The Physics of Age and Baseball

When hitters are young
they live in a Newtonian universe.
They swing their bats
knowing the rules are the same
for everyone, and hitting
is just a matter
of mass, angles, and reflexes.

But when hitters age
they face a paradigm shift.
Sometimes the world works one way
sometimes another, and they sometimes
hit from deep within gravity wells
where light curves, and
bat masses approach infinity,
eventually making it impossible
to touch the relativistic fastball,
and that sad moment of hesitation is
forever frozen on the October event horizon.

—Greg Beatty