TAI CHI & BASEBALL PITCHER

The major league baseball season starts today--April Fools' Day.  And if the 2013 World Series goes the distance, Game 7 will be on Halloween....

In the meantime, a profound similarity has been observed in the athletic forms used by American baseball pitchers and those utilized by practitioners of the Asian-based athletic discipline tai chi.



While taking 10-form integral tai chi lessons at a community center in Fairfax, VA some of the tai chi movements were easier for me to learn than others. They seemed familiar--kind of a déjà vu feeling. Then I realized that I was tapping into muscle memories from years ago on the high school pitching mound.



Continuing my lessons, I’ve been amazed at the number of common motions encountered. Baseball pitching is a “spring coil release” type of movement while tai chi is considered “self defense redirect”, so there’s no inherent reason for the resemblance.



Tai chi began in Asia about a thousand years ago, whereas baseball originated in America a mere 250-or-so years ago. There is nothing historically indicating any notable influence of either one upon the other.



It hoped that this startling similarity will contribute to greater cross-cultural awareness, and could have implications in fields like robotics.



Here are the tai chi forms I’ve discerned approximated in the traditional baseball pitcher’s windup (animal names, in sequential order): Buffalo (reverse), Earth, Buffalo, Turtle, Phoenix, Frog (reverse), Crane, Phoenix (again), Tiger, Butterfly. Component slices of the forms are used in constructing this hybrid form.



Many baseball fans in 2013 have never seen a pitcher begin by raising both arms overhead and clasping the hands --something found in tai chi’s toad and tiger forms. But just forty years or so ago, elaborate windup styles--as evinced by such greats as Bob Gibson, Tom Seaver and Vida Blue--were commonplace.



And sixty years ago, the style in vogue was even more extended, as pitchers like ace Bob Feller started off with a swinging back-and-forth of the arms. That movement corresponds to elements of the turtle and buffalo tai chi forms. The present era tendency towards abbreviation of pitching motion may simply amount to trimming some fat. But note the prevalence of arm injury among current throwers.



Some movement analysts have recommended that pitchers incorporate tai chi into their training routine because research has shown it improve balances--obviously a key component in pitching since the player is standing on one leg or the other for most of the delivery while doing a lot of maneuvering around--as in the tai chi form for the crane. And when a pitcher drops his hands from overhead down to waist level, it resembles a component of the reverse toad form.



The most-photographed point in the pitching delivery is when the pitcher’s throwing arm is cocked back while striding forward. This posture is nearly a mirror image of the pose of the phoenix in tai chi.



The release and follow-through movements bear some resemblance to elements of the tiger and butterfly forms of 10-form integral tai chi--the one I‘ve been studying, although a bit of a stretch since the hands move together in them--which clearly doesn’t occur in this section of the pitching motion. However, broadening out to other 10-form tai chi styles on you tube, I did find some movements more like throwing.



So it may be possible to cover the entire pitching delivery via tai chi. A good editor could probably splice together a nice video. To further demonstrate this similarity, a researcher could get some serious tai chi students who have little knowledge of baseball and teach them pitching motion strictly by tai chi. Call it an extended hybrid or composite form. Video that routine and present it to the general public. Ask them what they think it is. Make sure students are diverse and neutrally clothed--not all wearing baseball caps so as not to lead the audience.
See how many of them see a baseball pitcher’s motion.



Check out some good examples of tai chi forms and baseball pitchers on my you tube playlist “Tai Chi & Baseball Pitching.” and you’ll see what I’m talking about. Includes archival pitching footage of Walter Johnson (1920s), Dizzy Dean (1930s) and Feller (1940s), along with Koufax, Gibson and Seaver (1960s to ‘70s).

Happy April Fools' Day, y/all!

Umpire's Mistake Explained

"Galarraga's Perfect Game Ruined by Umpire"--the headlines blare. Why did the umpire--Joyce--miss the obvious game-ending out call at first base? It seems he must have choked, right?

Maybe an explanation comes from the way baseball umpires are trained. On a bang-bang play like the one at first base, the umpire looks for the foot touching the base and LISTENS for the ball hitting the mitt. However, on this particular play, Galarraga caught the ball snow-cone style. So there was no sound of the ball going "thump" while impacting the pocket of the glove.

The reason umpires listen for the ball is a simple limitation of human vision. We can only focus on one spot at a time. The umpire at first base stands down the line several feet from the base. On this play--a grounder to the 1st baseman with the pitcher covering the base, the umpire needs to focus on the base at the crucial time because he must evaluate two things in that visual spot--the hitter's foot arriving and the pitcher's foot arriving and often groping for the base. If the umpire takes his eye off the base for a split second to look for the ball, he may miss the pitcher's foot touching or straying from the base, and so miss the call.

Why, then can we all watch this instant replay and see the call was wrong? To begin with, the speed is usually slow so we have time to go back and forth with our eyes. Furthermore, glove and base are much closer together in the field of view on a TV screen compared with what the umpire sees.

The grounder to first baseman off the bag with pitcher covering is one of the more difficult to handle defensively and to umpire. It involves an intricate interplay between four principals--pitcher, first baseman, hitter/runner and umpire. So many things can go wrong: pitcher slow to react gets to base late; pitcher pressed for time looks for throw while groping for base; 1st-baseman aims at base and misses pitcher or aims at pitcher and misses base; 1st baseman leads the pitcher just as he's stopping; 1st-baseman prematurely anticipates pitcher stopping so throw goes behind him; pitcher and hitter/runner get tangled up; controversial call by umpire involving pitcher's foot on/off bag or ball caught cleanly/juggled.

The subjective judgment of umpires is clearly a part of the game. This is most evident on ball/strike calls. It's also apparent on tags and diving catches in the outfield. Unfortunately, what sells an above-the-wall circus catch--snow-cone ball--is cause for doubt in the play at first as it brings up the issue of possession. Understanding that the umpire was listening for, not looking at the ball, any inclination he might've had to reverse his call was squelched by that protruding ball.

While it may seem crazy to us now that this umpire--Joyce--would error on the side of ruining the perfect game, consider what would've happened if on the instant replay it was obvious that Armando Galarraga was juggling the ball. Joyce would be mocked as the soft-hearted umpire, the "yes" man umpire, the blind umpire,the wimpire, and so on. Galarraga's deed would be called the imperfect game, the umperfect game, the Quote "perfect" game, and so on.



PS Regarding limits of human vision. Ditto in other sports. Basketball out-of-bounds ball contested by 2+ players: the referee needs to watch the ball to see who touches it last and also monitor contact for fouls. In Football on a fumble: the official needs to watch for the carrier's knee touching ground and also the ball coming loose unexpectedly and possibly the ball and/or the runner going out-of-bounds, as well as a bunch of players diving for the loose ball.

These sports have wisely implemented instant replay on plays such as these. Baseball would be wise to do so on plays like the one that cost Galarraga his no-hitter.