Page 26 - Way Out to the Old Ballgame

Framing the Pitch

An hour and three samples later the researcher indicated to his
subject that the procedure had ended.
“Now what, Professor? I know I pulled the trigger on a lot of bad
pitches and didn’t go after a few I could have hit out of the park.
Now you know what every scout in the league has passed on to his
team’s pitching staff about me.”
Bruce Fort bent over his computer. “Just a minute. I have to send
this data to the mainframe in the engineering department. It’s late
enough in the day for them not to complain about me draining off
computing cycles.”
Luke Matthews carefully laid aside the testing gear, stood up and
stretched. “How long is this going to take? I’ve got to be in
Grainsville in a week or be fined. I was going to stop in Cobb City to
see my folks.”
“Call and tell them you’re stopping here. Go find a place in town,
rent it for a week. If you’re as quick a study as I expect, you’ll arrive
in Grainsville on time. Be here at eight in the morning. I’ll find a T.A.
to take over my classes.”
The next phase of the experiment began as scheduled. Luke’s first
and only objection was to the electrodes Professor Fort taped to his
temples.
“Wait a minute! I don’t want any shock therapy. I’m not trying to
give up chewing tobacco, you know.”
The researcher frowned soothingly.
“You won’t feel a thing. The current in these wires is so low it
won’t register on a voltmeter. It’s output, anyway: I’m not trying to
stimulate any part of your brain with this electroencephalograph. I
am recording your responses to the protocol I have developed.”
Luke Matthews squinted at the tall balding man in a lab coat just
barely whiter than his skin, remembering the first time a second
baseman successfully pulled the hidden-ball trick on him.
“Maybe you’d better tell me more about this before we start.”
“All right. Fair enough. But don’t interrupt me with irrelevant
questions: I’ll give you the short version, you won’t have to take
notes and there won’t be a pop quiz.”
The ballplayer relaxed, recognizing the academic’s attempt to be
human.
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