Scientifically speaking, a ball's liveliness is called the coefficient of restitution-the ratio of its relative speed after collision to its relative speed before collision. Through decades of testing ball makers and ballplayers developed a finely tuned combination of materials and density, so today's balls are neither too lively nor too dead when walloped by a bat. Before the baseball’s characteristics were regulated, home teams could choose which kind of ball they would use: If you had better batters than the other team, you'd choose a lively ball if your team's strengths were pitching and fielding, you'd choose a dead ball. Referred to as 'dead balls,' they didn't travel as far or as fast as the lively ones. Hitting these 'lively' balls, some pro teams tallied as many as 100 runs per game.Īs the game evolved bigger, heavier, less bouncy balls were developed. Why does a baseball require so many different layers? In the early years of the game, prior to 1848, baseballs were very bouncy, built with a solid rubber core and only about three inches in diameter.

If you have ever looked inside a baseball-or looked up pictures online-you will already know that it is made up of various layers of different materials. The bouncier the ball, the farther it will travel when hit. Like a bouncing ball, when hit with a bat a baseball deforms for an instant then springs back to its original shape. But that's exactly what a ball does when it collides with a bat. You don't necessarily think of a baseball as bouncy. When you grab a baseball, the first thing you might think is how hard it is. One way to figure out how something works is to look inside-always with permission, of course! This approach works for all sorts of things, even items that are not mechanical or overly complicated.

People bouncing off red balls