Mythbusters-Can you knock the hide off a baseball

[FleshwoundBloodscalp]

But what if the ball rotates and you hit it with the bat twisting it in the opposite direction?

[Jeffrosplace]

Thanks for proving my point.

Doesn't anyone proof read their posts anymore?

Maybe I'm expecting too much.

/facepalm

[TheDevilsBusiness]

But the question is can you hit it out of the park?

[CelphProclaimed]

Does this even make sense?

Does extra fast ball + stationary bat = Fastball + Major league swing?

[Bzapp725]

YOU'VE JUST RUINED A PERFECT $15.00 BALL

[PhattyMo]

3:27,I have the same sign on my bedroom door. :-p

[TheMitchell1717]

i can hit that

[Asiats1]

why didn't they increase to 900 mph?? the rig was certainly capable of that.

[busteroo7]

forcefeed the lying cheat hgh till he can throw 400 plus

[nWo85]

obviously you cant knock it off a new one, but one that has been used for a long time, yes you can knock the hide off it.

[keegan1496]

3:05 thats what she said

[dagman2000]

wow

[alpine917]

In 1978, Chuck Norris pitched a 532 mph fastball

[trackwheelslawson]

if you hit it the baseball many times it will have a better chance to break when you hit it. even if its at slow speeds

[pielover13598]

roger clemens... you used roids

[MrHonkblarg]

if they had a completely steroid league in baseball i bet this could happen

[bkouba12]

They should launch it with a cannon penis

[bkouba12]

These people are stupid as fuck mabey if they did a little research they would know that Mickey mantel has done It before idiot nerds don't know shit about baseball

[Bluntbows]

The Sandlot could do it..

[tisuisse]

My balls exceed 200 mph on a regular basis.

[ramonramos88]

@tisuisse lmao nice



[ReddmanDGZ]

I've had this happen with tennis ball guns. It's the nature of the barrel more than the force itself taking the hide off. Tennis balls deliminate at about 140 psi.

Normally what happens is stitching on the ball gets torn, or only part of the hide comes off This is exceedingly rare at major league games because of how often balls are replaced. It's more about the wear on the ball, even at 15 psi eventually that ball is going to get torn up.

[johnnyluong26]

@ 3:25 - DO NOT ENTER! FLYING BALLS MAY EXCEED 200 MILES!!

[xMadStalker]

Not true!!!! ive played baseball 4 quite a while i have seen it happen many times old ball and let it sit in rain get it like 3 weeks later and boom hit it hard no more hide :)

[Bigweave74]

It's no wonder they couldn't do it. They needed to do the test with a swinging bat which would have both increased the closing speed and greatly increased the forces imparted on the ball.

[DarkForceB]

Actually I have knocked the hide off a ball, granted the ball was old and the stitches were weak already....

[xiBleedBlue3x]

Watch out!! he will go steroid rage!

[MEMPHISFtw]

try and do it with a golf ball :P

[PerfectChaos666Tim]

Watch the Mythbusters Parody I made! We are reaching warp speed with a skateboard!

/watch?v=7vy2ddF-O24&feature=f­vst

[andyrooney12]

You can't really bust a myth like this. I don't know the exact number but if I took a random guess I'd say they manufacture millions of baseballs on a regular basis and it is highly likely that just a handful out of a few million unraveled during a game. Nothing is perfect.

[MartinGlennon]

It can happen, it happened in sandlot.

[Skyfighter64]

Because everything is relative.if a baseball bat isn't moving, and a 400 mph ball hits it, the impact is the same as a 300 mph baseball hitting a 100 mph bat.

[josh98765432]

Why are you not taking into account the force that the batter puts into the equation? its knocking the skin off not throwing a ball so hard that it shits itself out

[07mortonb]

press 7 if you have epileptic

[steelyspielbergo]

i've seen it plenty of times as a kid. lose a ball in the woods, let it rain, let it rot, find it months later, use it because it's the only one you have....knock the cover off of it.

[CameraShyLimited]

@steelyspielbergo And the kid who swings the hide off that ball is the happiest kid on the block.

[thirteenfingers]

@steelyspielbergo Classic Mythbusters, then.

I love the show, the presenters make me laugh and I am SERIOUSLY jealous of their job... but they do make some howling errors at times.

Like testing the wrong kind of shark on the pee-in-the-water myth and failing to cover all the bases (pun FULLY intended - and I make NO apologies for it - it was a good one) on this one.

[TheSeptet]

Listen guys, this is a myth about major league players. They only use a ball about half a dozen times in mlb. this wasn't a myth about you and your buddy jimmy using your grandpa's 200 year old baseball. please pay attention



[ChristinaMagma]

@TheSeptet I know right lol.

[jwright2814]

For everyone bitching and complaining about how they tested this;

A major league baseball is usually never used for more than 6 pitches.

[ThePrincessLaney]

Chipper Jones knocked the cover off the ball this year during spring training. I personally have seen older balls have the cover knocked off. I have popped stitches and flattened a bunch of balls. So not sure what the science is behind a impact but it's possible to do.

[IfhBiff]

I saw Bo Jackson knock the cover off a ball with my own eyes. don't need these guys to tell me that can't happen. I saw the ball.

[TheNick829]

Babe Ruth used to Pop the stiching But not remove it fully

[TheNick829]

Babe Ruth used to hit with such force that he would spit the stiching But not remove it completely



[TheNick829]

Babe Ruth used to hit with such force that he would spit the stiching But not remove it completely

[KoH4711]

I bet they'll do a show next proving that they can't go swimming without getting wet first.

[SolSmoke]

i could give two squirts about the ball i want the cannon.

[vincereviews]

300 psi!

[DhukeAce67]

BASEBALL CANNON!!!!!!!!!!!

[heavenmonkey1]

Well it's possible... if hulk was playing

[stupidthingwontgo]

y didnt they use a metal bat??? wouldnta broke!!

[AvanderX]

it is possible to knock the cover off an older ball that has been used. i did it as a kid in little league, probably the greatest single effort moment i had in 5 years of ball.

MLB does not re-use balls now, they get a new one every time it touches the dirt or gets hit.

that cannon shot was badass though.

[ixi0DeeCee0ixi]

Its because they didn't use Chuck Norris. . .

[STILLNAKEDBULLWINKLE]

but can they do the slowest pitch in the world?

[vamleex]

thats a stupid experiment. first the bat has to be swinging and cause a different impact and maybe the edge of the bat hits the soled area of the ball at a high speed may knock the hide off but using it against a still bat is pointless...

[mikechaw1]

i agree with kd5eej , this experiment is fail.

[kd5eej]

The force of an actual pitch combined with the sudden impact of an actual batter would cause the ball to "pancake" causing the hide and stitching to stretch and tear, the batting scenario they used had to momentum being driven into the ball in the opposite direction, fail.

[EmperorofCartoons]

@kd5eej I agree. I have actually knocked the hide off a ball as well as pancaked a few before, and saw both done numerous times by other people.

[leemachine009]

aroldis chapman got 105 MPH

[tracemaster100]

LMFAO 437 mph gawd XD

[LonelyoInezan901]

hëhê_ÄnÿòNË_wÄÑÑà_chÅt_with_mê­_í_fêËl_sÕ_lÕNÈly_tÕdaý...

[ohiorocksdude]

this was stupid... they didnt even put force into the bad like a BATTER would... the force of an object moving at 99mph one way then immediately the other at 130mph might have been what it took.... they put no force behind the batter.... retarded and not finished!

[550oliver]

@ohiorocksdude Well seeing as how the bat broke and the ball was still in tack goes to show that if the batter added more force the bat would break before adding that force to the ball. Ergo added force by batter would not matter because the bat would most likely break with the break absorbing most of the extra energy.

[xhyungxjinx]

@550oliver in tack? nice spelling

[550oliver]

@xhyungxjinx Sorry about the miss spelling should have been tact I didn't know I was going to be graded on spelling otherwise I would have had it proofread before posting. Looking back I stumbled on some keys and then clicked the wrong option in my spell check. Sorry if i wasted your precious youtube time with my misspelling and grammar mistakes. I would also like to thank you for helping realize the error of my way on my youtube postings and will try to make them more scholarly.

[monimoni0147]

flying balls may exceed 200 mph

[Jeffrosplace]

I've seen it happen.

Not with a new baseball though.

So the only myth they busted is that you can't knock the hide off a 'new' baseball.

[theclinger]

@Jeffrosplace That's what I was thinking.

[JoRdIkEnNeDy]

@Jeffrosplace well its not really a fair test if they ball is old and rotted, that would be like if i said i cut a 25m wide tree with an axe in 1 swing....oh but there was only 1mm left to be cut

[tibiaroxxxx]

@Jeffrosplace Well and that is the hole point.....

[Jeffrosplace]

@tibiaroxxxx

The video is titled ' Can you knock the hide off a baseball?"

and yes you can, and that the 'whole' point.

[tibiaroxxxx]

@Jeffrosplace No thats not the point. Thats like saying i can fly! But first i need wings....

[Jeffrosplace]

@tibiaroxxxx

I guess It's my fault for expecting you to even remotely comprehend what I said.

My bad.

[tibiaroxxxx]

@Jeffrosplace It is your bad that you cant understand a shit lol.

[vinbeers]

those of you saying this was badly tested seem to misunderstand the myth. the myth is that the air speed and force of the hit alone can knock off the skin of a ball. this is the myth they busted --- what you guys are asking for "using an old ball" does not test this myth but is simply testing "can the stiches wear out on the ball", so yea of course you can knock the skin off an older abused ball. theres no need to test that because its obvious but the result is from worn out stitching

[sevwinters]

I call bullshit. Why? Simple. Not only does the ball travel at nearly 100 mph coming in, but a batter can swing equally as fast at the wrist. Then, allowing for the pivot of the bat extended at the wrist from the point of impact, one could easily see a collision of of 100 mph backed up against 200 mph....so myth needs more testing.

[leonardtownyanks]

They should have used a old ball that had some torn stiches and the air won't tear off the hide. They need to have a bat hit a ball so the ball goes at 100 or 150 mph.

[Dullfang2]

i still believe the sandlot. they had to use the same ball. they couldnt even afford one for 98 cents.

[morgan7csundin13]

what about aluminum bats?



[AZCONSERVATIVE22]

BOGUS SEEN IT DONE IN SCHOOL. I WAS THE PITCHER. TAKE INTO ACCOUNT A BALL THAT GETS CRACKED FOR A WHOLE GAME. THIS ISN'T PROPERLY TESTED.

[EmperorofCartoons]

@AZCONSERVATIVE22 Yeah I gotta disagree with the MBs here, I have seen this done several times and even done it myself once.

[fireraverxv]

1) Hold your breath.

2) Copy all of these steps.

3) Go to two other video.

4) Paste it in the comments.

If you can do all of this without breathing you're a good pot smoker

[tigerboy1227]

@fireraverxv maybe not a good pot smoker but a:

A. spammer

B. gullible person

[fireraverxv]

@tigerboy1227 haha nice 1

[fireraverxv]

@tigerboy1227 not

[fireraverxv]

@tigerboy1227 buudy i did it for fucking 30 vids im the best fucking pot smoker in the world

[towlkiller]

They should have used an older baseball

[amiyaiitkgp]

Wow a little higher pressure and a slightly longer tube they would have crossed Mach 1!

[OakAndRaven]

I played a lot of baseball as a kid and have seen it happen more than once. And thats with 10-12 year old pitches and batters. I suppose the myth doesnt address really worn balls that have been scuffing along pavement for half a summer.

Which I think is the key to this happening. Worn threads on a well impacted ball even a child could tear it loose given time.

[pennyjack2]

mythbusters are the best

[TragicNova]

They're using brand new balls because in MLB even if the ball touches the ground after the pitch they give him a new one because it can sometimes make the ball curve more when it's scuffed up. That means it is busted.

[nicce1982]

the pitcher might only be able to throw about 100mph but the hitter swings the bat at the ball with some kind of force too, I think it needs more investigation. If the ball is pitched 100mph and bat swings 150mph that's a combined speed of 250mph. It could be close enough to make it happen.

[moonunitenar]

@nicce1982 that's exactly what I was thinking. They don't even address the speed of the bat, which should be an obvious part of the experiment :P

[C4B00SEE]

@moonunitenar. I agree but it still won't help. Like nicce1982 said, even if the bat swing was 150 mph and the ball speed was 100mph. That still gives a combined speed of 250mph. But these guys just tested it and it needed 400mph to get the ball to split.

[moonunitenar]

@C4B00SEE True enough. They should have at least taken that into account when they did the experiment though. That's a pretty amateur mistake.

[catroolz]

@nicce1982 WHY HAS ANYBODY THUMBED THIS UP!?

[8BitItalianStallion]

@nicce1982 Well, that's pretty stupid to think of, the myth is that a human can do that, no human can swing that hard. The hell are you thinking?

[sexykatie90]

conker2020 my msn in profile! Mythbusters-Can you knock the hide off a baseball

[ImperiousViking]

If the pitcher throws it hard enough, and the batter hits, it hard enough, and there is some wear and tear on the ball, I think it could be done...

I'm asumeing that the mythbusters used brandnew balls.

[mikecsiy]

I've seen it done, but it requires a really old worn out ball with bad laces.

No way someone is going to do it with a brand new MLB quality ball.

[jerdard]

bs my friends have done it

[TheStrangebutReal]

To all the people saying this myth is STILL possible = your retarded.

[MegaSam1992]

try an old baseball because i've done it in my back yard

[Euyup]

See back in the day the baseball was able to do that because it was weaker. Not weak as in like the balss all around but it was possible. Seen it before.

[905SONICking]

inmagine if you got shot in the balls

[tatertotter808]

Do they use brand new balls for every baseball game? what if the ball was already used quite at bit and the stitching was easier to unravel?

[lobsters12111]

@tatertotter808 They use a new ball damn near every pitch.

[MrCman404]

Wow. That's really weird because I did this when I was like ten. I was playing with an old softball and I threw it up in the air and hit it and the skin came off. It was kind of an old softball, but it definitely happened. I'm not bragging or anything, I suck at baseball, but somehow I managed to do it when the ball wasn't even pitched to me, and I was only ten. I guess it could have something to do with where on the stitching you hit the ball

[brndnusin]

The Fastest RECORDED MLB pitch clocked in at 105.2 mph and it was thrown just a few months ago. :)

[sktm06]

@brndnusin Probably by Joel Zumaya, I'm glad we're getting him back for 2011!

[huggybobo88]

@brndnusin AROLDIS CHAPMANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN­NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN­NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN­NNNN

[marcjtdc]

THATS 640 FEET PER SECOND

[kenjiacso]

@marcjtdc

almost as fast as a small caliber ( riffle ).

[highlandparkdram]

@kenjiacso

The caliber of a rifle has nothing to do with the speed of the projectile. A .204 ruger is a small caliber round and sends its bullets at well over 4000 fps.

Yet a large caliber rifle, say a 500 nitro projectile will be travelling at around 2000 fps.

[soccerfreak2401]

roger clemens = FAIL

[GatorNate5]

We had a guy in BP do this, he caught one on a foul right on the stich, and it basically cut the ball, but even though it was a foul he squared it right on the sweet spot and the hide sort of ripped away from the ball, I guess its different from "knocking the hide off" but still it was pretty sweet to see a sandlotish scene in BP one day haha

[zachcaruth]

Ive done it myself and the fastest was 104 by tigers pitcher Joel Zumuya against Ken Griffy Jr. of the reds

[fbravis]

@zachcaruth the fastest pitch was adloris chapman at 106

[zachcaruth]

Ive done it myself

[wowonice1]

? y not just go to 120 psi?

[OnlyLosersReadThis]

Not omly did they not account for a moving bat, but they also forgot to use an older, weaker, and more used ball. They do get used on the odd time, so the should've tested it too.

[RABIDKILLSWITCH]

Roy Hobbs hit the cover off the ball during a game in 1939

[shashoni109]

@RABIDKILLSWITCH When the stitches were weaker. Like our tanks.

[PlasmicKid12]

DAMNN it sounded like a gun

[jablestwo]

only 103mph BULL SHIT !!!!!!!! nolan ryan threw one that was 105mph and i think the actual fastest ever was 110 or 112mph

[boot358]

@jablestwo can you please tell the name that threw the ball that fast

[elFlakation]

@jablestwo Lol..103 was the fastest till Chapman broke it at 105.2mph

[TheSonicGod]

Babe Ruth could do it.

[TheRooster94]

If you're Chuck Norris, you can.....with your hand.

[SaBarrier265]

the batter has to have some force to hit it too

[95PONYBOY]

just like in the movie-THE SANDLOT

[matzner21]

A batter swinging a bad 115MPH hitting a ball traveling 97MPH at an angle equals a collision of 212MPH without factoring in spin/break of the ball different types of bats (metal/different types of wood) and not a fresh baseball it's more than possible, I know cause I've done it a few times and still have some of them.

[airsoftUK100]

i have done this before but it was like a month old !

[ArtemisArcane]

@airsoftUK100 Chuck Norris did it while he was still in the womb.

[NuclearHendrix]

My cousin did it.

[leiefilm]

thats not a cartoon thing.it's from the movie the natural

[TwoSidesofNeutrality]

You know, I bet it was possible in the dead ball era when pitchers frayed the baseball to get more movement... and with the softer core pushing back on the seams when it's hit, I bet it was possible back when the myth was first introduced. They really need to test it with a dead ball era ball with typical modifications they had back then.

[valjew]

ive hit the cover off the ball with an old ball and i suck at baseball

[chickenkoopr123]

@valjew your lieing your just trying to get attention and seem cool when your just a nerd that sucks at life...

[demondman50]

i dont agree with them saying 200+ mph is impossible, if the bat is moving at 120+ mph and the ball is moving 90+ mph, theres 210+ mph when they connect, i dont know how fast a mlb batter can swing, but that should also be factored in

[xXCrimsonVirtueXx]

@demondman50 Fastest swing went out somewhere at 106 I think.

[BakuraSR45]

a human can't, but my dad's lawnmower can...

[zombiesrcuming4u]

Chuck Norris could rip the hide off a ball by looking at it.

[recallsaurabh]

@greensp4rk - you are forgetting the difference between scalar and vector quantities , you are not considering that after hitting the bat the ball changes direction so the velocity change = -ve of original velocity - new velocity and -ve indicating change of direction so by your own estimates the change in velocity is -100 - 160 = - 260 mph. In other words the ball first comes from 100 mph to 0 and then to - 160 mph making the total change to -260. Am I making sense to you? can explain more

[greensp4rk]

@recallsaurabh i understand what you're saying, however the SPEED (not velocity) is the quantity required to knock the hide off of a baseball. The baseball hide wont come off based on the directional change i'm guessing, although you may be right here because I dont know at what instance the seams on the ball actually broke, as in does it break on impact or mid-flight? thats something to be explored for sure.

[recallsaurabh]

@greensp4rk - Its not speed but force which can knock something off and force is rate of change of momentum F= m(dv)/dt where dv is the change in velocity. What will hurt you more you running into a stationary friend or you both running towards each other, sorry dont know what example to give, but if you know physics you should get me by now.

[greensp4rk]

@recallsaurabh understood haha

[sasyboncho]

Why did I get a boner when hearing 'The ball is hit with such force'?

[jacoblewis100]

1:16 i lmaod that fat as was all runin slow

[Delta45555]

Ever wonder what the inside of a baseball looks like? WABAAM!! There it is.

[recallsaurabh]

they should have considered the relative velocity of the bat swinging and meeting the ball travelling at 100 mph, they didnt measure the speed with which the batter can swing the bat.

[greensp4rk]

@recallsaurabh how about this. In the beginning, that pitcher says that he's gotten balls returned at about 130 MPH from a 95 MPH pitch, which means there is about a 40% increase in speed. If the batter increases the speed of his bat swing directly proportionally to the pitch then a 100 MPH pitch could come off the bat at 160 MPH tops, if the speed increases by an unrealistic 60%. 160 MPH wont do it as is apparent, so having a swinging bat in this experiment is irrelevant. :(

[squalea]

Is it any surprise that a human can't knock the hide off of a baseball? These things are built to take a lot of abuse... if they fell apart every time you got a good hit, you would never buy from that company again. lol

[mozeus5]

I don't understand their experiment. Why didn't they propel the ball about 100 mph, and have a robot batter hitting the ball hard. With both of those forces together the hyde might have came off?

[greensp4rk]

@mozeus5 the reason is that they could never get the timing right, they spent a whole day trying to set that up and in a whole day, they only managed to get a 2 or 3 good hits. getting the amount of pitches in this video to be hit would take an unrealistic amount of time (50+ hours of trial and error for good hits)

[mozeus5]

@greensp4rk I see, thanks, didn't think of that.

[MyAccountman]

i hate it when they script those moments.

[detroitdieselpower69]

ive done it before, however the ball i hit was on its last leg it was old as shit and the stitching was hardly there

[rockerojuan]

Aww man, The Sandlot was lying!

[MrCrazyparks]

I know right ;(



[MrCrazyparks]

I know right :,(



[MyKCchiefs]

@rockerojuan HEY SPOILER ALERT DAMNIT!!!

[BlackMambaShark]

they need to swing the bat.

[noodow715]

damn that ball went faster than the speed of sound o_O

[wolfa28]

chuck norris could knock the hide off the baseball with his bare hands!

[DavidBassBoi]

@wolfa28 wtf are you talking about. he could do it just by looking at it

[meifert2]

@wolfa28 i heard he uses his penis as a bat and can hit a ball to the moon

[jgtheman84]

@wolfa28 you mean with hsi fist?

[BestUseUrNikes]

they need to factor in swing speed..even if the balls going 200 mph if its hitting a static bat thats not really signifigant, if there are two opposing forces its much more likely

[krustyeyes]

@BestUseUrNikes

except for the fact that no one throws 200 mph. Therefor, at 200 mph a static bat is about the same as a 95 mph fastball hitting a kinetic force (swinging bat)

[BestUseUrNikes]

@krustyeyes good point aha

[SinOfYesterd]

Flying balls may exceed 200mph I LOVE IT.

[exitzone]

hahahahahahahhahahahahahahaha!­!!!!!!

[gophp613]

if you use a soft strike it will work

we do it at my school all the time

no ball lasts more than 2 weeks

[hunterziegelmann]

Chuck norris just stares at the ball and it explodes and or he gets a home run becuase the ball gets as far from him as possible with fear...

[saladfury99]

after about 20 hits when i was about 9 i put alot of rips in the ball.