Grand observations, sir. Many thanks for sharing them all.
Meanwhile... and I think you might find this quite interesting... I'm in
receipt of a number of rubber samples that I have been COF testing.
The Reisman samples... have the LOWEST Coefficient Of Friction of ALL of them.
Presuming the "Design Intent" was to emulate or create a rubber that harkens
back to materials of the Golden Age then absolutely.... minimizing the imparting
of spin on the ball would certainly be the result.
Mind you, COF is only one variable for one component of an hardbat... but... for
argument sake, I attempted to test a bat with smooth Yasaka MKV. 2.0mm sponge on
it... and the test FAILED ABYSMALLY as the COF was SO high the test sled
literally lifted off the material.
As to "experimenting" with materials... well, that's how we find out what
might... or more than likely might NOT resemble the rubbers of olde. I would
presume that no small amount of thought, expermimenting and testing went into
the development of the Reisman Classic Rubbers.
Unfortunately.... not having been there and done that... not owning any of the
original equipment of the day... and even if one did, by now it's possibly aged
and / or deteriorated in some manner... it can be difficult to establish the
precise goal to attain.
I will be posting a PDF file graphing the results of the testing to the files
section soon. I think many of us will find the resulst interesting.
Meanwhile.... personally, I find myself gravitating more and more to... OK...
I'll refer to it as this... "SPONGELESS" play. For all the reasons we're all
familiar with and for a few of mine own.
First and foremost... I can devote more energy towards form... stroke,
precision, strategy, footwork... all the things you mention... when I'm not
having to expend massive quantities of energy so intensely studying what my
opponent is or is not doing to impart some dubious spin on the ball.
It's one HELL of a lot more enjoyable!!!!
Is it "Classic Hardbat" in the manner you so eloquently put forth? In all
liklihood.... NO. But I daresay... it's one hell of a lot closer to it than it
is to the modern sponge game.
Again, absolutely thrilling to read your insights and will be following this
thread with great interest!
Cheers!
Larry "Boneman" Bone
Dingmans Ferry, PA