The 105 mph Fast Ball

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The fastest pitch ever recorded was pitched yesterday, 105 mph.

Lets look at the math for a moment:  1 mile = 5,280 feet.

105 mph = 554,400 feet per hour velocity of the ball.  There are 3600 seconds in an hour.  So, at 105 mph, the pitch traveled 154 ft. in one second.

It is 90 feet from the rubber on the pitcher's mound to home plate.  So, the ball took 0.58 seconds to go from the pitcher's hand to home plate. It is said that the batter must decide within 0.35 seconds to decide whether to swing.

If that is the case, then the ball would have been 42 ft. from the plate when the decision had to be made. It would then take the ball 0.22 seconds to get to the plate -- much less than the blink of an eye. In that tiny slice of time, the bat must leave the shoulder and the swing must align with the ball in order to be successful.

Amazing.

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