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this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2023
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NonCredibleDefense
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Weren't grenades originally the same size and weight as baseballs so that people would be used to throwing them?
WWI German grenades had sticks, which increased range a lot at the expense of accuracy.
Americans, raised on baseball, were able to get the pineapple grenades into impossible holes, which made them a lot more effective than the German-style grenade.
I actually heard that reasoning as well but after I read into it I came to the conclusion that this is most likely false. Roundly shaped grenades have been around for centuries and the first introduction of a pineapple-shaped grenades was by the Brits in WW1.
Also a grenade is around three times as heavy as a baseball.
But it makes sense that Americans were/are especially good at throwing grenades because of baseball.
Yeah, grenades and baseballs are the same size for the same reason: It's about as big a shape as a person can hold and throw far with a lot of accuracy. It was just a happy coincidence that my grandfather was both on a winning Little League team and the Nazis loved pillboxes with tiny holes. He was part of the 14th Armored and could probably land a grenade in a pillbox from a hundred feet away just like throwing someone out at home from left field.
Round grenades=throwable. Stick grenades=throwable and you have to carry a big fuck off stick too.
Would you rather have more grenades or have your current grenades come with a stick?
Wasn’t the construction of the old “pineapple” also more effective at generating shrapnel when it went off, too?
I dove into the Wikipedia article about handgrenades. There's a common separation between offensive and defensive grenades. Those which cause shrapnel are usually considered defensive grenades as they're having a larger, unforseeable area of effect and because of that you want to throw it from a defensive, covered position. But often times offensive grenades which usually cause harm only through their shockwave could easily be upgraded with a metal cover that will provide a shrapnel effect.
Grenades are way older than baseball.
Americans eventually designed them thusly, because Americans like me are simple people who like baseball, cold beer, and throwing explosives at Nazis.
You should get back to your roots then, lately most of the Nazis are Americans.
We are so inundated with American news that I'm not at all sure that this is true. We just don't hear about our own problems enough.
Check out my reply to another comment itt as I did a little research on this topic.
And your typical American boy had more experience throwing baseballs than grenades