The new theory behind baseball’s most unhittable pitch

The knuckleball is a strange pitch that seems to defy the laws of physics. Unlike the fastball, it moves through the air slowly and randomly changes direction, baffling batters. Conventional theory says that a baseball’s raised seams cause the movement. However, scientists at the École Polytechnique in Palaiseau, France, posit a new theory to explain why knuckleballs also happen to balls without seams.

Graphics by Skye Gould. Additional video courtesy of Joe Campione and the Binghamton Mets.

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