What is the Secret Behind Barry Bonds Hitting All Those Home Runs ?

The popular phrase, "Keep your eye on the ball !" may just be what some super hitter baseball players take to heart when they step up to that plate. Scientists have done a service for the rest of us recently in revealing the secret behind how players with equal physical build seldom have equal home run hitting prowess. Here is the skinny :

When a ball leaves a baseball pitcher's hand, it is going to go one of a myriad of different ways. Whether it be a slider, a curve, a fast or slow ball, the successful batter has an extra ability to "catch up" to that ball, keep his eye on it, and of course, make a connection with the bat. How?

It is called "smooth pursuit" . How is that for a title ? Smooth pursuit sounds like a police chase that ends without a crash, but in this case it is just the opposite. This smooth pursuit will usually end in a big crash; the bat hitting the ball.

Some people ( probably including athletes such as Barry Bonds ) have that unfair advantage in that they can pinpoint moving objects much faster than the rest of us. All of us with normal vision can see something move out of the "corner" of our eye, but the key to getting it under control, visually speaking, is to have that smooth pursuit advantage. Is it a genetic superiority ? Those same scientists do not know yet.

Motion perception by the human eye in coordination with the brain could be a mixture of experience and genetics, as far they know so far. Locking on to a moving target has been the delight of human eyes for a long time, with more and more of those in the developed countries trying to hone their skills in the smooth pursuit department.

Take a look at video games. Those with the greatest eye to hand coordination, and the quickest reflexes are usually the winners. Instead of, "Keep your eye on the ball !" it could be , " Keep your eye on the alien !". But the secret is the same. Advantages coming from the smooth pursuit ability determines the winners.

Superior smooth pursuit abilities have the effect of slowing down those moving objects to the point that the brain can take a closer overall snapshot of what is happening. This does not mean slowing down in reality, but inside the brain the effect is the same.

This is why what one person sees in a quick flurry of events is not what everyone sees in that same flurry of events. In a bank robbery or public robbery, there need to be many witnesses to coroborate what actually happened simply because of this smooth pursuit phenomenon.

Not everyone has the same power to lock on to fast moving objects with their eyes and see it all, but some do. Barry Bonds definitely had that ability to make his smooth pursuit visual abilities into a record breaking career.