Conceptual Physics (12th Edition)

Published by Addison-Wesley
ISBN 10: 0321909100
ISBN 13: 978-0-32190-910-7

Chapter 6 - Think and Explain - Page 106-107: 51

Answer

If you extend your hand, you stop the ball over a long distance/time as your hand is pushed closer to your body. This gives more time to reduce the baseball's momentum, resulting in a smaller average force on the baseball. By Newton's third law, this also means a smaller force applied to your hand.
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