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Around SBN: The Record of Wrongs: Vanderbilt Commodores

Baseball In Space

NASA have released a map (below) of the extents of the Apollo 11 expedition on the lunar surface mapped onto a baseball diamond. It's a really cool way of showing the scale of the mission 40 years ago, as well as being a gorgeous picture:

(Click image for full-size)

Hat-tip Paul in the OT.

3 recs  |  Comment 109 comments

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Bans are the new flags!

Nice Guys Finish Third - My semantics are a waste of time.

by pdb on Jul 20, 2009 3:47 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

And if the chart were set up in Left Field

It would look like the path Raul would commonly take to chase down a routine fly-ball

I want to poop at your house - Thingray

by tootthekazoo on Jul 20, 2009 12:32 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Crater creator!

I fucking hate you Mariners

by kentroyals5 on Jul 20, 2009 1:07 PM PDT up reply actions   3 recs

This never gets old.

The Yankees suck-a-doodle-doo!

by JamMasterJesus on Jul 20, 2009 2:26 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

So is it me

Or is that a really small baseball field?

by Manzanillos Cup on Jul 20, 2009 12:03 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

Or the LEM is gigantic.

I will smash your face into a jelly.

by Phildopip on Jul 20, 2009 1:13 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

LM, stupid, this isn't 1964.

I will smash your face into a jelly.

by Phildopip on Jul 20, 2009 1:31 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Ha!

I read the scale wrong. Whoops.

by Manzanillos Cup on Jul 20, 2009 5:01 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

That's pretty damn cool.

The Rise of a Superstar:Justin Upton-.398wOBA, 21 years old.

by Goose on Jul 20, 2009 12:36 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

A moon shot in the literal sense.

You got slurved!

Hehehe Mark Reynolds is so awesome.

by Slurvey on Jul 20, 2009 1:13 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Because I am a geek

According to Hittracker one of Russ’ homers left the bat at 110.7 mph.

Neglecting the curvature of the moon and air resistance and assuming he launches the ball at a perfect 45 degrees we get a simple formula for distance.

You have to convert mph into ft/sec (I get 162.4 ft/sec) and assume the moon’s gravity is exactly 1/6 that of earth’s.

I get 819ft * 6 or 4,912ft or 0.93 miles.

819ft is how far the ball would go on earth with no wind resistance.

by PDXTai on Jul 20, 2009 1:55 PM PDT up reply actions   4 recs

Big Russell!

He can hit ’em a Lunar mile!
Big Russell!

I will smash your face into a jelly.

by Phildopip on Jul 20, 2009 1:57 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Not wind resistance, it's friction from air, which is basically drag.

wind resistance = velocity of wind acting in relation to ball in flight.

by seattlebruin on Jul 20, 2009 2:00 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

You don't need to account for air resistance as the moon has no atmosphere.

Also, the moon’s circumference is close to 7,000 miles, curvature would be minimally important.

by Vatinius on Jul 20, 2009 2:00 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

True.

If you wanted to pick a smaller nit, you could argue that the space near the moon is not a perfect vacuum and the ball would likely encounter dust particles during its flight, slowing it down.

A bigger factor might be that Russ would have to wear some sort of suit which would reduce his swing efficiency. He’d also probably be hitting off a tee which reduce the amount of energy imparted to the ball (as compared to an incoming fastball) which would reduce the distance.

Of course, no friction from air could increase hit bat speed which might offset the above.

No nit too small!

by PDXTai on Jul 20, 2009 2:08 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

I'd say the worst assumption is the launch angle

You could probably derive the actual angle from hit tracker data, yes?

by Graham on Jul 20, 2009 2:10 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

I interpreted the question to be "how far could Russ hit one?"

which implies optimal conditions. You are correct that we could take the angle data from hit tracker instead. I’ll leave that as an exercise for the reader.

by PDXTai on Jul 20, 2009 2:11 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Fuck the suits.

Let’s just build a massive domed ballpark with 4800 foot fences. You’d probably want to get some good outfielders.

angels fan in seattle

by Eyebrows on Jul 20, 2009 3:26 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Well until 2035 when jetpacks are legalized

then you just need dorks who can catch a baseball and calculate vectors on the fly (and maybe repair jetpacks mid-inning)

by seattlebruin on Jul 20, 2009 3:35 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Isn't that Coors Field?

Chicks dig the long ball.

by LauraBu on Jul 20, 2009 4:21 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

It does have an atmosphere, it's just less than one trillionth as dense as Earth's.

But, yeah, for all intents and purposes, the moon has no atmosphere.

I will smash your face into a jelly.

by Phildopip on Jul 20, 2009 2:09 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Hmmm.

Only on the moon can we have a 1-9-3 Armstrong-Armstrong-Armstrong DP…

Niehaus with the call:

“And here’s the pitch from Armstrong.
Kenji swings AND IT’S A LONG FLY BALL DEEP….
Back to the pitcher.
Armstrong catches the ball, and what’s he doing now –
HE’S throwing it out to right field?!?
Where’d this guy learn how to play defense???
And he’s kangaroo-hopping out to right field,
AND HE CATCHES THE BALL! Fires back to first —
WHAT’S THIS?!? Armstrong’s hopping back to first!?!
I DON’T BELIEVE IT! Armstrong makes it back to first base and grabs his own throw!
Jose Lopez is caught napping on the play and is thrown out at first.
I guess you’d call that a 1-9-3 double play, folks!
One small whack from Joh; One giant blunder from Jose!”

This signature space for rent.

by PositivePaul on Jul 21, 2009 9:58 AM PDT reply actions   0 recs

Shouldn't need to be explained...

But I was looking at the route to the pink dot…

Of course, details… details… The arrows suggest Neil’s the first baseman and in my crazy interpretation he’d somehow make the DP at the pitcher’s mound…

Just ignore my ramblings. I’m deeply buried in an impossibly-timelined web coding project at work and my brain is fried.

This signature space for rent.

by PositivePaul on Jul 21, 2009 11:41 AM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

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