In a revelation of epic proportions to which I’ve never seen – well, maybe not as big as the guy with chocolate bumping into the guy with peanut butter and coming up with that tasty cup – there is scientific proof that taking steroids makes baseballs fly further. I know….I’m in a shock tremor too.
Depending on the ball’s trajectory, this added speed could take it into home run territory 50 percent more often, said Roger Tobin of Tufts University in Boston
Calculations show that, by putting on 10 percent more muscle mass, a batter can swing about 5 percent faster, increasing the ball’s speed by 4 percent as it leaves the bat.
“A 4 percent increase in ball speed, which can reasonably be expected from steroid use, can increase home run production by anywhere from 50 percent to 100 percent,” said Tobin, whose study will be published in an upcoming issue of the American Journal of Physics. [Story]
In an unrelated story, swallowing straight chicken fat can cause a 5% fat gain in 99% of humans. An MIT physicist rounded up 100 normal humans and had them ingest chicken fat for 4 weeks straight. Amazingly, only one person did not gain any fat. He was bulimic and his name was Sara, but the study still stands!
