News Flash: Rise Balls don't Rise!!!!!

Just because it's fun to stir the pot, I thought that I'd share a link that I came across:


Does a Rise Ball Really Rise? Great softball pitching hints and recommendations for girl softball pitchers

Ahhh crap..... I don't think I have the strength for this again

It is threads like these when I most miss Hal.

This article is nearly as old as dirt, we need fresh up-to- date stuff if we are going to attack this head on.

Think a Magnus (Force) Carta should be drawn up as an agreement not to ever (ever) revisit!

I am a complete novice concerning pitching. My question is, most of us believe a curve ball curves, and a drop ball drops, agreed? Why is so impossible that with all the necessary spins, speed, etc. that a rise ball can't rise? I am not on either side of the fence on this one. The only thing is I once had the opportunity stand at the plate and an older guy who used to pitch fastpitch threw to me and to my eyes that ball "hopped" 4" or more as it was within 5' of the plate. You probably ought to know I was never a player and my eye site is not as good as it used to be.

A high fastball rises

In other news, Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.

mm'spapa said:

I am a complete novice concerning pitching. My question is, most of us believe a curve ball curves, and a drop ball drops, agreed? Why is so impossible that with all the necessary spins, speed, etc. that a rise ball can't rise? I am not on either side of the fence on this one. The only thing is I once had the opportunity stand at the plate and an older guy who used to pitch fastpitch threw to me and to my eyes that ball "hopped" 4" or more as it was within 5' of the plate. You probably ought to know I was never a player and my eye site is not as good as it used to be.

Click to expand...

in a word- gravity. Magnus forces are good and all, but they are not particularly strong. But it really doesn't matter if they rise or not, as long as they do something different then they are effective.

mm'spapa said:

I am a complete novice concerning pitching. My question is, most of us believe a curve ball curves, and a drop ball drops, agreed? Why is so impossible that with all the necessary spins, speed, etc. that a rise ball can't rise? I am not on either side of the fence on this one. The only thing is I once had the opportunity stand at the plate and an older guy who used to pitch fastpitch threw to me and to my eyes that ball "hopped" 4" or more as it was within 5' of the plate. You probably ought to know I was never a player and my eye site is not as good as it used to be.

Click to expand...

The simple answer: gravity. A riseball has to overcome it. A curveball or screw does not, and a drop is helped by it.

I don't have the exact figures, but the physics geeks have done the calculations showing how fast a softball would have to spin backwards in order for it to overcome the earth's gravitational pull and actually jump up. It was some number well above what humans can throw.

Edit to add:

I found this with a Google search. According to the authors of the book, for a BASEBALL (which weighs less) to rise above its anticipated trajectory it would have to have 3600 RPM (60 RPS) spin when thrown at 90 mph. RevFire says 25 - 30 RPS is an exceptional spin rate - puts you in the elite category I believe. And the fastest female pitch speeds are in the 70-73 mph range. So you'd need a softball to be thrown roughly 15-20 mph faster with twice as much spin to get the ball to actually jump. That's if it weighed as much as a baseball. Since it weighs more, you probably have to increase both numbers. You'd probably have to also account for increased drag due to the larger surface of the ball, and the shorter distance to make it happen. So not bloody likely.

https://books.google.com/books?id=-...age&q=spin rate for rise ball to rise&f=false