14.1 Stats -- John Schmidt's Run of 434 on Video, December 2018

[Bob Jewett]

Just my two cents... maybe it shouldn’t be ignored, but why is anyone making a big deal out of it? He had no opponent. He wasn’t playing in a tournament. There was no money for it. Why does anyone care about the foul at this point? If he ran 600, it might be worthy of a discussion.

It is a record in that it is the highest exhibition run on a 4.5x9.

I believe that John does get some money from sponsors for a high run. I don't know if 434 qualifies.

 

[easy-e]

It is a record in that it is the highest exhibition run on a 4.5x9.

I believe that John does get some money from sponsors for a high run. I don't know if 434 qualifies.

Well I guess that might be worthy of a discussion. Thanks Bob.

 

[skogstokig]

was it a definite foul, though? as i wrote earlier, cloth stretching when bridgeing and body weight can cause balls to wobble. from the angle it was filmed i can't determine if that ball is 1mm or 50mm from his bridge hand. another camera angle is needed for that

 

[Bob Jewett]

I visited Easy Street in Monterey yesterday and shot some test shots on the exhibition table.

The first test was with a ball ramp set up to roll a ball from where John's scratch hit the rack to the place on the rail the cue ball started towards. The speed was set to just barely get to the head cushion. No roll-off was observed. I would trust the table to play a very slow safety to hit a ball on the cushion half-ball.

I also played a lot of shots with extreme right spin played from the rack area in that same general direction. (The direction was not as well controlled for this test.) No roll-off or "ball turn" was observed that could have been more than half a ball by the time the ball came to a stop. All of the attempts left the cue ball spinning in place at the end.

My conclusion is that neither an unlevel table nor ball turn were responsible for what the cue ball did on that scratch.

 

[skip100]

Willie Mosconi’s ghost still appears to be the most likely candidate

 

[dr_dave]

I visited Easy Street in Monterey yesterday and shot some test shots on the exhibition table.

The first test was with a ball ramp set up to roll a ball from where John's scratch hit the rack to the place on the rail the cue ball started towards. The speed was set to just barely get to the head cushion. No roll-off was observed. I would trust the table to play a very slow safety to hit a ball on the cushion half-ball.

I also played a lot of shots with extreme right spin played from the rack area in that same general direction. (The direction was not as well controlled for this test.) No roll-off or "ball turn" was observed that could have been more than half a ball by the time the ball came to a stop. All of the attempts left the cue ball spinning in place at the end.

My conclusion is that neither an unlevel table nor ball turn were responsible for what the cue ball did on that scratch.

Thank you for doing this.

Did you also manage to track down the CB John was using?

I guess your theory about a CB problem is now the leading theory.

Catch you later,
Dave

 

[Bob Jewett]

... Did you also manage to track down the CB John was using? ...

I thought we had the problem cue ball, but it turned out to be almost a millimeter small in diameter. That indicates far more wear that John would have had in his trials, so it's not clear that it was the ball. The search continues.

 

[dr_dave]

I thought we had the problem cue ball, but it turned out to be almost a millimeter small in diameter. That indicates far more wear that John would have had in his trials, so it's not clear that it was the ball. The search continues.

I think ball turn was still a likely contributing factor, but we will probably never know for sure. Dirt on the cloth, and cloth weave patterns, can affect some shots but not others.

But I still doubt ball turn was the only factor.

Regards,
Dave

 

[Bob Jewett]

I visited Easy Street in Monterey yesterday and shot some test shots on the exhibition table.

The first test was with a ball ramp set up to roll a ball from where John's scratch hit the rack to the place on the rail the cue ball started towards. The speed was set to just barely get to the head cushion. No roll-off was observed. I would trust the table to play a very slow safety to hit a ball on the cushion half-ball.

I also played a lot of shots with extreme right spin played from the rack area in that same general direction. (The direction was not as well controlled for this test.) No roll-off or "ball turn" was observed that could have been more than half a ball by the time the ball came to a stop. All of the attempts left the cue ball spinning in place at the end.

My conclusion is that neither an unlevel table nor ball turn were responsible for what the cue ball did on that scratch.

Here is a video of a cue ball with a lot of right spin moving more or less along the same path as the ball that scratched. This is the table John Schmidt was playing on.

https://youtu.be/xHvvr1iz02E

 

[logical]

Any evidence of sanded slates?

Sent from the future.