Abner is a combined video and robotic pitching machine that’s part of the new Maynard’s Long Ball at the Mall complex at the Everett Mall.
By Kirby Arnold
Herald Writer
The name is Abner, and it’s best not to push his hot button.
He’ll start a batter with a 90 mph fastball, buckle his knees with a curve at 75 and then crank it up to 115 with — get this — a knuckleball.
Strike one. Strike two. Sit down.
Abner is as strong on his thousandth pitch as he is on his first, and he can throw Randy Johnson’s fastball, Tim Wakefield’s knuckler, Jamie Moyer’s circle changeup and Mariano Rivera’s splitter.
"He can throw any pitch that’s ever been thrown in major league baseball, and a lot that will never be thrown," said Mike Kirby, one of the men who knows Abner best.
Where has Abner been all this time? In the amazing minds of two guys from Seattle, it turns out. Now he’s doing his thing at a baseball training facility in Everett.
Richard Richings and Doug Crews took an interest in pitching machines a few years ago and developed one of the most sophisticated pieces of baseball training equipment ever made. They call it "Abner," as in Doubleday, as in the invention of a new tool for an old game.
To call Abner a pitching machine is like saying the Internet is the communications brother of two tin cans and a piece of string.
Abner is a simulator; a collection of computer, robotic and video wizardry that simulates the motion and release of a pitcher, and the action and accuracy of a pitch, better than any machine that’s been produced.
Want one for your basement? The cost is $175,000.
"This is like a very sophisticated machine tool that you would see in a factory making high-precision parts," said Kirby, the vice president of marketing and sales for Fastball Development Corp., an 11-person firm based in Seattle. "Instead of making a precision machine part, it’s throwing a baseball."
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The idea was born about five years ago when Richings, who owned a business in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood, would take Crews and other employees across the street to a coin-operated batting cage on their lunch hour.
The pitching machines broke down often, and Richings remembers Crews constantly saying, "We can make a better machine than this."
Eventually, Richings gave his engineer the go-ahead.
"The robot is his madness," Richings said. "I just provided the glue and pulled the engineering team together."
In devising Abner’s software and mechanics, they built a machine that can throw any pitch imaginable. To make it look real to a hitter, they had to perfect the video image of the pitcher all the way to the position of his hand and his grip on the ball at release.
Former Mariner Mike Campbell, whose motion is considered textbook perfect, served as the model for the video pitcher. When the ball is released, a hole in the screen slides open for a scant four milliseconds.
To maintain Abner’s precision, the regulation major league baseball couldn’t be used because it didn’t have perfect balance. Seattle-area firm Baden produced a perfectly balanced ball for Abner, which is a source of comfort and a selling point to Bill Krueger, a former Mariners pitcher who is national sales manager for Fastball.
"Now I can say that every time I hung a curveball," Krueger said, "it wasn’t my fault."
Edgar Martinez of the Mariners immediately noticed the realism, Richings said.
"The first time Edgar saw it, we threw a changeup and he said, ‘Oh, it’s a circle change,’" Richings said, marveling at the keen eyesight of a major leaguer. "He helped us validate the technology."
Soon, the intrigue around major league baseball was considerable.
The St. Louis Cardinals and Cleveland Indians used Abner at spring training, and the Indians rented it for the second half of the 2001 season. The Arizona Diamondbacks rented a second machine the last half of the season as well.
More on Abner
Abner, the part robot, part computer pitching machine, is featured at Everett’s new Maynard’s Long Ball at the Mall complex, located at Everett Mall in the former Sears service center. Abner is available for rental at $160 per hour. Call 425-355-1810 or 425-355-1590.
Want to see how Abner works? See a video demonstration at this Web site: www.fastballinc.com.
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For all of Abner’s technological marvel, Richings learned in his dealings with major league teams that he might as well have been selling forks to a soup kitchen.
"It’s not taking off as fast as we’d hoped," said Richings, who believes the best market may be training centers such as Maynard’s that cater to youth, college and minor league players.
"(Major leaguers) have already arrived and they’re not all that interested in looking for new technology," he said. "But the minor leaguers. They were all over it in spring training."
Albert Pujols, a minor leaguer with the St. Louis Cardinals when spring training began, took an immediate liking to Abner and he wound up winning the National League Rookie of the Year award.
"He was the last guy to hit off it in spring training, and he was crying big tears when we were putting it on the truck," Richings said.
Convinced they have a machine that works, the gang at Fastball now hopes more than the legend of Abner spreads. What these guys want are sales.
"We proved the technology," Richings said. "We turned it from an invention into a product. We think we’ve got something there."
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