A man stood in a hospital delivery room in Washington DC and started to throw baseballs; it was a cold October morning. He pitched nine perfect innings with about 14 strikeouts. During that time, since it was busy, it was calculated that three children were born, most of them without complication.
Three innings went by, and a young pregnant woman noticed there was a ballplayer throwing. She slowed her breathing, and watched for a few seconds, and then hurried up to have her baby.
An inning later, the ballplayer received his first fistpump: a woman threw her hand in the air after a sick go-down-looking curveball, and continued to dilate.
A few innings later, someone leaned against the wall to watch to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to work again. Clearly he was a doctor and had a life to bring into the world.
The one who paid the most attention was a 31 year old husband. His wife tagged him along, hurried, but the man stopped to look at the ballplayer. Finally, the wife pushed hard, and the man continued to videotape the birth of his child, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other terrified new dads. All the mothers, without exception, forced them to move on.
In the 9 innings the ballplayer threw, only 6 people stopped and watched for a while. About 9 gave him the wave, but continued to deliver babies at their normal pace. He collected 8 K’s. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.
No one knew this, but the ballplayer was Randy Johnson, one of the most talented pitchers in the world. He had just pitched one of the most amazing games ever recorded, with an arm worth tens of millions dollars.
Just a few years before his playing in the delivery room, Randy Johnson sold out at a stadium in Arizona where the seats averaged $100.
This is a real story. Randy Johnson playing incognito in the delivery room was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste, and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?
One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:
If we do not have a moment to stop and watch to one of the best pitchers in the world playing the perfect game of baseball, how many other things are we missing?
NO ONE PAID ATTENTION TO THE STUPID FUCKING VIOLINIST ON THE FUCKING SUBWAY BECAUSE THEY WERE GOING TO WORK YOU FUCKING NUMBSKULLS. WHO FUCKING CARES.
“If the violin came on time and took people to work on itself, people would probably be all about the violin.” — Scott Huff
@huffstapes: ...
