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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (July 17, 1959)
Scientist Says Baseball's A Missile; But, Batters Have Known It All Along Cleveland-Science Service- A baseball, often described as the world's most popular unguided missile, is subject to many of the factors that work on a ballastic missile. For example, cold, dry air can rob long ball hitters of home runs. This happens, Dr. W. Milton Swanson of Case Institute of Technology here reports, because the air is more dense on a cold, dry day than on a hot humid day. Under otherwise identical conditions, this difference in air density can result in a discrepancy of 10 to 20 feet in a ball hit 400 feet. This means that pitchers Vargas Due In Portland Portland - (DPD Mexican ' heavyweight contender Reu ben Vargas was due in Port land today to wind up train ing for his nationally tele visted bout with Eddie Mac hen at the Centennial Exposi tion arena next Wednesday. Vargas will take his first Portland workout at the Grand Avenue Gym Saturday at 2 p.m. Machen has planned workouts for noon each day. Reports from San Fran cisco indicate that - Vargas will be given a non-title fight with heavyweight champion Ingemar Johansson next fall in Sweden if he stops Machen. Aiacnen, a roruanaer wno .-.was rated number one con tender in the heavyweight ' out by Johansson last fall, whipped Vargas in a S"an Francisco bout last May. . The videoed main event will get underway at 6 p.m. Wednesday with a 200-mile area around Portland blacked out. Promoter Tommy- Moyer has announced plans for two supporting 10-round bouts, a six-rounder, and a pair of four-heat clashes. have an advantage over bat ters in the cool days of early spring and towards the end of the season. Batting aver ages should rise, on the other hand, during the hot humid days of midsummer. At that time, because of the less dense air, the pitcher also has less control of the baseball. Weight also affects a soar ing baseball just as it affects any other ballistic missile, Dr. Swanson, who is assistant pro fessor of mechanical engineer ing at Case, reports. A baseball's weight causes a natural drop in its flight of three to four feet as it travels the 60 and one-half feet from the pitcher's mound to home plate at gametime speeds of 70 to 90 miles an hour. This difference is partly compen sated for by placing the mound three or four feet higher than the bottom of the strike zone at home plate. Depending on its direction of spin, Dr. Swanson reports, a baseball can curve five to eight inches in any direction. Most pitchers can give a ball a rotation of some 1,200 to 1,800 revolutions per min ute. .Scientists are still not sure whether a curve ball can "break," says Dr. Swanson. A good deal of what appears to be a "break" may simply be due to an optical illusion simi lar to that seen when watch ing an approaching train. In the distance a train seems to be moving at a relatively slow speed, but the closer it comes, the greater its speed appears. During the last half of the V of a second that a curve ball is in the air, its path de- SPORTS Friday, July 17, 1939 MAIL TRIBUNE, Medford, Or. 9 viation is twice as much as during the first half. Thus, if the ball actually curves seven and a half inches during its entire flight, it will curve five inches during the last half of its trip to the plate. Since the last half of its flight takes of a second, a batter needs good reflexes to be able to hit a curve ball at all. If he misjudges the flight of the ball by an inch or so, he will hit an easy pop fly or a grounder. A knuckle ball does not ro tate much and can move up and down and from side to side in a confusing manner, This erratic movement, Dr, Swanson says, is caused by the irregular pattern of seams on the non-rotating baseball CAMPING-Shown above are campers at Diamond lake, where the Medford YMCA . conducts a summer- camping program for boys. Registration for the week of .July 19-2 still are, being taken at the local Y. Cost of the camp is $20 for YMCA members with an additional $2 charge for non-members, Y officials said. Transportation for boys who do not have transportation avail able will be arranged at the YMCA. 7A HATFULLS OF MONEY DEMONSTRATOR SALE Buy a 1959 Buick or Cadillac and SAVE! '59 CADILLAC Two-Tone Blue SEDAN DeVlLLE ; Only 1850 miles. Save 1st year's depreciation. . Lon and Phyl used it the most. '59. BUICK INVICTA 4 Door Hardtop Light green-Only 2729 miles. Save a year's depreciation. Wes hates to part with this. SAVE THAT FIRST YEAR'S LOSS J t 5 J '59 BUICK ELECTRA 4 Door Hardtop Light grey Only 4775 miles. Save 1st year's depreciation. This is Norm's pride and joy. '59 BUICK LE SABRE 2 Door Hardtop Beautiful black Fully equipped. Only 4375 miles. "Del has real ly loved this car. wmr M& 143 S. RIVERSIDE MEDFORD Woods, Water, Wildlife By Hank OeVoss During the past few years I have heard many complaints from ' sportsmen regarding policies of the Game Com mission. Sometimes these com' plaints are legitimate in that there seems good cause for -them but most of the time the complaints seem to be an at tempt to blame the Game Commission for a lack of suc cess at hunting and fishing, A case in point is the open ing day at Diampnd lake - a couple of years ago when fish ing was poor for most and the story was that the Game Com mission fed the fish tons of hamburger the night before. How this was accomplished varied with the storyteller; some claimed they saw barges out in the lake and others swore it was done by air plane. All of them were cei- tain that . they . didn't catch fish because of the actions of the Game Commission. A SURE CURE A sure cure for the type of ignorance displayed by many of the critics would be to spend a day with one of the resident biologists of the Oregon Game Commis sion and to experience some of the problems, they have to deal with every day. This was my good fortune the first of the week when I spent a day with Cole Rivers, the fish biologist for Jackson and Josephine counties. . SCIENCE VS. GUESSING One of the first reactions I felt was how in the world do you decide where to start in trying to solve some of these problems. Most of the biologist's work is problem solving because he knows so little about the habit of fish and their reactions to man's manipulation of their habitat. Sometimes we forget that this field of work is less' than twenty years old in Oregon and that the guesses that most sidewalk biologists think will solve all problems won't work for the man who can't afford guessing. If he tries something he has to do it as scientifical ly as possible in order to know what will and won't work and why. This takes time and is hard on the sports men who want their answers now. BIG AND SMART One of the most interest ing things I experienced on this field trip was watch ing the removal of trapped summer sleelhead to a tank truck for transportation to the Butte Falls hatchery. These fish are bypassed into a trap when they pass over the counting board at Gold Ray dam and this fisherman got quite excited when he saw the size of the fish. Statistics show that the average size - of summer sleelhead caught on the Rogue is about 16 inches. The fish in the trap were all larger than this and the biggest was a 28 incher that would pull the scales down to 9 pounds quite easily. These fish averaged about 22 inches and most of them were in the five pounds category. I asked Cole about the size difference between the fish caught by fisher men and the ones in the trap and he says that fisher men just don't seem able to hook into the big ones. WARNING Since these fish are to be used for attempts to restock the Rogue with summer steel head I would think this a good time to pass on a warning to fishermen. If the fish pass on their characteristics of being hard to catch we are either going to have a lot of summer steelhead some day and also a lot of frustrated fishermen or we're going to have to be better fishermen. WILD FISH It was quite exciting to watch Cole get into the trap and try to net these wild fish. The net was made of rubber in order to avoid harming the fish and the cramped quarters and fast' rushes of the fish made for - much splashing . and near misses. When a fish was netted it was put into a small tank that contained an anesthetic which knocked the fish out long enough to enable their being carried to the waiting hatchery truck. We all hoped they had a safe journey and would live to fullfill their destiny of replenishing the river with many large, fast and smart fish. ROGUE CHINOOK While watching the salmon moving up the ladder and across the counting board I asked Cole about the differ ences between individual fish. Some seemed much fatter than others. I was told that the heavier fish were the true Rogue spring chinook while the others were the results of various plantings of fish from other rivers. Looking at these monsters made it easy to see why fishermen came from all over the world to catch them and easyv to have reason to fight for their continued ex-istance. THE ANGLER'S LOG The hot weather has slowed things up here and there but there are still plenty of fish being caught and many, many more there for the catching. Diamond lake - Fishing is good. Best catches are being made trolling flatfish or flies. Some limits are being, taken and the largest fish so far has been a 9 pounder 28 inches long. Fish lake Has been very good. Anything in 'the tackle box seems to do" the job and almost everybody is limiting out. Boats and cabins are available; Four Mile lake Has been fairly good. Kokanee are be ing caught in water about 50 feet deep. Best method seems to be stillfishing using a piece of worm on the shank of the hook with a cerise single egg covering the bend and the barb. Rainbows and brookies are being taken trolling the edges or by fly fishing early and late. Klamath lake - Fishing has been good. ' Many large fish are being taken. Frank Logan of San Diego caught a 9V2, 7V and 7 pounder on an Andy Reeker. John Driskell of Brookings latched on to a 9 12 pounder ' using a A.R. Perch and catfish up to a pound are still . available. Boats and cabins available by call. . Lake of the Woods - Has been only fair. Some big fish have been caught by stillfish ing with single eggs. Willow Creek - Has been slow. Best method is flies in late afternoon. Some fisher men are having good luck and are limiting out. Some success with FF & flatfish. Water is clear and. swimming is good. THE OPTIMIST'S CORNER There are those who see nothing but black clouds on the horizon for the sports men of Oregon but my feel ing is one of optimism so long as we have men like Cole Rivers who are willing to take long hours, little pay and a lot of unjust criticism in return for their interesting work of trying to provide us with better fishing and hunting. The success of their work also hinges on how many of the sportsmen of , Oregon be come willing to see beyond their own individual needs to the point where they will work for this belter hunting and fishing. GOOD LUCK! Jack Curtis Hurls A Wenatchee Win By United Press International Thirteen was the lucky number f&r the Wenatchee Chiefs Thursday night. Jack Curtis was credited with his 13th win of the sea son as he twirled a neat five hitter to lead Wenatchee to a 6-1 Northwest League base ball victory over Yakima. The win moved the Chiefs to with in a half game of the league leading Bears. Curtis gave up the Bears' only run in the first inning and showed them zeros the rest of the way. He struck out eight and walked three. Wenatchee hit the scoring column in the third inning when Jerry Mason hit a two run double. Two runs in the sixth inning and one each in the seventh and eighth merely insured the victory. Other action saw Eugene defeat Lewiston, 3-2, and Tri City take Salem, 5-3. , Eugene's John O r s i n o tripled in the bottom of the ninth inning and then raced home on Mat Matlock's single to give the Emeralds their win over the Broncs. Lewis ton had tied the count in the top of the ninth with a two run rally. Gene Calder went; the dis tance for Eugene, getting win number 12 against seven de feats. By defeating Salem, Tri City moved to within a half game of climbing out of the league cellar. A two-run homer by Mac Schmidt in BARROW JOINS CATS Fenelon Falls. Ont. - (UPD - John Barrow, former Uni versity of Florida tackle, has signed a 1959 contract with ( the Hamilton Tiger Cats, a Canadian professional foot ball team. Barrow had been'' reported heading for the De-.' troit Lions of" the National Football League before com ing to terms. NO CENTS TO IT Tampa. Fla. - (UPD - Police insisted that John J. Eden field, 43, pay his $15 bail on a drunk charge by check. The only cash Edenfield had with him was 4,000 pennies, col-, lected from the vending ma chines he operates.. the third , inning was a big blow for the Braves. Tri-City won it in the fourth frame when Twink Pederson doubled aid later scored on a sacrifice fly. An Open Letter to our Customers and Friends Having anticipated the possibility of a steel strike, which started at 12:00 o'clock midnight on July 14, 1959, we have done everything' possible to procure adequate stocks to care for the needs of the area we serve. However, should it be prolonged, as many think.it will, inventories will of. necessity be drastically cut. ' ' . . .. We have had the pleasure of serving industry in this area for 10 years, and will do everything possible to take care of your steel requirements. Even though steel pro ducts will become short in supply, we will maintain our present prices unless there is a nation wide increase. If you have a need for steel products, please call Moore Steel Service Company Incorporated, 741 South Grape, Medford, Oregon. Phone SP 2-7197. Yours very truly, R. E. Mencke V. P. and General Manager W $cnz9j V ?yV 0 u 1959 Gates Air - Float 670-15 tub-lyp. Plui tax & retradobl trad-in. Lomst price m'i6 emol 'feted on this tough, shock-resistant NYLON tire. Gives extra trac tion, skid resistance., and extra mileage! NYLON Cord Body COLD RUBBER Tread 1959 Design Same tire made With TYREX (the new, improved rayon cord) uteri This tire is built with selected TYREX cord for ruggedness, durability. 95 670-15 tub4yp. Plus tax & rtrodabl trade-in. DrinfT TrnilC. Si JAII with y.-r r.tr.loU. tr.d-ln p.ls DUUV7CI icivfTtw; i uunii mmy saw Gate Tire ee your car. ta aaa IMTs Tire 1600 N. Riverside Ave. SP 2-4806
