Just listened to a pretty good interview Brian Kelly did with a baseball bat maker or physics guy. Incredibly interesting.
I feel like I’m starting to get a much better grasp as I’m starting to think bout these bats the same as bowling balls to a extent, I was a pretty avid bowler for long time but back then I didn’t really understand the physics behind it all, I just knew power and rev rate = my ball looking really cool with the hook and destroying the pocket! and back then I thought sexier than most the pros in those olden days as I was throwing without my thumb in the hole before it became fashionable! And not like these clown pussies you see at the lanes who need a lighter ball and use 2 hands, or even like the pro’s who now keep 2 hands on the ball. I was very insecure bout how I looked doing anything so I wanted my form to remain what I thought a prototypical bowling form should be! I was strong enough I can bowl with a 16lb ball with no thumb and most ppl can’t even tell my thumb not in the hole, practically once a week someone would ask if my thumb was in hole as I could cup it and fully extend my arm like guys who put thumb in hole! I did this at 1st out of necessity as I could never throw a hook with my thumb in hole as I just can’t get the thumb to get out the way so my fingers could rip thru and generate the revs! Seeing how I learned every sport watching the pros I had no interest throwing a straight ball!!
So anyways the point of all this is I didn’t understand how these different bowling balls reacted so differently even when thrown the same. Obviously any idiot that bowls understands the difference between the urethane crap that made up bunch the balls they let you use if you didn’t have your own. You kmow if you throwing a 16lb ball it always those matted black balls and often times sounded little funny when you revved them up, they chewed up the oil but you weren’t getting a bunch of hook no matter how many revs you got. You will often see the high rev pros throw these balls after the oil has broken down and they struggling w the reactive resin ball from hooking way more to the point you can only move so far left and still can’t hold the pocket! when they switch to the urethane they move way back right and the ball has a shape much like norm duke and the other old timers where it much straighter w a gradual break to the pocket. Those are all pretty much the same imo. But when you get into the reactive resin balls there a million options that determine how much a ball hooks, how far it slides down the lane before it starts to break to the pocket, obviously the amount of oil on the lanes plays a part as well. But it doesn’t stop there, the surfaces can control how long the ball slides before grabbing and starting to turn, but then there the inside I still don’t have a great understanding of but they havd a pretty large Range of how powerful that hook will be once the ball makes its turn, you can also have your ball drilled off center various ways that help create hook and the axis of the spin! Im sorry im still
Going on and on but I really believe if I understood all this as a kid and had a bowling ally owner who knew and believed in me I seriously could have been a pro bowler! I know I talk a lot of junk but im dead serious bout this one, I dunno if I would have made it to top or anything but I have no doubt I could have competed had I understood all this and either had a owner of local lanes or money to where I could afford to try all these different balls opposed to using the same ball my moms saved up to get me for Xmas 1 year that was a lot of damn money for here as shit was not cheap. From 13 into my 20s I had a really nice storm that when the oil was right I would have ppl watching me just abuse the pins! Picked me up a hand me down that a friend I knew used who was a much different bowler than me, that ball slid way down the lane then it darted to the pocket most the time at a angle that wasn’t conducive for carry, I would hit pocket with that thing and leave some crazy splits!!! Again I know this story super long and sorry, it just kinda a bummer when I think bout things that may have been possible for me if I had the means or someone to just give a shit bout a poor kid who coulda used a little help! Oh and I couldn’t pick 10 pins above 50% to save my life which coulda been my diwnfall! I pretty much had to put my thumb in hole and just throw at it straight and hard. Maybe had I eased up on the power I coulda hit them at a better clip but fact is if I had the right equipment I could have thrown the way I was accustomed and the ball would have slid all way down lane and I’m sure I woulda picked them up much closer to the 99% of time pro bowlers do!! lol. I just recently learned most the pro’s use 15lb balls, me being me assumed bigger, heaviest, strongest, was always the answer! lol. Last year took my nephew and just used a house ball that was actually reactive but not a strong hook which didnt really matter to me, it was only 15lbs and turns out I carried every bit as well as I did with a 16, not to mention im not as strong I was in younger years and I was shocked to realize how much easier it was to keep my perfect form with 2 fingers just cause that 1lb, and my carry was every bit as good as a 16lb ball!! Ok I swear im done now. Just a flashback of what could have been! Couldn’t believe when I started seeing these 2 handed guys on tv! I felt like I got cheated! Lol.
That incredibly long point and story was simply to say the way these bats were being explained it reminded me of this! Made total sense, the guy was even saying some guys are using different torpedo bats for various pitchers, situations, or simply how it felt in his hand that day! They didn’t get to this but I do wonder if the pitcher can tell what kind of bat, where the sweet spot is? I feel like that would only be fair, guy comes up w a scouting report knowing the pitcher loves to start the at bat busting him in w 2 seamers I think it only right the pitcher knows he got a bat with a sweet spot a tad further inside ready to jump my pitch! Then I can throw cutters away!! Anyways I think this all very fascinating and should be here to stick around in some form or another! I think it could easily add another level of excitement and strategy to a game that has become way to much about the “3 true outcome” bs!!!
I hope I didn’t bore everyone to death and some of that makes sense!!!
