Juiced balls

[klw]

I remember stories of MLB juicing balls in the past (1977?). With the drop in hitting, it makes you wonder if only the players have stopped the juice. Japan has done the opposite and juiced its balls this season.

http://www.tokyoreporter.com/2013/08...home-run-king/

But no matter how many balls Coco sends into the seats, his performance may come under a degree of scrutiny.

In June, commissioner Ryozo Kato admitted that a more lively ball was covertly put into play at the start of the year in an effort to induce more home runs, which had dropped off after a “uniform” ball was introduced after the 2010 season to better match that used in international play.

It worked. With a month remaining in the season, teams have thus far collectively slugged more than 1,050 home runs, a figure that already exceeds the total from last year (881) and the year before (939).

But those concerned that the ball is unfairly “juiced” will need to consider that this year’s pace still lags that of the season before the change, when batters hit a total of 1,605 home runs.

[klw]

Found the old SI piece.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...2513/index.htm

[QUOTE]

The strongest evidence suggests that the reason for the difference is the ball, which, oddly enough, has been produced by Rawlings before. Under an agreement with Spalding, Rawlings provided some of the balls in 1971 and '72 and most of them in '73. Spalding, which had manufactured the balls for both leagues since their inceptions in 1876 and 1901, got out of the business this year.

No matter who is turning them out, the balls should not be either "live" or "dead." After all, the ingredients have always been the same: a hide cover, 150 yards of fine cotton, 219 yards of gray and white wool and a cork core surrounded by black and red rubber. Consistency is supposed to be ensured through adherence to specifications for weight (5 to 5.25 ounces), circumference (9 to 9.25 inches) and resilience (a coefficient of restitution of 51.4% to 57.8%). However, as batting statistics and tests show, all balls are not the same, not only from year to year but also from box to box.

[AtomicDumpling]

Here is a website detailing the new heavily juiced baseballs that were introduced in mid-1993.

http://highboskage.com/juiced-ball.shtml

It is written by Eric Walker, the former Oakland Athletics' statistical consultant who taught Billy Beane about sabremetrics. He has been saying for years that the juiced baseballs were the primary reason scoring and home run hitting increased so dramatically in the mid-1990's. According to his research it was the baseballs, not steroids.

There are several reasons other than steroids that account for the increased offense of the supposed "steroid era", but the alleged effects of steroids are so ingrained in people's minds that most folks will never consider alternative explanations. If you even mention the idea most people flip their lids in comical fashion. Its always fun.

[traderumor]

Here is a website detailing the new heavily juiced baseballs that were introduced in mid-1993.

http://highboskage.com/juiced-ball.shtml

It is written by Eric Walker, the former Oakland Athletics' statistical consultant who taught Billy Beane about sabremetrics. He has been saying for years that the juiced baseballs were the primary reason scoring and home run hitting increased so dramatically in the mid-1990's. According to his research it was the baseballs, not steroids.

There are several reasons other than steroids that account for the increased offense of the supposed "steroid era", but the alleged effects of steroids are so ingrained in people's minds that most folks will never consider alternative explanations. If you even mention the idea most people flip their lids in comical fashion. Its always fun.

Yes, we're all unthinking dupes that do not accept what you do.

[westofyou]

1943 the unjuiced ball. Warren Giles played a major role in suppressing it

[SporkLover]

Yeah I've been having that office conversation all year.

Baseball for some fans is becoming boring again with the dominance of pitching rising, and batting on the decline. I don't think we'll see baseball change mound height again, so juicing the baseball is a nice quiet way of giving the batters a lift without changing anything in the game. It can happen transparently, with minimal fanfare or criticism, and bring some vibrance back to the hitting side of the game.