ULowell laboratory insures all major league baseballs are up to standards

O-o-o-h, I’ll harm you!...A look at the BESR system and other goodies at the ULowell laboratory.

The data gathered by the machine’s three sensors is then translated into the bat’s BESR (bat exit-speed ratio). Any bat that falls between two preset values passes inspection.

Meanwhile, the machine that tests ball durability - “Our new toy,” said Prof. Sherwood like a proud parent - works much the same way. It fires a ball at a 21/2-inch half-cylindrical piece of wood at 115 mph.

“Any faster than that, and it would destroy the ball,” explained Patrick Drane, the BRC’s assistant director.

The machine tests to see how much force it takes to squeeze a baseball one-quarter of an inch. The speed causes about 8,000 pounds of force between wood and ball for a thousandth of a second.