A comparison of the effect of mechanical teaching aids on hitting a baseball

Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine and compare the effect of different mechanical aids used in baseball batting practice on hitting performance. More specifically, it was the purpose of this study to determine the effect of twenty training sessions using the Curvemaster pitching machine, the Dudley Olympia pitching machine, and the Batting Tee device on baseball hitting. Another purpose of this study was to compare the Curvemaster pitching machine, the Dudley Olympia pitching machine and the Batting Tee device on change in baseball hitting performance. Procedure A total of one hundred forty-one male students at Sam Houston State University volunteered to participate in a baseball hitting experiment. Thirteen of these subjects were dropped because of previous baseball experience. The remaining one hundred twenty-eight subjects were non-skilled in baseball. Each subject was pretested with the Swing-Rite hitting instrument to establish a pretest score. The subjects were then equated into four equal groups and assigned to a number of one to four by a table of random numbers. Each treatment was also assigned a number of one to four by the use of a table of random numbers. Corresponding numbers of groups and treatments matched training groups to a specific mechanical hitting aid. Training programs were designed to allow each subject in the experimental groups to hit ten balls a day from a mechanical aid. These mechanical aids were randomly assigned as the treatment on which a specific group trained for a total of twenty training sessions. Subjects trained on the same days of the week and at the same time of day. Performance was measured by a Swing-Rite hitting instrument in a pretest post test experiment. The post test was administered at the same time of day as the pretest. The pretest scores were compared by a one way analysis of variance technique. A correlated t-test was used to determine significant differences between pretest and post test scores. A two sample t-test was used to compare differences between group gains. ..