04/25/24
June 09, 2005
Facing The Blonde Unit: ESPN columnist Gene Wojciechowski tries what Albert Pujols, Mike Piazza and Mike Cameron have sworn to never attempt again: stepping up to the plate to face Jennie Finch.
Well...he made contact. I dunno that I'd call it a "hit", given what he said about its field-ability. Although who am I to talk -- the only time I ever had an opportunity like this, I declined. Last year I was working at a tennis benefit where, as part of the dog-and-pony show, Brenda Schultz-McCarthy offered to let anyone try and return her serve. It was a horrible sight, and I'm glad I never saw it coming at me.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 09:48 PM on June 09, 2005
I had the pleasure of batting against "The King" Eddie Feigner, several years ago when I played in a game against The King and His Court. Even though he was up there in years, the guy could still do things pitching the softball that were incredible. He couldn't bring the flat-out heater like he could when he was younger, but you wish he could, because that's just about the only pitch you could hope to make contact with. He had so many other pitches that danced around and moved that guessing right on a decent fastball was your best (and only) bet to make good (or any) contact, just like Wojciechowski evidentally found out. She's a babe, though, and Feigner had a face that looked like a beat up fielder's mitt, so choosing to watch the ball with him on the mound was a much easier decision.
posted by dyams at 09:10 AM on June 10, 2005
the major league guys nuthin', I am impressed by any of the women that can hit a ball thrown that hard from that close. your reflexes must have to be incredible (or just lucky i guess). on the other hand, i am not surprised to see MLB players have difficulty. it would be a big adjustment, I imagine, to have to totally change your rhythm and look for a different release point and what not. that can't be easy when you only see three pitches.
posted by gspm at 09:18 AM on June 10, 2005
gspm, i think you're right about that last bit. the same women who can hit fast pitch softball would probably have problems hitting a baseball thrown overhand at first too. do baseball pitchers even throw a riser? that pitch is just sick. the stance and swing you'd take in softball is usually different. i never recalled seeing many (if any) women use that leg kick thing like you see a lot of guys do. also, if i had trouble catching up to a fastball i would keep the bat head flatter. i didn't always hit very well but i would at least make contact.
posted by goddam at 11:37 AM on June 10, 2005
do baseball pitchers even throw a riser? that pitch is just sick. Some baseball pitchers have the "high hard fastball" that rises gradually as is comes in, but I have never seen any thing as drastic as a softball riser. The only thing that comes close is a good 12-6 cruve ball.
posted by daddisamm at 12:19 PM on June 10, 2005
My daughter played fastpitch at the highest level for many years. The fact that these 17 or 18 year old kids stay in that box with high heat coming inches from their chin has always amazed me. She never got to face Jennie but has faced Cat Osterman. I'll take watching a fastpitch softball game over 10 major league baseball games.
posted by scottypup at 12:40 PM on June 10, 2005
[It's the babes.]
posted by cl at 01:34 PM on June 10, 2005
A 70 mph heater from 43 feet gets to the plate in 0.419s, same as a 98.5 mph heater in baseball. But is it really 43 feet to the plate, as it says in the article? 40 seems to be olympic standard, in which case a 70 mph softball is like a baseball moving 106.
posted by cl at 01:40 PM on June 10, 2005
the distance was changed from 40ft. to 43ft. in 2002. ages 18 and under still pitch from 40ft.
posted by goddam at 02:08 PM on June 10, 2005
The rising fastball is apparently a myth inspired by an optical illusion.
posted by rcade at 02:12 PM on June 10, 2005
The pitching distance is 43' in international as well as collegient and amateur. However a good pitcher will launch herself and end up releasing at about 36 or 37. This is technically illegal but is not called so long as the launch foot drags the ground. Years ago before the current rules Howard Houston used to do this and and up at about 30 feet throwing in the 70's. A few years ago a study was done comparing a Randy Johnson fastball with an Amanda Freed (UCLA) fastball. The study showed there was less time to react by about .5 seconds to a Freed 65 mph pitch compared to a Johnson 95 mph pitch.
posted by scottypup at 03:23 PM on June 10, 2005
Ok, I'm going to jump into deep water again! A couple of weeks ago, I got ripped by you guy's on the article about an 11 year old pitching a no hitter. All the people who said girls softball was'nt even comparable, I hope you read this article. She needs to start developing her skills now. Before she get's used to overhand throwing.
posted by volfire at 07:18 PM on June 10, 2005
She needs to start developing her skills now. You still haven't provided one valid reason why she "needs" to switch from baseball to softball.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 09:10 PM on June 10, 2005
I remember the post, volfire, but not the part where everyone jumped on you, saying softball isn't comparable to baseball. It was more like, "Hey, this girl likes baseball more than softball. Fine." You tried hard to pick your fight tho...
posted by cl at 01:00 AM on June 11, 2005
scottypup: A few years ago a study was done comparing a Randy Johnson fastball with an Amanda Freed (UCLA) fastball. The study showed there was less time to react by about .5 seconds to a Freed 65 mph pitch compared to a Johnson 95 mph pitch. A Randy Johnson fastball takes less than .5 seconds to get to homeplate- are you suggesting that Amanda Freed could pitch faster than the speed of light?! So maybe I'm in the minority, but I just don't believe sexism can account for this.... by which I mean, if hitting a softball, even at fast-pitch, were even close to as hard as a baseball, then out of all the good female softball players, at least a couple would have broken into the major leagues by now. For that matter, 13-year-old Little League World Series contenders can hit ~70, and do so from a similarly short distance; yet bunches of kids still make contact, the majority of whom will never even sniff AAA ball in adulthood. So the only explanations to the dearth of women in the majors if you state that Jennie Finch is as hard to hit as Randy Johnson is either a) rampant sexism (likely the case, but not the cause) or b) it's actually not true: that it's a lot easier to hit a softball than it is a baseball (larger ball, metal bats, less Bernoulli effect due to low stitching, etc), but neither are easy unless you train for it specifically. I guess I'd be interested in seeing the best female softball player train for a month at hitting a major league fastball, and have a major league hitter train for a month at hitting a Jennie Finch-level softball, and place a bet in 30 days at who hits better.
posted by hincandenza at 01:43 AM on June 11, 2005
It's pretty cool that he rapped out a hit against her. TAKE THAT, LO DUCA!