Baseball Research Center Takes Show on the Road

UMass Lowell’s Baseball Research Center is taking part in a new traveling exhibit hosted by the Museum of Science in Boston this summer and, in the fall, it will be featured in a Discovery Channel episode that will use super slow-motion videography to show baseball fans what they can’t see with the naked eye.

The Museum of Science exhibit, called “Baseball as America,” runs until Sept. 1 and features more than 500 memorabilia that trace baseball’s rich history and influence on the American pop culture. Complementing the displays are Museum-created interactive exhibits that examine how modern science and technology have influenced the game over time, including a Home Plate Baseball Lab with its own pitching machine.

According to Patrick Drane, the Center’s assistant director, the University has a video presentation that shows the baseball lab’s facilities and test equipment, including the 136-mile-per-hour pneumatic cannons used to check the performance and durability of NCAA and Major League Baseball bats and balls. In addition, there are high-speed videos of baseball/bat collisions and a sample of a composite bat on display, as well as a presentation or two by the Center’s staff during the summer.

The exhibit is produced by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., and is sponsored by Ernst & Young LLP. For more information, call the Museum at (617) 723-2500.

The Discovery Channel has tapped the resources and talents of the Baseball Research Center and the River Hawks baseball team for a segment in the TV program “Time Warp,” hosted by MIT’s Jeff Lieberman. The show is a series of 20 half-hour episodes on things the naked eye can’t see without the use of super slow-motion video. UML will be featured in a 6 ½-minute spot in one of the segments.

The production crew spent May 22 at LeLacheur Park, filming freshman pitcher Kyle Davis of Rochester, N.H., throwing curveballs, sliders and changeups to junior catcher Graeme Clohosey of Derry, N.H., as senior outfielder Tim Manton of Swansea tries to hit them. Also on hand at the set were UML coach Ken Harring, and Chris O’Donnell and Jonathan Albert of Athletic Media Relations. The following day, the crew was at Kitson Hall on UML North, filming the pneumatic cannon in action at the Baseball Research Center.

Time Warp is expected to air after mid-October.