Role of Technology in the Life of the Baseball Bat: A Hand to Hand Journey

1239 Words3 Pages

It’s often said ‘the guy with the bigger stick always wins’, and it is safe to assume so in baseball ,seeing as the bat is the most vital aspect of the game since it embeds its sole purpose, to hit the ball. The excitement of baseball and what attracts fans the most is the ball- bat action. This relationship is established by the batter and the pitcher; their constant rivalry makes the game interesting as one tries to hit the ball, and the other tries to make him miss. The history of baseball is much like that of other sports; it originated from a group of people, soon it became popular and with time became a multi-million industry. As baseball became more popular and more people became interested in the game, competition drove investors to seek ways to gain certain advantage over their opponents and, so the need for better equipment arose. With the evolution of technology came development of materials which brought hand in hand the development of more efficient and effective bats. Wood was the starting material for bats, but then came the development of aluminum, and in the later years composite bats came into the field.

Though the sport is based mostly in talent, or how the athlete utilizes these tools, equipment is critical for the performance of the athlete. Athletes seek bats that will increase their probability for a home run, maximize their hitting power, decrease the amount of energy loss in the collision for a greater ball velocity, and allow for a quicker swing, seeing as these factors are crucial to the success of their careers. Decades and decades of testing and experimentation have gotten the baseball bat to where it is. It first started as a simple plank, but with the growing popularity of the sport along...

... middle of paper ...

...etes and companies are constantly seeking ways to include technology to better their equipment. Again, the development of computers, industrial equipment, measuring devices, testing equipment, and smarter engineers were all contributing factors to the evolution of the baseball bat.

Works Cited

Smith, Lloyd. "enginnering our favorite pastimeAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers". 132. 4 (2010), 44-48, http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.fiu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=67982c92-ca09-414f-afff-430401e834cf%40sessionmgr113&vid=1&hid=104. (accessed March 22, 2011).

Braham, James. "Keep you eye on the batAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers". 69. 13 (1997), 1-3, http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=46cabc6b-475f-4fa3-8712-92f0739b70d4%40sessionmgr115&vid=1&hid=111&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=9708224665. (accessed March 23, 2011).

More about Role of Technology in the Life of the Baseball Bat: A Hand to Hand Journey

Open Document