-judging the high-fly-ball-

Niels Bohr said:

“you can’t predict where smashed

elementary particles will go.

you can only predict where they might go.”

um...sort of.

it’s the same with a high-fly-ball.

off the bat, there’s a tendency for the outfielder to begin

the process of making the catch by taking a few steps backward.

this could be seen as instinctive, but from my experience
it’s reasonable to conclude: it’s better that a high-fly-ball

if misjudged, falls in front of you rather than behind you.

but the game is complex.

let’s consider a high-fly-ball which off the bat,

and for a time is traveling upward above the field of play;
"slipping the surly bonds of earth.." as Ronald Reagan once eulogized

by vulgarly ripping off a poem by John Gillespie Magee Jr..

but the outfielder makes an immediate assumption: that is,

that from the moment of contact with the bat, the ball,

in its upward arc is leading to the downward arc of its flight.

this is the crucial moment when the outfielder predicts

where the ball might begin its downward arc and further predicts

where the downward arc of the ball might come to an end, which

hopefully is inside the pocket of the outfielder’s glove.

(the "Rawlings" rawhide strung 5-fingered was best.

no doubt about it.)