dirt, is the friction costing him precious time?

564
00:32:15,340 --> 00:32:18,020
Would it be faster to stay on two feet?

565
00:32:18,020 --> 00:32:19,980
Okay, so how are we going to test this?

566
00:32:19,980 --> 00:32:20,980
This one's simple.

567
00:32:20,980 --> 00:32:24,380
We just run at the base and then we slide into the base and see which one's faster.

568
00:32:24,380 --> 00:32:26,220
I got the perfect thing to time that.

569
00:32:26,220 --> 00:32:27,980
It's accurate down to the millisecond.

570
00:32:27,980 --> 00:32:31,820
I can start it when we leave one base and stop it when we tag the next.

571
00:32:31,820 --> 00:32:32,820
Cool.

572
00:32:32,820 --> 00:32:36,180
Alright, let's ask Jamie and see if he wants to play.

573
00:32:36,180 --> 00:32:40,940
Our sporting gurus head on out to the University of Pacific Stockton campus.

574
00:32:40,940 --> 00:32:43,660
Gee, they really look the part, don't they?

575
00:32:43,660 --> 00:32:46,620
There's just one teensy problem.

576
00:32:46,620 --> 00:32:49,700
None of our all stars can slide.

577
00:32:49,700 --> 00:32:55,260
But never fear, uni head coach Ed Sprague has agreed to take on these raw recruits.

578
00:32:55,260 --> 00:32:59,260
I'm going to teach you on the grass so we can minimize the injuries we might have today

579
00:32:59,260 --> 00:33:00,260
by the end of the day.

580
00:33:00,260 --> 00:33:01,260
Alright.

581
00:33:01,260 --> 00:33:02,260
So you're planning on some injuries?

582
00:33:02,260 --> 00:33:03,260
There could be some blood.

583
00:33:03,260 --> 00:33:08,260
Ed spent 11 years in the major leagues, playing for six different teams and is famous for

584
00:33:08,260 --> 00:33:13,380
hitting the winning home run in game two of the 1992 World Series.

585
00:33:13,380 --> 00:33:16,060
But now he's really got his work cut out for it.

586
00:33:16,060 --> 00:33:21,660
You want to try to take the brunt of the slide on the outside of your shin here, alright?

587
00:33:21,660 --> 00:33:23,160
And then on our butt.

588
00:33:23,160 --> 00:33:26,420
We don't want to jam our knee into the ground and we don't want to get our feet way into

589
00:33:26,420 --> 00:33:27,420
the air.

590
00:33:27,420 --> 00:33:31,540
Now, as we know, mythbusters often fly by the seat of their pants.

591
00:33:31,540 --> 00:33:34,060
So you might think they'd be naturals at this.

592
00:33:34,060 --> 00:33:38,740
Get the hands up.

593
00:33:38,740 --> 00:33:43,860
But you'd be wrong.

594
00:33:43,860 --> 00:33:45,540
I can make a robot to do it.

595
00:33:45,540 --> 00:33:48,580
And in order to test this myth, we're going to have to be able to slide correctly.

596
00:33:48,580 --> 00:33:54,460
So I say we give it a few more minutes, maybe a few more hours, until we get it down right.

597
00:33:54,460 --> 00:33:57,820
Once we get the slide down right, then we can start testing this myth.

598
00:33:57,820 --> 00:34:02,660
Eventually, the guy's slide starts to look more technique and less train wreck.

599
00:34:02,660 --> 00:34:06,260
Alright, I think you guys have shown enough improvement that we're going to move on to

600
00:34:06,260 --> 00:34:09,460
the blood alley, I mean the dirt over here.

601
00:34:09,460 --> 00:34:11,940
Blood alley, huh?

602
00:34:11,940 --> 00:34:15,260
It's time to get Grant's timing rig up to speed.

603
00:34:15,260 --> 00:34:18,020
So the timer's going to have millisecond resolution.

604
00:34:18,020 --> 00:34:20,740
There's one switch to start the sequence.

605
00:34:20,740 --> 00:34:27,620
And what you'll do is have your foot on this and the second you leave, it'll start the

606
00:34:27,620 --> 00:34:28,620
timer.

607
00:34:28,620 --> 00:34:35,380
It'll be a second switch here that goes to a latching relay and this is going to be

608
00:34:35,380 --> 00:34:36,780
on the bag.

609
00:34:36,780 --> 00:34:43,100
So when you come up and hit the bag, it'll freeze the timer wherever it is.

610
00:34:43,100 --> 00:34:48,300
On the first attempt, Tori will run and try and stop dead on the bag.

611
00:34:48,300 --> 00:34:49,460
Ready when you are.

612
00:34:49,460 --> 00:34:54,180
The instant Tori's foot leaves the switch, the timer starts.

613
00:34:54,180 --> 00:34:58,260
In his head, he's trying to beat a ball that's flying in from the outfield.

614
00:34:58,260 --> 00:34:59,260
I'm still on!

615
00:34:59,260 --> 00:35:00,260
I'm still touching!

616
00:35:00,260 --> 00:35:02,260
What was my time?

617
00:35:02,260 --> 00:35:03,260
3.624.

618
00:35:03,260 --> 00:35:05,780
Pretty sure I was safe.

619
00:35:05,780 --> 00:35:07,900
Tori struggled to stop his momentum.

620
00:35:07,900 --> 00:35:10,540
You get going that fast, it's hard to stop.

621
00:35:10,540 --> 00:35:15,820
I mean, you want a mass to go, you're stopped dead on that target.

622
00:35:15,820 --> 00:35:18,620
This time he's going to slide into base.

623
00:35:18,620 --> 00:35:21,100
Can he beat 3.6 seconds?

624
00:35:21,100 --> 00:35:24,260
Will he snap his leg off at the knee?

625
00:35:24,260 --> 00:35:25,260
Nice!

626
00:35:25,260 --> 00:35:27,260
Did I stop it?

627
00:35:27,260 --> 00:35:28,820
Nice, you sure did.

628
00:35:28,820 --> 00:35:29,820
Okay, good.

629
00:35:29,820 --> 00:35:31,820
Hey, what was my time?

630
00:35:31,820 --> 00:35:33,620
3.572.

631
00:35:33,620 --> 00:35:38,220
By sliding Tori shaved .05 of a second off his previous time.

632
00:35:38,500 --> 00:35:44,180
It's not much, but it could be the difference between safe and out.

633
00:35:44,180 --> 00:35:48,620
Time for the other two all-stars to do their dashes.

634
00:35:48,620 --> 00:35:50,620
Nice!

635
00:35:50,620 --> 00:35:53,620
4.076.

636
00:35:53,620 --> 00:35:55,420
And let their hip bone slip.

637
00:35:55,420 --> 00:35:58,900
It's 100 milliseconds, a tenth of a second faster.

638
00:35:58,900 --> 00:36:01,420
I actually thought that was probably your best slide of the day.

639
00:36:01,420 --> 00:36:05,020
That's a good hard slide right there.

640
00:36:05,220 --> 00:36:07,220
4.13 seconds.

641
00:36:11,220 --> 00:36:13,780
Wow, that looked like it hurt.

642
00:36:13,780 --> 00:36:15,780
You beat your time.

643
00:36:15,780 --> 00:36:17,900
3.93 seconds.

644
00:36:17,900 --> 00:36:21,500
When the dust settles, the results seem to match Tori's.

645
00:36:21,500 --> 00:36:26,180
On test one, the guys each had to slow their speed at the last second in order to stay

646
00:36:26,180 --> 00:36:28,540
upright and not overrun the base.

647
00:36:28,540 --> 00:36:34,540
But on the second run, they actually accelerated into the slide and that last second speeding

648
00:36:34,540 --> 00:36:37,220
up shaved milliseconds off the time.

649
00:36:37,220 --> 00:36:38,980
You know, this myth is looking confirmed.

650
00:36:38,980 --> 00:36:43,100
It looks like it is faster to slide into a bag than it is to slow down and stop on it.

651
00:36:43,100 --> 00:36:44,980
That's what all the data says.

652
00:36:44,980 --> 00:36:46,900
Yep, the numbers don't lie.

653
00:36:46,900 --> 00:36:48,900
So myth confirmed, huh?

654
00:36:48,900 --> 00:36:49,900
Confirmed.

655
00:36:49,900 --> 00:36:50,900
Confirmed.

656
00:36:58,900 --> 00:36:59,900
Still to come.

657
00:36:59,900 --> 00:37:00,980
Everybody in the bag.

658
00:37:00,980 --> 00:37:04,020
Our baseball special goes out with a bag.

659
00:37:04,540 --> 00:37:07,540
Ha, ha, ha.

660
00:37:09,540 --> 00:37:12,780
We're at the bottom of the ninth on this baseball special.

661
00:37:12,780 --> 00:37:19,900
There's one final myth and again, it was the subject of fan site frenzy.

662
00:37:19,900 --> 00:37:20,900
What do we have?

663
00:37:20,900 --> 00:37:25,100
Well, we started this episode out with a myth about the inside of a bat.

664
00:37:25,100 --> 00:37:26,100
Cork bat.

665
00:37:26,100 --> 00:37:27,100
Exactly.

666
00:37:27,100 --> 00:37:29,020
We're going to finish it off with a myth about the inside of a ball.

667
00:37:29,020 --> 00:37:34,100
Specifically, that you can hit a baseball hard enough to knock the hide off the ball

668
00:37:34,140 --> 00:37:37,340
while the inside itself goes out of the park.

669
00:37:37,340 --> 00:37:41,540
Sounds like another classic cartoon caper.

670
00:37:41,540 --> 00:37:48,300
A ball is pitched at such speed and hit with such force that the stitches split and hide

671
00:37:48,300 --> 00:37:51,860
is left behind.

672
00:37:51,860 --> 00:37:54,660
It's not a scenario pitchers enjoy contemplating.

673
00:37:54,660 --> 00:37:58,580
Have you ever seen somebody hit the hide off the ball?

674
00:37:58,580 --> 00:37:59,580
Is it possible?

675
00:37:59,580 --> 00:38:01,300
Are you saying I give up a lot of home runs?

676
00:38:01,340 --> 00:38:04,820
I've ever seen the hide come off a baseball that I throw in one in there.

677
00:38:04,820 --> 00:38:07,980
Roger thinks Jamie's got a hide even asking.

678
00:38:07,980 --> 00:38:10,740
I have thrown some balls in there at 94-95.

679
00:38:10,740 --> 00:38:14,580
The hitters, they say the scouts that sit in the stands that block the pitches say that

680
00:38:14,580 --> 00:38:19,380
the ball has come back over 130, 140 miles an hour.

681
00:38:19,380 --> 00:38:21,980
Thank God the ball has not come unraveled.

682
00:38:21,980 --> 00:38:25,180
You can definitely put a flat spot in the ball when a guy hits it real hard or squares

683
00:38:25,180 --> 00:38:26,180
it up as we say.

684
00:38:26,180 --> 00:38:30,900
But to bring the hide completely off, that would be a chore for you two men.

685
00:38:30,900 --> 00:38:34,300
I'm sure you could find something with bringing the hide off of it.

686
00:38:34,300 --> 00:38:37,740
We're going to have to investigate.

687
00:38:37,740 --> 00:38:42,980
Back at home base, Adam and Jamie plan to test this myth by firing up the air cannon once

688
00:38:42,980 --> 00:38:43,980
again.

689
00:38:43,980 --> 00:38:50,260
We've already seen that a mere 7.5 psi was enough to send a ball rocketing at 80 miles

690
00:38:50,260 --> 00:38:51,260
an hour.

691
00:38:51,260 --> 00:38:54,260
Oh, that's the hit!

692
00:38:54,260 --> 00:38:57,900
Obviously, that's not fast enough to knock the hide off.

693
00:38:57,900 --> 00:39:01,620
So they load a fresh ball and double the air pressure.

694
00:39:01,620 --> 00:39:05,540
Adam, I'm actually at 15 psi.

695
00:39:05,540 --> 00:39:09,420
Three, two.

696
00:39:09,420 --> 00:39:15,660
At 15 psi, the cannon spits that ball out at 170 miles an hour.

697
00:39:15,660 --> 00:39:16,660
Wow.

698
00:39:16,660 --> 00:39:18,860
That's really powerful.

699
00:39:18,860 --> 00:39:22,380
More than double the speed of a Clemens aspirin tablet.

700
00:39:22,380 --> 00:39:23,380
Oh.

701
00:39:23,380 --> 00:39:25,580
It went through the blanket.

702
00:39:25,580 --> 00:39:29,060
But the hide still hasn't hightailed it.

703
00:39:29,060 --> 00:39:30,860
How about 40 psi?

704
00:39:30,860 --> 00:39:32,020
Oh, yeah.

705
00:39:32,020 --> 00:39:41,260
Three, two, one.

706
00:39:41,260 --> 00:39:47,020
The ball cannon into the static bat at 200 miles per hour, almost twice as fast as the

707
00:39:47,020 --> 00:39:50,460
quickest major league pitch ever recorded.

708
00:39:50,460 --> 00:39:55,580
It might be bye-bye bat, but the ball still not disemboweled.

709
00:39:55,580 --> 00:39:58,940
So the fastest pitch ever recorded is 103 miles an hour.

710
00:39:58,940 --> 00:40:01,860
We've got this puppy up to 200 miles an hour.

711
00:40:01,860 --> 00:40:05,860
At that speed, it was snapping our bats like twigs, and it still is totally intact.

712
00:40:05,860 --> 00:40:10,940
Well, it's obvious to me that knocking the hide off a ball is way beyond the capability

713
00:40:10,940 --> 00:40:12,700
of a human pitcher or batter.

714
00:40:12,700 --> 00:40:14,340
We're just going to leave it there?

715
00:40:14,340 --> 00:40:15,340
What do we do now?

716
00:40:15,340 --> 00:40:16,340
Of course not.

717
00:40:16,340 --> 00:40:17,420
We've got the rig.

718
00:40:17,420 --> 00:40:20,620
Let's open it wide up and see what we can get out of it.

719
00:40:20,620 --> 00:40:23,100
That's just what you were going to do after we all left anyway, weren't you?

720
00:40:23,100 --> 00:40:24,100
Of course.

721
00:40:24,100 --> 00:40:26,100
All right, let's do that.

722
00:40:26,100 --> 00:40:30,820
They're going full power, 150 psi.

723
00:40:30,820 --> 00:40:33,060
Can that unveil a ball's innards?

724
00:40:33,060 --> 00:40:35,500
We're locked and loaded.

725
00:40:35,500 --> 00:40:37,060
It's time to take cover.

726
00:40:37,060 --> 00:40:38,500
You can man the switch.

727
00:40:38,500 --> 00:40:39,700
Everybody back here.

728
00:40:39,700 --> 00:40:41,140
Everybody in the back.

729
00:40:41,140 --> 00:40:46,620
With the scaredy cat crew safe behind the ballistics panel, Adam triggers the timer.

730
00:40:46,820 --> 00:40:49,180
Four, three, two.

731
00:40:51,260 --> 00:40:53,740
That's no longer a ball.

732
00:40:53,740 --> 00:40:55,740
It's a bullet.

733
00:41:00,220 --> 00:41:02,780
Yeah, that is beautiful.

734
00:41:02,780 --> 00:41:05,020
You knocked the skin off the ball.

735
00:41:05,020 --> 00:41:09,380
This is actually what it would take to do that myth.

736
00:41:09,380 --> 00:41:10,220
Right, right, right.

737
00:41:10,220 --> 00:41:11,460
Absolutely.

738
00:41:11,460 --> 00:41:12,700
I want to find the hide.

739
00:41:12,700 --> 00:41:13,700
OK.

740
00:41:17,380 --> 00:41:20,860
That ball's been peeled like an orange.

741
00:41:20,860 --> 00:41:27,380
I don't know about you, but I don't think that a batter could do that.

742
00:41:27,380 --> 00:41:31,780
This thing was traveling at 437 miles per hour by my math.

743
00:41:31,780 --> 00:41:33,380
I don't think there's anyone that can pitch that fast.

744
00:41:33,380 --> 00:41:37,420
That's four times as fast as a really good picture or more than that.

745
00:41:37,420 --> 00:41:40,700
So that means myth busted.

746
00:41:47,620 --> 00:41:50,300
So winged batter.

747
00:41:50,300 --> 00:41:52,180
Dude, that was so much fun.

748
00:41:52,180 --> 00:41:54,260
Yeah, how was it working with Roger Clemens?

749
00:41:54,260 --> 00:41:55,260
It was unbelievable.

750
00:41:55,260 --> 00:41:57,860
All right, well, let's tally up the final score.

751
00:41:57,860 --> 00:41:58,860
Cork bat.

752
00:41:58,860 --> 00:41:59,860
Busted.

753
00:41:59,860 --> 00:42:00,860
How about human balls?

754
00:42:00,860 --> 00:42:01,860
Definitely plausible.

755
00:42:01,860 --> 00:42:03,700
Knockin' the hide off a ball?

756
00:42:03,700 --> 00:42:04,700
Totally busted.

757
00:42:04,700 --> 00:42:07,820
We had to turn this thing into a bullet before we got anything.

758
00:42:07,820 --> 00:42:08,820
How'd slide go?

759
00:42:08,820 --> 00:42:09,820
It's confirmed.

760
00:42:09,820 --> 00:42:12,340
It's definitely faster to slide into a base than to run.

761
00:42:12,340 --> 00:42:13,340
Yeah, who knew?

762
00:42:13,340 --> 00:42:15,740
There's actually a lot more to baseball than you might think.

763
00:42:15,740 --> 00:42:19,380
Yeah, you know, I think sports is going to continue to provide a fertile myth-busting

764
00:42:19,380 --> 00:42:20,620
ground in the future.

765
00:42:20,620 --> 00:42:23,940
Great, because there's nothing that we're better at than organized sports, right?

766
00:42:23,940 --> 00:42:25,420
Ba-da-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-da-da-da-da.

767
00:42:25,420 --> 00:42:26,420
Oh, so we...

768
00:42:26,420 --> 00:42:27,420
Winged out.

769
00:42:27,420 --> 00:42:28,420
We are.

770
00:42:34,420 --> 00:42:35,780
Baseball myths was fun.

771
00:42:35,780 --> 00:42:40,260
Yeah, getting Roger the Rocket Clemens on board, that's great.

772
00:42:40,260 --> 00:42:44,100
You know, the only reason we did baseball myths is because we got flooded with emails

773
00:42:44,100 --> 00:42:45,900
from the fans that wanted to see him.

774
00:42:45,900 --> 00:42:47,460
It was definitely a hit with the fans.

775
00:42:47,460 --> 00:42:52,900
And in fact, if you have a home run of an idea, log on to discovery.com slash mythbusters

776
00:42:52,900 --> 00:42:53,900
and follow the links.

777
00:42:53,900 --> 00:42:56,900
Who knows, maybe one of your myths will make it to first base.