The best plausible NATURAL explanation I can come up with is...between the fog and the wind, everyone lost track of the ball and it fell in a spot where *nobody* was looking. It sounds like it was a very moist atmosphere, and if the ball hit some soggy soil, it may have just plopped there without a bounce and not much of a sound. Additionally, fog greatly muffles sound, which is another plausible explanation of why it wasn’t heard.
The idea that everyone looked all over and couldn’t find a baseball anywhere in the vicinity of a ballpark during and immediately after a baseball game is, of course, ridiculous. Unless, that is, we’re supposed to believe that they were only playing with 1 baseball. Obviously, they weren’t since the game continued after the pop-fly “disappeared”. No doubt there were various baseballs in the dugouts, perhaps by gloves on field along the fence/wall, such as where the bullpens might have been.
In light of these facts, again, I think the ball landed in a spot where nobody was looking. All eyes were probably on the fielders chasing the ball, but they were probably in the wrong spot. Well, obviously they were. On a clear day, everyone would be watching the ball as well, but with the fog, NOBODY could see the ball, so the only thing to watch was the fielders. While the players were running around, yelling, it’s quite possible the ball could have fallen harmlessly near a wall, fence, or dugout by a glove or rolled a few feet to such a spot after hitting the ground. I don’t know the field, but maybe it rolled UNDER the stands.
Maybe it hit a bird in mid-air before coming down, making it really go off course from where the fielders were expecting it. Maybe a big bird caught it in the fog and flew away with it.
I can come up with many natural scenarios which could possibly account for the missing baseball. It might seem like a stretch, but I’ll believe that before I believe it was the BT or a ghost.
You want a good baseball trivia question? How about this one...how can a team pull off a triple play WITHOUT EVER TOUCHING THE BALL?
Supposedly this happened in a minor league game a long time ago as well. Might win yourself a bet or 2 with this one, as most will say it’s impossible.
Hmmm... runners on first and second and nobody out... hitter pops up and is automatically out via the Infield Fly Rule... ball falls untouched in front of the shortstop... the runner on first, confused, starts running and passes the runner standing on second... so the runner on first is out for passing a runner in front of him... runner on second panics and starts running to third, and runs into the ball before the shortstop can play it... third out.
How’s that?
I'm with you on the missing ball. That field (especially a minor league field) is COVERED with stray baseballs, especially out around the bullpens (if they're out in the outfield). It just landed where nobody expected and was mistaken for just another stray ball. It's like "The Purloined Letter" - it was hiding in plain sight.
The Dodgers once managed to have Three Men on Third at the same time. Of course, the other team did have the ball and tagged all three out in that case.