Engineering our Favorite Pastime

This article describes the equipment and technology advances in baseball and softball games. Research efforts are currently being pursued by the authors to develop a layer-by-layer finite element model of a baseball. While work on improved ball models is ongoing, a number of significant accomplishments have been made with current models. These include comparing bat performance, describing the plastic deformation (denting) observed in metal bats, and the failure modes observed with wood bats. To simulate the bat/ball impact at game-like speeds, a durability machine is used to fire balls at a bat at speeds up to 200 mph, at the rate of 10 per minute. After a ball is shot, it falls into a trough and is loaded back into the magazine, which holds up to 36 balls. The bat-support mechanism simulates the grip and flexibility of a batter and can be programmed to rotate the bat between hits to simulate the use of hollow bats or to remain “label up” as is needed for wood bats.