History of the Pitching Machine
As you already know, the basic function of a pitching machine is to throw the baseball at the batter at varied styles and speeds. You get pitching machines that are automatically fed with balls, but most of the machines used by young players are manually fed. The pitching machine is mainly used by the baseball players to master the art of batting. When using a pitching machine, you do not require a pitcher to throw balls at you and this also prevents other players from getting tired or experiencing fatigue. This allows the batters to bat for a very long time.
It may come as a surprise to you that initially the players were scared to practice with pitching machines as they feared being hit. In fact the old pitching machines were powered by gun powder! Over the years, the pitching machines have evolved in to more player friendly, safe, convenient and sophisticated pitching machines. You would be surprised to know that all baseball teams whether at the school level or college level or at the league level all use pitching machines.
Pitching Machines – Invention
The pitching machine was invented in the year 1897 much to the delight of baseball players. This comes as a huge surprise because the game of baseball is quite old.
The credit for inventing the pitching machine in 1897 goes to Mr. Charles Howard Hinton, a mathematics professor at the University of Princeton and an author of science fiction. Hinton invented the machine in order to help the baseball team at the University of Princeton to practice. This most basic form of pitching machine was run with the help of gun powder. Definitely, this model was not very safe and could have caused injuries to the players. With the advent of science and technology, we definitely have more sophisticated and safe machines today.
You would be surprised to note that just as the modern pitching machine; the pitching machine invented by Hinton also had plenty of unique features. Hinton was a great thinker and a great genius. The pitching machine designed by Hinton was able to propel balls from various distances and varied speeds as a professional pitcher would do so. What is really worth appreciating is that even in those good olden days; Hinton was able to invent a machine that could throw the ball at various speeds.
Modern Pitching Machines
Now days, you get plenty of sophisticated pitching machines with plenty of features. You would be surprised to know that the latest and sophisticated pitching machines use mechanized arms, compressed air and wheels to throw the ball at the batters. The machines also throw the ball at varied speeds and different pitches. You would be surprised to know that some pitching machine also throw the ball in an underhand style, thus providing quality batting practice to all the batters.
As discussed earlier, the sophisticated and advanced machine can throw balls in any type of pitch style and can also throw knuckle balls. Some pitching machines also provide a real play experience by using technology. With the help of video projection, a picture is created in such a way that baseballs are released and the batter would be made to feel like a real pitcher is throwing the baseball at him. The modern pitching machines help the batters to practice with the balls being hurled at them at various speeds. They also get used to plenty of different pitches and styles. Definitely, the modern pitching machine is a boon to every aspiring baseball player.