Quote:
Originally posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?
I'm pretty sure Bonds uses a VERY light bat. If I recall it's lighter than the bat I used when I was 15. And I was skinny at 15.
However, players in the 30s-50s used much heavier bats than players use today.
|
That's because Bonds understands Newtonian physics.
KE=1/2 M x V^2
Or in English, Kinetic Energy (KE) is proportional to (one half, actually) the mass of an object (M) times the
square of its velocity.
In short, the speed of the bat is more important than the mass; if additional mass slows down the bat speed, you end up with less total kinetic energy to transfer to the ball.
Strength certainly impact the ability to hit homeruns. Additional strength does not necessarily enable a person to swing a bat faster (which is controlled more by the ratio of slow and fast twitch muscles, as well as reaction times and eye hand coordination), but it may enable a person to swing a heavier bat at top speed than he would otherwise be able.
ETA: Curse you Atticus!!! 
