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The rising fastball: baseball's impossible pitch.

M K McBeath1

  • 1Department of Psychology, Stanford University, CA 94305-2130.

Perception
|January 1, 1990
PubMed
Summary
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The apparent rising fastball in baseball is a perceptual illusion. Hitters underestimate the pitch speed, causing the ball to seem to rise unexpectedly.

Area of Science:

  • Sports Science
  • Perception Psychology
  • Physics of Sports

Background:

  • Baseball batters perceive pitches with various unusual trajectories, including rising fastballs.
  • The physics of baseball pitching do not support a rising fastball trajectory.
  • A rising fastball appears to move upward significantly, defying known physics.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explain the phenomenon of the perceived rising fastball in baseball.
  • To investigate the role of visual perception in estimating pitch trajectory.
  • To determine if a rising fastball can be explained by perceptual illusions.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of physics principles governing baseball trajectories.
  • Review of reported batter perceptions of pitch behavior.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Development of a perceptual model to explain the rising fastball illusion.

    • Main Results:

    • Physics experiments confirm that a true rising fastball is not possible.
    • The apparent rise of a fastball can be explained by the batter's underestimation of its initial speed.
    • Perceptual misjudgment, not physical trajectory, accounts for the rising fastball phenomenon.

    Conclusions:

    • The rising fastball is a perceptual illusion, not a physical reality.
    • Batter's underestimation of pitch speed is the primary cause of the perceived rise.
    • Understanding perceptual illusions is key to explaining unusual observations in sports.