Myth Busters

I love the show Mythbusters on the Discovery Channel. I bring this up only because one of the recent show was dedicated to baseball myths. Of interest is whether the humidity of the ball affects the length of a hit. They were looking at the Colorado Rockies and noted that the balls are now kept in a humidor to add humidity for more consistent play.

The answer: Sure as hell does. By 14%. A baseball at a humidity of 10% will fly 14% farther then a baseball at a humidity of 90%. For a ball hit 300 feet, that is an astonishing 40 additional feet for a dry ball.

The point is that, like Thew, I have given Bonds more slack. There are too many variables - field size, pitchers, dry balls - to say Bonds would not be the home run king regardless. You can also wonder how many he would have hit had he had a Manny or A-Rod batting behind him. It all evens out.

Thirty years from now nobody will give a shit.