Safe Or Not

[Jax]

I Guess

 

[MmmmBeeeeer]

I've never understood guys sliding into first on this game...thats like the #1 rule of running to first...dont slide.

 

[mfbmike]

Jax is the only person I've seen slide into 1st on numerous occasions. rofl.

 

[Jax]

Dont know much about baseball

 

[The Messenger]

Does sliding into a base make you reach base faster?

YES! Sliding into first base (or any base for that matter) most definately gets you to the base faster (to an extent). There is a break point when sliding goes from getting you there faster, and getting you there slower, and this break point is the same time it would take you to get to the bag if you were to run right through it. Basically, two seperate physics principles will act in conjuction with one another. The first is conservation of momentum. If you are sprinting at some velocity, then your center of mass also has that velocity. When you begin to rotate your body horizontally in preparation to slide, your center of mass REMAINS at that same velocity. What does this mean? This means that now, you are going the same speed, but you have 3 or more extra feet of reach in front of you, and thus WILL reach the bag faster. There is, however, the other physics principle that will ruin this entire effect: friction. If you were to dive to early, your body would be slowed down tremendously by friction between the ground and yourself, and the extra gain in reach would make no difference when compared to the extreme loss of speed. Therefore, the best slide (to get to the base the fastest) would not be a slide at all, but rather, a dive, where your entire body is completely horizontal and airborne until the moment your front fingers touch the bag, upon which it will make no difference whether you hit the ground and begin to slow down.

Please people, this is really quite an easy thing to see if you just use your heads. Why would position players dive for plays if it didn't get them to the ball faster? You never see a third baseman try to sprint after a screamer down the line; he will always dive. Outfielders dive when they need that extra reach, which essentially gets their glove to the ball faster. IT'S SIMPLE PHYSICS!

Don't listen to all the baseball coaches and players you hear from about this argument. Chances are that they are talking from an experience perspective, rather than a scientific perspective. It's not like they could actually tell if, while they were running, they got to the bag faster from running through or sliding. Trust the science. It's never wrong.

So basically, sliding into first base can get you there faster, or it can get you there slower. The fact is in baseball the player's won't know the exact time they need to start their slide, so the safer bet is to run through it, thus is what you would hear out of a coach's or commentator's mouth.

 

[Virix]

The example they give is terrible. A fielder diving for a ball is NOT the same as sliding in the dirt. The friction of the ground slows you down, whereas the fielder is in the AIR to get the ball during a dive, so they dont have said friction. Most of the time a fielder slides to catch a ball has more to do with getting the glove there, and body position than speed.

I will say that I agree with what was said in the article, depending on the speed a person is running, it CAN be possible to get to the base faster with a slide. The problem is you can never know when to start the slide or which players should and shouldnt slide, which is where the rule of "never slide into first" comes from.

BTW, nice find on that article.

 

[Jax]

I'm just laughing that you swung at that.

your always trying to find a way to bash got nothing nice to say GTFO

 

[The Messenger]

The example they give is terrible. A fielder diving for a ball is NOT the same as sliding in the dirt. The friction of the ground slows you down, whereas the fielder is in the AIR to get the ball during a dive, so they dont have said friction. Most of the time a fielder slides to catch a ball has more to do with getting the glove there, and body position than speed.

I will say that I agree with what was said in the article, depending on the speed a person is running, it CAN be possible to get to the base faster with a slide. The problem is you can never know when to start the slide or which players should and shouldnt slide, which is where the rule of "never slide into first" comes from.

BTW, nice find on that article.

Yeah that's what I'm saying. It always has been and always will be better to run through first base because it's impossible to perfectly time a slide every time.

I was just showing that it's physically possible to get to first base faster by sliding.

 

[Leftwich]

LOLOLOL JAX SUCKS, WTF AT THE VID MAN. UR GARBAGE.


Like that Jax?

Scud there is no need for that. Just leave it alone.

 

[mfbmike]

I'm just laughing that you swung at that.

Trust me. Anyone will tell you that online play will on more occasions than one, have you looking straight silly by swinging at shit. lol.