How badly could a 100 mph fastball hurt you?

According to Jon Divine, MD, the head team physician at the University of Cincinnati, being hit with a 100 mph pitch would hurt. A lot. In math-speak the force of the blow is equal to the mass of the ball, multiplied by the time it takes for the pitch to decelerate from 100 mph to zero. That's 5,600 lb.-ft. of force hitting in .05 seconds.

As far as specific body parts, taking a pitch to the temple can result in a skull fracture, injury to the brain, and potentially fatal intracranial bleeding.

But strangely, the most vulnerable area isn't your dome but the chest wall. If you're hit there at precisely the wrong moment--the brief 0.1-0.2 seconds between heartbeats--the impact can cause the heart to beat erratically and ineffectively, arrhythmia, which is often deadly.

Batter up!