Summary

As this story begins, the narrator – a professional baseball player – is searching for a way to explain his current batting slump. While his coach and the newspapers attribute the slump to bad reflexes, the narrator does not believe this to be the case. He tells us that in an attempt to test this theory, his wife recently walked into their bedroom wearing a rubber gorilla mask, which sent him under the bed in six-tenths of a second.

Instead, the narrator attributes his slump to not being able to see the ball clearly. He recalls being able to see nearly every detail on the ball as it moved toward him: the stitches, the pitcher's thumbprint, even the manufacturer's guarantee. Now, however, the ball appears to have a cloud surrounding it, making it more difficult to see. The narrator also wonders if he...