Baseball Zealot Radio interviews Professor Alan Nathan on the Physics of Baseball

As he says, Professor Alan Nathan has been a physicist for all his career but a baseball fan all his life. What started out for him ten years ago as a one-time gig lecture on the physics of baseball at the University of Illinois, it has mushroomed into ongoing series of lectures and projects focusing on the topic.

This was a very interesting interview for me despite my initial trepidation of not knowing ANY physics.  Never fear, Alan broke it down so even I could understand it.

Here are the show notes for Show 26:

Hosts: Tom and Shawn

Summary: Alan Nathan is a professor of physics at the University of Illinois who lectures often on the physics of baseball.  During our interview with Alan, we cover the effects of spin on the flight of the baseball, wood versus aluminum bats,  and “Is there such a thing as a rising fastball?”.

Definitely, take a listen to our interview with Alan as he has a unique way of looking at the game.  Afterwards, swing on by his website entitled The Physics of Baseball.  There’s a plethora of info related to his field.

At the end of the show, Alan mentioned that MLB was making a lot of data from Gameday available to the public.  Alan provided me this link to an article on Friar Watch which explains how to access the data and how to use it.

Much thanks to Alan Nathan for his time.  I found the interview very insightful and hope you do too.

Thanks for listening!!

Time: 46:39

Date Recorded: 7/24/07

Direct Link to Show 26

Baseball Zealot Radio website

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