Revealed: Why curve balls are so hard to hit

June 10 2009, 12:34am

AN ANIMATION that sheds light on why a type of baseball pitch called a "curve ball" fools batters has been voted Visual Illusion of the Year. One of the weapons in a pitcher's armoury is to give the ball a spin that causes its trajectory to curve. Batters see the ball as if it is going straight and then changes direction making it hard to hit.