Mike Bolsinger prepares to deliver a powerful pitch
1 CHAPTER STEM IN THE WORLD OF BASEBALL The young fan leaned forward in his stadium seat The smell of hot dogs and popcorn filled the warm Florida air Like many Miami Marlins fans he wore an orange T shirt and black baseball cap The date was May 12 2015 Mike Bolsinger was pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers It was the first inning and the Marlins Giancarlo Stanton was up to bat
Stanton has gained a reputation as one of today's strongest hitters The fan loved baseball statistics He knew Bolsinger was a skilled pitcher He also knew Stanton was a slugger The fan was a pretty good Little League hitter himself He watched to see Stanton's stance and how he gripped the bat
Bolsinger wound up and threw a fastball Crack Stanton's bat met the ball right at the sweet spot For a split second more than 49 000 fans in the stadium were quiet The ball shot up over left field past the outfield wall and out of the ballpark The crowd went wild They jumped up and clapped They whistled They screamed The young fan in the orange shirt whooped and hollered Stanton's home run traveled 478 feet 146 m STEM IN ACTION Baseball games are fun and exciting They are also great places to watch science technology engineering and math STEM in action More than 170 years ago the first baseball club in New York the Knickerbockers began using formal rules Since then baseball has become one of America's favorite sports Athletes have gotten better at playing and winning by using STEM Even if they don't know it STEM fields are a part of every game How is science a part of baseball Throwing a curveball hitting the sweet spot on a bat and running
