The Moment

Many people have asked me at one time or another what is so great about baseball. What many of them don't seem to understand is this: baseball's greatness comes from split second moments. Baseball truelly exists in the tiniest fractions of time.

It takes approximately .38 seconds for a 96 mph fastball to travel the 60 foot distance between the pitcher's mound and home plate. The moment begins when the ball leaves the pitcher's hand. It's not even enough time to hold your breath, but in your brain a thousand possibilities are brewing... A swing and a miss? A pop foul? A seeing eye single? A bomb to straight away centerfield? Blink, and you might miss it. But you don't dare blink. You don't even move. If you were chearing, or clapping, or sipping your beer, you stop. All you do is watch the pitch. In that moment, even in the most pressure packed situation, even in the loudest stadium, everything goes silent, for almost exactly .38 seconds. And then silence gives way to the eruption of cheers, or perhaps groans...