THE QATSPY® Quapaw Aviation Tactical Sportswear Performance, YUKAN Outfitter Company
By: Charles W. Boatright, President of THE QATSPY® Company
Examining/Presenting All the Facts of the Case– If you Focus on one aspect of a Case, Your Analysis & Remedy Could be Inaccurate or Off TOTALLY
I just heard a study that reported that the reason home run counts are up was due to Climate Warming; excuse me that was the old term, I mean Climate Change. A Dartmouth study suggested that in over 100,000 baseball games, the home run count has increased. (Just for your information, there are 162 games in a regular MLB regular season). Dartmouth research looked at games between 1962 and 2019 = 57 years.
Being an Engineer, there are a lot of factors that affect the trajectory of a ball. Limiting it to just climate overlooks a lot of other governing factors. Why limit this study to just home run counts only. Why not look at the sport of golf, especially since we just had the Masters this past week.
If you want to look at the distance and trajectory of a ball, we need to look at the sport of golf where the drives are getting longer and where they are making either courses longer or adjusting existing golf courses to compensate for the distance of today’s drives. The improved performance of golf balls are causing concern for those in the governance to want to dial back the distances balls travel off the face of the club. Several years ago the USGA limited the shape of grooves on the face of the club.
There are a lot of factors that need to be explored and considered before we assign the cause and effect of the home run count increased being just contributed to climate change. Because if you narrow it down just to one cause and effect, you might not be getting the full impact and correlation between home run count and the real reason.
The Cause for Longer Drives in Golf
I can say for a fact that there are other factors to why we have longer drives in today’s golf game: ONE- Balls that are manufactured today have a higher level of performance for distance and control through computer analysis and technology advances. TWO- Equipment with new materials and design improves the smash factors with control. THIRD- Golfers are stronger and have better strength and conditioning training, based on kinesiology and improved ergonomics with computer analysis that can analyze everything down to milliseconds of the golfer’s swing.
I live in Mississippi where we have the two H factors of weather- Heat and Humidity. You can take two days in May with the same ambient temperature, but with different percents of relative humidity and hit two separate golf balls on those two different days and the humidity will affect the ball trajectory. The denser, humid air will change trajectory and thereby the distance the golf ball will travel. The change in humidity is a given and its affects hasn’t changed in decades. It was just as humid in the 60’s when I was growing up during the dog days of summer then as summers are now.
College Baseball Changes stitching on the seams for an Offensive Component
In 2015, college baseball for the first time in 155 years changed the specification on the seams to flatter stitching to introduce and improve the offensive component into the game by decreasing drag coefficient. Will Flat Seams Baseball change College Baseball?
Even the MLB (Major Baseball League) formed an independent committee to investigate the increase number of home runs and concluded that the cause for the increase home run count was caused by the ball itself. It also concluded the there was an decrease in the coefficient in drag. How one tiny change to the baseball may have led to both the home run surge and the rise in pitcher blisters, written by The Atlantic. Even in NASCAR every driver is aware of the coefficient of drag has on the cars performance.
I’m a college football, basketball, and baseball sports fanatic and love the amateur performance of the teams even if the other team beats my team. I enjoy demonstration of sportsmanship and the competitive spirit on both teams, because it mimics life in so many ways.
One of the Biggest Factor in Sports is Equipment, Strength, and Conditioning
A lot of sports performance can be affected by equipment change and improvement in the strength and conditioning of the athlete. One of the most important coaches on any coaching staff, whether it is football, basketball, golf, or baseball, is the Strength & Conditioning Coach is essential.
Due to the ball and equipment technology in golf and swing analysis, I’m have improved my Golf Game
I’m 65 years old and due to the ball and equipment technology in golf and swing analysis, with strength and conditioning, I’m driving my drives 50- yards farther to 295- yards in the past 5- years. If you look at golf, there have been tremendous strides made in equipment and strength and conditioning, as in my case.
Just to prove this, go to a World War II museum, and look at the flight jackets and uniforms of that era and of people today. A lot of cases you wonder how in the world they could wear such small sizes of uniforms of that era, compared with today’s era.
Even when I was in high school during the 70’s, we didn’t have the strength and conditioning of today’s high school training. With today’s nutrition, these athletes are bigger, stronger and faster. Just look how recruits that are showing up at Pro-Day at the NFL Combine and in the MLB. They are ready to hit the grass running with speed and performance. Virtual training has had a tremendous impact, as well.
The case I’m making, they are bigger, stronger, and have high-tech training
Then after touring the World War II museum, go to a local high school or American League baseball game and see the players now compared to 40- years ago. The case I’m making, they are bigger, stronger, faster and have high-tech training. In my high school, the only athletes that did strength training was the football squad that I was on in the late 70’s. Now, some high schools have strength and conditioning coaches for both boys and girls, regardless of the sport.
Ask a major league pitcher if they would like to see the league go to aluminum bats?
So to pin the evidence on increasing home runs just to one factor, ignores the improved equipment, training, and strength and conditioning training of athletes. Ask a major league pitcher if he would like to face an MLB batter with an aluminum bat? You will get a quick answer fast. If you think baseballs are traveling fast now, just switch to aluminum bats in the MLB and see the trajectory change.
To nail it down to just climate only for the home run count being higher is a difficult case to make; there are other factors to consider. If climate was the case, then they need to move the Colorado Rockies’ MLB Team out of Denver, the Mile High City, to a lower elevation, because of the unfair advantage it gives hitters with lighter air. If I could adjust to the thin air, I would love to hit golf balls in those conditions.
My Strength & Conditioning Training at Age 65 to Provide Performance
In the above featured photograph taken on March 21, 2023 at Dudy Noble Baseball Stadium in Starkville, Mississippi at the Out Field Lounge. I’m 65- years old in this feature photograph and the photograph, below, showing me in our hangar. I credit that I still enjoy playing golf and working out in my Mojave Gym, (it has no air-conditioning where temperatures can reach 118 deg F) to my diet and fitness routine. My performance and condition are due to my diet, based on WHAT and WHEN I eat and also my workout program.
After I took classes in kinesiology and ergonomics from Tulane, I developed a workout and diet program that allowed me to stay in shape and active, even over the age of 60. The program worked so well that I wrote an eBook about how I obtained my health and conditioning, including the health of my skin. I have the health and conditioning of my skin that I had in my mid-30’s, at age 65. A diet and fitness routine that gets you in shape and that is age-defying, as well!
I wrote a book that contained my diet (on how to read nutrition labels that is 80% of getting into shape) and with my workout program videos to help others improve their health, fitness, and lifestyle; below you can purchase a download copy: