Two and a Half Miles a Minute 



That's the speed at which a pitched ball travels 



MR. FRANK B. GILBRETH, of 

 Providence, R. I., who is known 

 all over the world as an efficiency- 

 engineer and who has specialized in motion 

 study, knows 

 probably more 

 about cham- 

 pions than any 

 other living 

 man — cham- 

 pion golf play- 

 ers, champion 

 fencers, cham- 

 pion baseball 

 players, cham- 

 pion handker- 

 chief folders, 

 champion sur- 

 geons and 

 champion 

 typewriters. In 

 his effort to dis- 

 cover the fun- 

 damental laws 

 of human mo- 

 tion, he studies 

 every sport and 

 every handi- 

 craft. But he 

 studies with 

 the camera — 

 the motion-pic- 

 ture camera — 

 not with the eye. 



Since it is necessary to know the time 

 occupied in carrying out a given motion, 

 sometimes to the thousandth of a second, 

 and since camera cranks are never turned 

 uniformly, Mr. Gilbreth has invented a 

 special clock which is photographed with 

 the scene. It is a very peculiar clock; for 

 it has only one hand which makes six 

 revolutions every second. That clock ap- 

 pears on every film and the position of its 

 hand enables Mr. Gilbreth to determine the 

 speed of a motion down to the one-mil- 

 lionth of an hour. Behind the catcher, a 

 background is hung, ruled off into one foot 

 squares. Every movement of the pitcher, 

 catcher, batter, ball and bat is photo- 

 graphed against that background. Thus 

 by referring to that background in the 

 film the direction and extent of every mo- 

 tion can be accurately determined. 



The clock and the background used in connection with 

 motion pictures of a baseball's flight. In one of Mr. Gil- 

 breth's tests, Fromme pitched a ball which, including the 

 wind-up, required only .99 seconds until the batter hit it. 

 The time consumed from the moment that it left the hand 

 of the pitcher until it reached the bat was 0.288 seconds. 

 The ball therefore traveled 210.07 feet a second, or 2 2-5 

 miles a minute. Even speeds of 2.8 miles have been 

 recorded. In that case the batter occupied 0.042 seconds 

 swinging and striking the ball ; which means that he began 

 his swing when the ball was 9.24 feet in front of him 



With White in the box, Mullaney catch- 

 ing, and Snodgrass at second, it required 

 4.407 seconds to pitch the ball (including 

 the "wind-up") and to return it from 

 the batter to 

 second for a 

 put-out. The 

 actual time 

 that elapsed 

 from the mo- 

 ment that the 

 ball left the 

 hand of the 

 pitcher to the 

 moment when 

 it dropped into 

 the glove of 

 the second 

 baseman was 

 1.697 seconds. 

 The actual 

 time consumed 

 from pitcher to 

 catcher was 

 0.351 second 

 — a rate of 

 somewhat 

 more than two 

 miles a minute. 

 The catcher re- 

 covered to 

 launch the ball 

 at second base 

 in 0.317 sec- 

 onds. It required only 0.796 seconds to 

 throw the ball from catcher to second base 

 ■ — a distance of 129 feet. The record for 

 a 100-yard dash is only 9 3-5 seconds. No 

 wonder bases are difficult to steal. 



Mr. Gilbreth's films are interesting in 

 showing how long it takes a player to make 

 up his mind what to do next. A baseball 

 player must make quick decisions. A delay 

 of a tenth of a second may be fatal. 



Strange things are revealed by Mr. Gil- 

 breth's camera. So swiftly does the ball 

 travel that it is struck by the bat before 

 the pitcher's foot has risen to its full height 

 from the ground. Some pictures show the 

 ball in the catcher's glove before the batter 

 even began to strike. A baseball nine is a 

 model of teamwork. And yet, even the 

 New York baseball nine knows less about 

 itself than does Mr. Gilbreth. 



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