Page 28 - Way Out to the Old Ballgame

Framing the Pitch

of analysis? If so, are not the boundaries we construct therefore
indefensible in logic? That is how to approach the problem of slumps
and streaks: treat the apparent motion of a baseball as both an arc of
continuous velocity and as a differentiable series of perceptual
events.”
Matthews had not heard such talk in years. He regretted asking for
it. He resented not being allowed to interrupt. But he was disciplined.
Sooner or later the pitcher had to bring one over the plate.
“As in physics, commonsense ideas begin to break down when
limits are approached. Time dilatation is not perceptible until an
object has traveled at great speed. Gravitational warping of space-
time was not observed until a solar eclipse could be used to measure
the discernible displacement of stellar bodies. Similarly, the ability of
the human mind to compute ballistics is not tested until an oncoming
object exceeds certain limits of time and motion. A fastball traveling
at 100 miles per hour gets to the plate in four-tenths of a second: if
the batter reacts incorrectly he will swing and miss; not swing and
have a strike called against him; hit the ball too soon and watch it
dribble weakly into the infield; or swing too late and hit it foul. That
error is measured in hundredths of a second, way too fast for any
consciously mediated decision. We must therefore adopt the model
of the brain as high-speed computer working in the background—
that is to say, the unconscious—to understand the phenomenon.”
Professor Fort waved vaguely at his experimental apparatus.
“The next question is: how does that mental mechanism function?
Obviously it calculates trajectories and directs muscular activity to
achieve appropriate vectors via coordinated nerve commands. Most
of this is accomplished by trial and error, a feedback loop reinforcing
correct responses—what we call ‘learning.’ But the computer must
process input, as quickly as possible, to determine its response to
external conditions: in your terms, to swing at a pitch or not. The
information is coming in through the eyes—but in what form? The
optic nerve is a digital cable transmitting millions of individual visual
cell signals, an incoherent stream of bits. Motion is generally
perceived as a smooth continuous flow: the processing system can
handle it in a psychologically satisfying and evolutionarily successful
fashion until it passes a threshold of velocity: then an otherwise
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