Abstract: Recently, I was asked why pitchers throw off of a mound. Aside from the obvious reason of providing a pitcher with additional downward velocity, it peaked my interest to learn a little more. In my research I found that up until 1968, baseball rules allowed up to a 15 inch mound. Well, as the game evolved and players got bigger and stronger, pitchers began getting more powerful and that led to a decline in batting statistics. Knowing that highlight moments of home runs and higher scoring games sells tickets, major league baseball decided to lower the mound to the now standard 10 inches in 1969. It is documented that batting averages as a whole increased by 15 points, thus leading to a more offensively involved sport for spectators. Aside from the history of the pitcher’s mound, there is a scientific means for calculating the vertical movement of a pitch.
Keywords: Baseball, Pitched Baseball, vertical movement of a pitch.
Title: The Movement of a Pitched Baseball
Author: Spencer Trautmann
International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Innovations
ISSN 2348-1218 (print), ISSN 2348-1226 (online)
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