Myths of Baseball

[acroyear]

LiveScience.com - Busting Baseball Myths: Scientist Throws Big Curveballs:

Your Little League coach probably didn't know it, but every time he sent you to the plate with the instructions "keep your eye on the ball," he was giving you an impossible task.

And if you followed the coach's advice of positioning yourself directly under a popup, you probably struggled to catch balls in the outfield, too.

Ken Fuld, a baseball enthusiast and visual psychophysicist at the University of New Hampshire, has pored over numerous baseball studies and suggests that neither of these approaches produce optimal results.

Instead, much to your coach’s chagrin, you should try mimicking the quirks of the best Major League players.

and it continues describing why, scientifically, baseball's such a hard damn game to play.  Most interesting is the myth of the Rising Fast Ball (hint: its impossible to rise if thrown overhand).

Now if you don't mind, I'll go back to the stands after I get my hotdog and beer...