[Pharmboy]

Rather than a hot stove league report, perhaps a Bunsen burner league report...

[Pharmboy]

This is a baseball ping, but since I do not know the baseball fans here (other than thefactor), this is more random.

[Woebama]

The catch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dK6zPbkFnE

[RightOnline]

Shoot, I dunno......I’ve always just run to where I think the ball is headed is all. Usually can catch it, too. :) No rocket science.

[Daffynition]

Physics rules!

[central_va]

You run until the ball stops drifting left or right (bearing) then you work on distance (range). Not rocket science. the range problem is harder than the bearing problem.

[pgyanke]

This is what you get when geeks try to understand jocks.

[Dixie Yooper]

The best outfielder I ever played with knew where to stand just before the ball was hit. He never had to do much running.

[Edgar3]

I played right field mostly, and I could always get a jump on the direction of the ball before the batter actually hit it, based on the pitch location and the swing. I don’t know why, I just could. I can still tell if a football is on target the second it leaves the quarterbacks hand, and whether a basketball is going in the second it leaves your hands. I have no idea why, but I’ve always had these senses.

[orlop9]

Why do I get the feeling that a multi-million dollar Govt grant is involved here?

[Adder]

“Rather than predicting the landing point, the fielder might continuously track the visual motion of the ball, letting it lead him to the right place at the right time,” Warren said.”

GNS.

And this load cost how much? You could have developed this for free by going out to shag some flies.

[muir_redwoods]

Obviously no one consulted Manny Ramirez.

[Brugmansian]

This is amazing: Great baseball catch by a girl

[WinMod70]

That blows by theory of outfielders having some sort of ball magnet under their cap, ala Conseco.

[Marylander]

Strangely enough, it’s important to me to know whether a fielder predicts the final point based on a tracjectory predicted from early clues (as several players believe), or predicts moment-to-moment during the flight.

My next question is how long (or short) are the “moments.”

[kinsman redeemer]

This is interesting. Thanks.

[stylecouncilor]

ping

[Apple Pan Dowdy]

This is basically what one has to do when playing tennis. You have to be able to calculate in your head where the ball is going to land in your court and then to be there when it does, and many factors go into the calculation ... where your opponent is standing, how hard he hit the ball, the angle of his racquet when he hit, and more. A “lob” is especially like a fly ball.

[ml/nj]

Thousands of fans (and hundreds of thousands of YouTube viewers) saw Mays turn his back on a fly ball, race to the center field fence and catch the ball over his shoulder

I was there!

(And it's lots more than "hundreds of thousands of YouTube viewers" who have seen this. It is simply the most often replayed video moment in sports history.)

ML/NJ

[N. Theknow]

This is not nearly as puzzling as how a person can take a round bat and hit a round ball...squarely.

[meyer]

"How does an outfielder get to the right place at the right time to catch a fly ball?"

Calculus.