On the road...again!!!
Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams
Chronicles of a Footloose Forester
By Dick Pellek

 This Batter Wears a Sombrero
(Debate With Self)

An unrequited debate, nay; an unstated debate that popped up in last night’s dream is all about softball.  More specifically, it is about unlimited-arc, slow-pitch softball.  Not many people relate to unlimited-arc pitching, but most grasp the idea of slow-pitch softball.  Geezers like the Footloose Forester are haunted by the memories of unlimited-arc pitching.  As a certified Geritol-guzzling softball pitcher who enjoyed the game, he sometimes was called upon to pitch in games where unlimited-arc was the accepted rule of the season.  It only happened during one season in Kenya, but the experience was enough to cause consternation among the other players.  Thus, this reprise of the issues, some 30 years later.

So fraught with paradoxes is unlimited-arc pitching, that it seems advisable to employ simple physics and a few implied math concepts to attempt an explanation of what is at stake.  There are variables and constants in the static framework, and dynamics in the kinetics.  And a bit of symbolism thrown in, thanks to an idea from the dream.  So, where to start?

The pitched softball, according to standard rules of the game, is designated as a strike if it passes over home plate and between the batters’ shoulders and knees.  A pitched ball that does not pass within the imaginary zone between shoulders and knees is designated a ball.  Since the imaginary vertical lines defining the dimensions of home plate extend upward, the height of the batter is also a consideration.  His/her height is one of the variables but the dimensions of the plate are constant.

The symbol for the batter derived from the dream was the capital letter T.  This symbolic batter wears a sombrero. As he/she stands in, the expectation is that balls that are pitched higher than the shoulders will be called balls and pitches that are below the knees will likewise be called balls.  That is, if “T” is standing astride home plate.  In unlimited-arc pitching, it is probable that any batter standing in front of home plate but within the batters’ box, and having a pitch pass between his/her shoulders and knees will not acknowledge that such a pitch is going to be called a ball, because unless it is swung on and hit, a very high-arc pitched ball will fall short of home plate. Not over the plate, not a strike. Likewise, if “T” stands in the extreme rear of the batters’ box, a very high arc pitch that is over the plate and not swung on, will fall below the level of his/her knees. Not within the batters’ shoulders and knees, not a strike.  The high arc and the slow speed of its delivery are simple concepts of physics that dictate the results, and those results are variable. Where the batter stands in the batters’ box also becomes a voluntary variable.  The imaginary vertical lines defining the batters’ box are constants.

Scenario 1: “T" stands astride plate, pitch drops in front of plate: Height > ~12 ft. = ball

Scenario 2: “T" stands at front part of plate, pitch is between shoulders and knees, but not over plate = ball

Scenario 3: “T” stands deep in batters’ box, pitch is over plate, but below knees of batter = ball

The reason why fellow ball players did not want to debate the issues of high-arc pitches with Footloose Forester was probably because they did not have any ideas that countermanded his views.  And the reason why the subject of unlimited-arc softball pitches remained in his mind all these years is because they, during those memorial playing days in Kenya, were wordlessly angry with him when he was chosen as the umpire and invoked the rules of: Pitches across the plate and between the shoulders and knees are strikes. Pitches not over the plate are balls, regardless of where the batter stands.  Where they chose to stand at plate was up to them, but did not alter the rules of softball pitches.