Mythbusters baseball myths?

Question

They had a baseball edition on Mythbusters. They said you could not knock the cover off the ball. In the HBO special about Mickey Mantle, it showed Mantle holding up a ball that had a quarter-sized hole in the cover after he had hit it. Are there any other verified stories out there about hitters damaging baseballs? Would these rare occurences only happen if the ball had some defect in the lacing or something? Whatcha all got on this?

The more I think about it, the more I think Mantles must have been a foul the way it damaged just that one quarter-sized piece like he just got a piece of the ball with that lightning fast swing of his.

Answer 1

they tested it with modern age baseballs which maybe different or stronger than older ones. So it may have been easier for mickey mantle to take the skin off the ball.

Answer 2

Mythbusters Baseball Myths

Answer 3

There was one occurance that I saw on sportscenter in 1997. Someone on the reds did in in BP but they said it was due to a "lacing flaw" on the ball. But they had fun with it and joked around with the guy that did it. In the the movie "The Natural" (great movie by the way) he hits the ball in the air and it is struck by lightning and the cover came off, but everyone thought he hit it off. Anyway it would take a flaw in a ball to make the cover come off.

Answer 4

Dave Parker once hit a ball so hard that some of the stitching burst. The entire cover did NOT come off though.

Answer 5

I watched that ! But i kinda fell asleep.But i can imagine that the balls back then were a little more fragile and were made differently from the ones they tested on,so the modern day balls probably wouldn't do that.

Answer 6

I dont know but there is the story of Ruth point the location where he would hit the pitch, and he did. again, it was the early 1900s. and everything seems so spooky about that time.