Tyrannosaurus on the Pitcher’s Mound

Yesterday was opening day for Major League Baseball, and many teams usually try to find someone prestigious to throw the ceremonial first pitch. The problem is that not everyone asked to throw the first pitch has particularly strong arms, like the juvenile Tyrannosaurus the Chicago White Sox once picked to open their game.

Could a real Tyrannosaurus throw a ball in a similar fashion? Perhaps; adult Tyrannosaurus had extremely well-muscled necks. In a 2007 study by Eric Snively and Anthony Russell the researches found that the neck muscles of Tyrannosaurus even allowed it to toss huge hunks of meat towards the back of its mouth or up into the air to catch. Throwing a baseball wouldn't be a problem of weight, then, but of size. It would be the equivalent of you trying to pitch a breath mint just by whipping your head.

(H/T: Deadspin)

Riley Black | | READ MORE

Riley Black is the author of The Last Days of the Dinosaurs and many other books. She is a science correspondent for Smithsonian magazine covering fossils and natural history, and she writes about the prehistoric past for a variety of publications.