Way Back, Back, Back: The Unlikely Origin of Baseball’s Launch Angle Revolution

New York Mets rookie Pete Alonso won the 2019 Home Run Derby on Monday night in Cleveland. A record 312 homers were blasted in the event and traveled a combined 24.8 miles. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)This five-part series will examine how swing biomechanics and the proliferation of technological tools are helping hitters. Part 1 explores the history of this field and the origin stories of a few key devices.

Baseball’s capital-letter Home Run Derby was held in Cleveland on Monday night, but the past few seasons—and 2019 especially—have felt like a daily derby, with league-wide home run rates soaring at unprecedented clips. A manufacturing change that reduces the ball’s drag might be the…