Page 29 - Way Out to the Old Ballgame

Framing the Pitch

discrete object blurs and the body cannot react effectively. As the
object itself is not becoming distorted in the sense of relativity
physics, we must conclude that its speed overloads the processor.
Motion pictures provide the clue to understanding this distinction
between discrete and continuous event perception: when we are
shown a film strip at twenty-four frames per second, we do not see
individual frames, but subjectively construct a simulacrum of the
movement recorded on those images at that speed. We conclude
accordingly that the brain provides the mind a recreation of the outer
world’s changing image by sequentially overlapping frames or
snapshots of the visual field at a certain rate.”
Luke Matthews had sat on the bench watching some long innings,
but this was one of the longest he could remember.
“Now, returning to your problem, my friend, we are in a position
to examine the difference between a good hitter and a bad one—or,
if you will, between a player on a streak and one in a slump. That
difference is information processing, plain and simple. It is not a
large variance: the talent level among big-league players and the
space-time tolerances are very small, but the offense-defense balance
magnifies their effects. You may think luck is the factor, or that you
need some small adjustment in stance or swing, but my theory is that
it all comes down to this: how many frames per second can you
process and thereby perceive the clarity of objects in motion and
react to them? And, if that is true, how can we explain the variance of
that rate in one individual over time? Why, on one day, can you see
the seams on a fastball and on another be buffaloed by a change-up?”
The ballplayer’s interest rose suddenly, overflowing his self-
containment. “Yes, yes, why?”
Bruce Fort exhibited no displeasure at the interruption. “Young
man, that is not an irrelevant question at all. Having asked myself that
same question, I then embarked upon a course of study and
experimentation to determine the physiological factors conditioning
perceptual processing speed. Diet has a minor but transient effect, as
do legal stimulants and sleep. Forget about detectable and dangerous
drugs. Let us return to the analogy of a computer. What can we do
when it doesn’t process fast enough? If we cannot change its
peripheral input-output devices—disk drives and monitors for
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