Article 5 - Visual Memory, The Pitcher’s Plight

This is the fifth in a series of articles on the Visual Memory Index©.
To read the entire series to-date, click here.

Neeley Scale - Maximum Lift and Tail Off from a straight line at ¾ arm slot on 95 mph four-seam fastball

Air Density	Heavyweights	Welterweights	Lightweights	Featherweights	Bantamweights
Neeley Scale	70’s	60’s	50’s	40’s	30’s
Max Lift	7 inches Lift	6 Inches Lift	5 Inches Lift	4 Inches Lift	3 Inches Lift
Max Tail Off	9 Inches Tail Off	8 Inches Tail Off	7 Inches Tail Off	5 Inches Tail Off	4 Inches Tail Off
Venues	California teams, Seattle, Philly, Boston, Wash., New York & Balt.	the Midwest up to 1,000 feet and warmer temps	Atlanta, Arizona, Texas, Kansas City	Denver Coors Field	Denver Coors Field

In the previous articles I have articulated why a modern 6 oz. baseball flying through the air at 95 mph has no chance to stay on the same track in differing climates. This makes baseball the most unpredictable game in sports, and it is no wonder it became America’s pastime.

We all love baseball--because most of us played the game at some level, so we all have an image of what happens from the batter’s box view. We also have an image of the game from several field positions, and some from the pitcher’s toe plate. Others know the game from this standpoint in kickball, softball, fastpitch, and little league, and/or as a spectator or coach. But each one sees a different game from his own perspective inside the same game, and as humans we all feel we know the game inside and out.

This familiarity allows us to cheer, jeer and blame--especially the pitcher. Looking at the chart above, how would a pitcher deal with moving from a heavyweight ADI into a Bantamweight ADI and vice versa; especially, considering the tail off -- sideways directional movement differential? In other words, if he is used to the visual and the feel of the fastball moving 9 inches toward the corner of the strike zone, but is suddenly surprised to have only 4 inches movement today, isn’t that going to leave the pitch where he does not want it? What does he do, if he did not anticipate this? The pitch is straighter and easier to hit, but he can’t see the amount of movement, because it moves during his follow-through, when his body is bent forward and his head is moving to the opposite side of his throwing arm. Yet, he must throw a strike or put a runner on base, and the world is watching while he cannot figure out what is wrong with his pitching.

How does a pitcher in this situation adjust? Does he move his foot on the toe plate? Does he step an inch or so to the right or left? Does he dare hit the strike zone with a straighter pitch? And, in his mind, can he make the ball move like normal by throwing harder, or by putting faster spin on the ball? We’ll continue this in the next article.

Visual Memory by Clifton Neeley, creator of the Visual Memory Index© and the web-site www.baseballvmi.com. Clifton pitched and played baseball and fast-pitch softball in the mountainous southwest Colorado area (from 4,000 feet in Grand Junction to 6,000 feet in Durango to 9,000 feet in Telluride) prior to his college experience in baseball.

Article 4 - Visual Memory, Air Pressure Is Powerful--Air Density Is the Result

This is the fourth in a series of articles on the Visual Memory Index©.
To read the entire series to-date, click here.

So, how powerful is barometric pressure? What are we really talking about here? Looking at the Neeley Scale, how do we know these pitches do what the scale says?

Several years ago, a research engineer heard about the Neeley Scale and its application to objects flying through the air in sports. He asked if he could have stock in our company if he could convert a mortar launch computer program to duplicate the flight of a baseball. I flew to Houston, Texas, and worked with him at Paulin Research where we looked at Dr. Adair’s book and university studies in baseball flight, as well as known concepts in engineering, physics and aeronautics. Aided by an aeronautical engineer, Mr. Paulin provided me with a program that shows the effects of air density on the flight of the curveball and the four-seam fastball. Using this program, I can easily measure to 1/16 of an inch, the actual lift and curvature of these pitches based on any air density in baseball between Denver, Colorado, and sea level venues. All the other pitches will vary in accordance and percentage with these two pitches, even if, in certain cases such as the knuckleball, the action is different.

Neeley Scale - Maximum Lift and Tail Off from a straight line at ¾ arm slot on 95 mph four-seam fastball

Air Density	Heavyweights	Welterweights	Lightweights	Featherweights	Bantamweights
Neeley Scale	70’s	60’s	50’s	40’s	30’s
Max Lift	7 inches Lift	6 Inches Lift	5 Inches Lift	4 Inches Lift	3 Inches Lift
Max Tail Off	9 Inches Tail Off	8 Inches Tail Off	7 Inches Tail Off	5 Inches Tail Off	4 Inches Tail Off
Venues	California teams, Seattle, Philly, Boston, Wash., New York & Balt.	the Midwest up to 1,000 feet and warmer temps	Atlanta, Arizona, Texas, Kansas City	Denver Coors Field	Denver Coors Field

Most of us know what happens to a 3,000 pound car traveling at highway speeds, if shifted into neutral. Of course, the air resistance will immediately begin slowing the car. We are familiar with cars, air compressors, jets, winds and tornados, but these examples involve moving air or moving something against the air that we can feel, or see. To give you a concept of the invisible, still air density between the Featherweight baseball venues and the Heavyweight venues, consider this: Meteorologists measure the power of a hurricane by comparing the interior pressure to the exterior pressure surrounding the hurricane. The interior pressure of some of the most destructive hurricanes in history is measured at 850 millibars, which is the same as standard Coors Field pressure. The standard exterior pressure at sea level is measured at 1013 millibars. If a room in Coors Field on a warm day could be filled with cool sea level air, the pressure differential would put 13,000 pounds of pressure on the door.

A 6 oz. ball flying through the air at 95 mph has no chance to stay on the same track in differing climates. This makes baseball the most unpredictable game in sports. It’s no wonder we love it.

Visual Memory by Clifton Neeley, creator of the Visual Memory Index© and the web-site www.baseballvmi.com. Clifton pitched and played baseball and fast-pitch softball in the mountainous southwest Colorado area (from 4,000 feet in Grand Junction to 6,000 feet in Durango to 9,000 feet in Telluride) prior to his college experience in baseball.

Article 3 - Visual Memory, St. Louis and Albert Pujols

This is the third in a series of articles on the Visual Memory Index©.
To read the entire series to-date, click here.

The 2011 World Series was interesting from this standpoint: In October, St. Louis can turn quite cold in a short period of time. In Texas, Arlington can be very warm at World Series time. It turned out that way during the Series of 2011.

Armed with the “Neeley Scale” (see Article 2) air density gauge, it was easy to predict the first two games of the World Series would be pitchers’ duels. Then, upon moving to Arlington, Texas, the games could become slug fests.

St. Louis Cardinals vs. Texas Rangers
1 October 19 Texas Rangers – 2, St. Louis Cardinals – 3 Busch Stadium
2 October 20 Texas Rangers – 2, St. Louis Cardinals – 1 Busch Stadium
3 October 22 St. Louis Cardinals – 16, Texas Rangers – 7 Arlington
4 October 23 St. Louis Cardinals – 0, Texas Rangers – 4 Arlington

Neeley Scale - Maximum Lift and Tail Off from a straight line at ¾ arm slot on 95 mph four-seam fastball

Air Density	Heavyweights	Welterweights	Lightweights	Featherweights	Bantamweights
Neeley Scale	70’s	60’s	50’s	40’s	30’s
Max Lift	7 inches Lift	6 Inches Lift	5 Inches Lift	4 Inches Lift	3 Inches Lift
Max Tail Off	9 Inches Tail Off	8 Inches Tail Off	7 Inches Tail Off	5 Inches Tail Off	4 Inches Tail Off
Venues	California teams, Seattle, Philly, Boston, Wash., New York & Balt.	the Midwest up to 1,000 feet and warmer temps	Atlanta, Arizona, Texas, Kansas City	Denver Coors Field	Denver Coors Field

Game time temperatures in St. Louis identified the game as a “Heavyweight,” but neither St. Louis nor Texas had played in a “Heavyweight” game for at least two weeks. Albert Pujols went 0 for 6 in the two games in St. Louis, as did most of the two teams’ players. When switching to Arlington’s “Welterweight” air for Game 3, Pujols went 5 for 6. I mention this because Albert Pujols is one of the game’s best hitters, but the performance was predictable and is opposite a presumption made in the book, “The Physics of Baseball.” Dr. Adair, who admittedly never played baseball, predicted that a Colorado team would have an advantage in MLB because they play 81 games at close to “sea level” locations.

The opposite is true. They do learn to play well at home, because they are the most familiar with Coors Field, however, short-term memory is more accurate than long-term and the distant memory of ball movement at sea level takes several games to become similar to the home team. Regardless of the team, as the movement increases (not surprisingly) the struggle to square up on a ball increases. Similarly, as the movement decreases, the performance goes up, until (as I have frequently observed) a team becomes fully adjusted to a particular environment. Watch out for game 5 at a similar ADI.

Visual Memory by Clifton Neeley, creator of the Visual Memory Index© and the web-site www.baseballvmi.com. Clifton pitched and played baseball and fast-pitch softball in the mountainous southwest Colorado area (from 4,000 feet in Grand Junction to 6,000 feet in Durango to 9,000 feet in Telluride) prior to his college experience in baseball.

Article 2 - Visual Memory, Kansas City Royals and George Brett

This is the second in a series of articles on the Visual Memory Index©. The introductory article appeared on April 24 (scroll down to read it).

The Kansas City Royals enjoyed the career of George Brett, who was one of the finest hitters in all of baseball. Some years ago, I tracked each game of his 1978 season for changes in air resistance, which you know (if you read my first article appearing below on April 25), or the book by Dr. Robert Adair: The Physics of Baseball) changes the amount of movement the pitcher has available to him.

Of course 1978 was before the personal computer became popular and before Sabremetrics revolutionized baseball, and before NASA analyzed the baseball flying through air. It was when coaches simply told their players, “Don’t give me any excuses, just go out there and hit the baseball.” George Brett did just that.

In order to track the air resistance, I had to create a gauge which would differentiate one baseball stadium from another. I enlisted the help of the mechanical engineering department at Colorado State University, where Dr. Douglas Hittle was the head. Before he retired, Dr. Hittle helped me to create a gauge of the air where baseball and other sports are played. We called it the “Neeley Scale” which gauges only that segment of the atmosphere that reaches from the mountaintops to sea level, and we placed it on a 100 scale. Armed with the gauge, I could see differences between Major League Baseball stadiums, including the temperatures and humidity levels that are prevalent throughout the season.

Neeley Scale - Maximum Lift and Tail Off from straight line on ¾ arm slot on 95 mph four-seam fastball

Air Density	Heavyweights	Welterweights	Lightweights	Featherweights	Bantamweights
Neeley Scale	70’s	60’s	50’s	40’s	30’s
Max Lift	7 inches Lift	6 Inches Lift	5 Inches Lift	4 Inches Lift	3 Inches Lift
Max Tail Off	9 Inches Tail Off	8 Inches Tail Off	7 Inches Tail Off	5 Inches Tail Off	4 Inches Tail Off
Venues	California teams, Seattle, Philly, Boston, Wash., New York & Balt.	the Midwest up to 1,000 feet and warmer temps	Atlanta, Arizona, Texas, Kansas City	Denver Coors Field	Denver Coors Field

In 1978, George Brett, playing for Kansas City, traveled in and out of “Heavyweight” air, “Welterweight” air and back to “Lightweight” air in Kansas City. One of the best hitters ever took several days to adjust to additional movement available at sea level locations. I’ve included the graph of his 1978 season. His overall average in Kansas City was .299 and stayed very stable throughout home stands. When leaving Kansas City for Welterweight 60’s air typical in the Midwest, adjustments were not very notable. However, when leaving Kansas City for “Heavyweight” air found mostly at sea level and on the coldest days in the Midwest, the adjustments are pronounced. Not surprisingly, his average was .190 where pitchers had the advantage of additional movement.

Visual Memory by Clifton Neeley, creator of the Visual Memory Index© and the web-site www.baseballvmi.com. Clifton pitched and played baseball and fast-pitch softball in the mountainous southwest Colorado area (from 4,000 feet in Grand Junction to 6,000 feet in Durango to 9,000 feet in Telluride) prior to his college experience in baseball.

Introduction to Visual Memory in Baseball

In the late 1980s to early 1990s, Major League Baseball, through Bud Selig, commissioned Dr. Robert Adair, Professor of Physics at Yale University, to write a book on the “Physics of Baseball.” Presumably, this book was to help in the decision as to whether Denver, Colorado, should be considered as a place to receive a major league franchise.

Now. . . baseball players are not extremely scientific as a group; probably most of them spent their high school years similar to me—daydreaming during science and math classes about the next baseball game—and girls. College. . .? Much the same, therefore most of us majored in P.E. and coaching. So, only two things from Dr. Adair’s book were actually remembered: 1) A baseball would fly about 9% further in Denver when hit; and 2) A baseball pitched at 90 mph in four-seam fashion does not rise, even though it lifts. All else has been lost, probably because it was too in-depth for most of us.

Prior to the Colorado franchise, the lightest air in MLB was in Atlanta (hot, humid and elevated to 1,000 ft.). The fastball in these conditions lifts, or hops, approximately 1 inch less than at sea level and about the same as in most mid-western venues during the summer weather patterns. So, baseball was just baseball. No money ball. No extensive computer statistical analysis. No science. No mention of PED’s. And, no one knew that the fastball was straighter by 1” less lift on the 4-seamer, yet Atlanta became known as the “Launching Pad” of baseball.

Air resistance is actually a big deal. Even in Coors Field in summer temperatures-- Larry Walker said, “The fastball is by far the most difficult pitch to hit”--and it only deviates from a straight line by about 3 inches (upward) and 5 inches (sideward) at a 3/4 arm slot. To be within 1/16” of center on a fastball, the hitter must remember the pitch track from previous experience; so, during the first 20 feet of the pitch, he is looking for spin to determine the pitch type. Then, the second 20 feet or so, he is deciding location within the strike zone. Finally, in the last 10 to 20 feet he is looking for amount of movement caused by air resistance.

Little does the hitter know the air began pushing the ball off track in the first 20 feet, so if his team has recently switched locations or the temperatures declined from yesterday, then the hitter’s memory needs to be “adjusted.” Even 1 inch additional movement from the invisible air creates a problem for the hitter.

This is the first of several articles involving Visual Memory by Clifton Neeley, creator of the Visual Memory Index© and the web-site www.baseballvmi.com. Clifton pitched and played baseball and fast-pitch softball in the mountainous southwest Colorado area (from 4,000 feet in Grand Junction to 6,000 feet in Durango to 9,000 feet in Telluride) prior to his college experience in baseball.