Whereas I'm drawn to SABR by my love of sports statistics (particularly those related to streakiness), Alan N.'s connection involves the physics of baseball, on which he maintains a very extensive website. He is also active in SABR's Committee on Science and Baseball.
Dr. Nathan's recent SABR talk was entitled "Baseball Aerodynamics: What Do We Know And How Do We Know It?" and dealt with such matters as the spin and flight of baseballs, hit as well as thrown. The PowerPoint slide show from his talk is available at his aforementioned Physics of Baseball website, and a summary of his presentation is available here -- for now at least -- from the online SABR program. Here's a photo I took of Alan N. in action...
While watching yesterday's men's Wimbledon tennis final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, commentator John McEnroe stated that a particular shot looked to him like it was going to be out (past the baseline), but then it dipped dramatically and stayed in. Although referring to baseball rather than tennis, one of Dr. Nathan's slides notes that topspin makes a ball drop, which would seem to be the answer to McEnroe's conundrum.