JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post

I’ve accumulated 50 or so paper computer/calculators of various shapes and sizes and descriptions, ranging from calculating the mileage for a 1959 Rambler, the ground speed for a B-25, radiation dosimetry, one-handed bridge, nuclear weapon yields, political history quizzes, and many others–including this “Ball of Fame” baseball historical paper volvelle. 

I’ve seen this online a bit, but I’ve not seen the guts/data of the thing, so I decided to take mine apart and scan it so that the baseball folks among the readers of this blog can make their own. I’ve scanned at 200 dpi so there’s plenty of detail–just print out the four sections, grab your exacto knife, and you’re in business. 

The computer has an awful lot of detail, the most interesting to me being located at top-center, for “Park Dimensions”–in that quarter-inch square window we see info for the team, nickname, name of park, seating capacity, and the distances to the five points of the fences. Terrific!  The rest of the info, fpr the years 1901-1960:

• Batting (showing leading batter, team, average, home run leader, leading team for home runs, rbi leader and rbi team leader).

• Pitching (showing leading pitcher, w/l record, team, KO leader, team strike outs, ERA pitching and team leaders.

• Pennant winner: (showing the winning team, manager, W-L, and winning percentages.

• Stolen bases: leader and team leader.

• And, lastly, MVP. 

There are bits and pieces that wouldn’t fit the scanner, but they’re replaceable. 

Have fun!