Why High-Speed Throwing Is Uniquely Human - Made to play Baseball

We are apparently built for high-speed throwing. Many credit this ability as part of the reason for our survival back in  the day. And by back in the day, I mean WAAAAAAY back in the the day.  Hyperextendible wrists!! Didn't know about that one, but OK. We also have the opposable thumbs thing going for us, for gripping tools and implements like a baseball bat as shown further in the article below.

Form follows function and we have all the necessary raw materials to make us uniquely equipped to be throwing and hitting machines. Therefore, wonderfully made and endowed by our Creator for the great game of baseball on at least two unique levels.  

HOW ABOUT THAT!! 

from the Institute for Creation Research:
Why High-Speed Throwing Is Uniquely Human:

What body structures uniquely equip humans to throw objects frequently, at high speeds, and—for the practiced—with great accuracy? Research has revealed that if the throwing motion depended directly on muscle, we could only generate half the force that the human frame can actually muster. In the course of answering the question of where the rest of the throwing force originates, one recent study stumbled on a number of reasons why the human body looks like the product of specialized and intentional creation.

Publishing in the journal Nature, four scientists led by Harvard's Neil Roach examined the human mechanics of pitching a baseball and compared them to the chimpanzee's anatomy.1 A chimp's long-armed frame is well-suited for climbing and hanging from tree limbs, but this diminishes its potential for sustained, accurate, high-speed throwing. The researchers identified several uniquely human features that helped solve the mystery of mankind's expert throw.

First, humans have longer legs. Taking that first, long step when we begin the throwing motion stores a measure of elastic energy, later to be released. Second, we rotate our hips with a greater range of motion because of, in the Nature authors' words, "the tall, mobile waists of humans."1

Third, the study authors found a uniquely human angle between the head of the humerus (upper arm) bone and the axis of the elbow. So the overall shape of human arm bones helps store energy used for throwing. A fourth feature also has to do with angles. When throwing, the human frame aligns the upper arm with the orientation of the pectoralis major muscle, and these also align with the torso's rotation angle. This arrangement permits multiple forces to align, producing the fastest motion in the human body—the "rotation around the long axis of the humerus," which rotates more than 9,000 degrees per second!1

Last, humans have "hyperextendible wrists" that store and release even more energy.1 Altogether, the stored energy from the legs, hips, torso, shoulder girdle, and wrist loads its force to that of the appropriate muscle energies onto the projectile.

The end result? Professional pitchers can throw baseballs at close to 90 mph over 100 times during a three-hour baseball game.

References

1. Roach, N.T. et al. 2013. Elastic energy storage in the shoulder and the evolution of high-speed throwing in Homo. Nature. 498 (7455): 483-486.

1. Guliuzza, R. 2009. Throwing Darwin a Curve. Made in His Image: Examining the complexities of the human body. ICR: Dallas, TX. p. 22.

* Mr. Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research.Article posted on July 19, 2013.

'via Blog this'
That's a Fact - Throwing a Strike from Institute for Creation Research on Vimeo.



Evolution of the human hand: the role of throwing and clubbing

Richard W Young

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1571064/

Conclusion

It has been proposed (Young, 2002) that the earliest hominid specialization was aggressive throwing and clubbing, and that this behaviour increased reproductive success during a prolonged period, driving natural selection that progressively improved its effectiveness. If these assertions are correct, the evolution of the human hand should provide evidence of this process in its anatomical structure.

The fossil record indicates that adaptation for throwing and clubbing began to influence hand structure at or very near the origin of the hominid lineage and continued for millions of years thereafter. During this prolonged period of evolution, the hand underwent a profound remodelling that increasingly adapted it for grasping spheroids in a manner that allows precise control of release and for gripping clubhandles with strength sufficient to withstand a violent impact. Two unique human handgrips were thereby produced. Called the ‘power’ and ‘precision’ grips by Napier (1956) who identified and described them, they can also be referred to as clubbing and throwing grips on the basis of their evolutionary origins.

  http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kemmer/Evol/opposablethumb.html

Importance of the opposable thumb

The thumb, unlike other fingers, is opposable, in that it is the only digit on the human hand which is able to oppose or turn back against the other four fingers, and thus enables the hand to refine its grip to hold objects which it would be unable to do otherwise. The opposable thumb has helped the human species develop more accurate fine motor skills. It is also thought to have directly led to the development of tools, not just in humans or their evolutionary ancestors, but other primates as well.[6][7] The thumb, in conjunction with the other fingers make humans and other species with similar hands some of the most dexterous in the world.[8]