|
This is from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Albert vs. The Babe - Scientifically speaking
By Tina Hesman Saey
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
It's a matchup Cardinals fans could only dream about: Albert Pujols versus Babe Ruth.
This spring, scientists at Washington University answered a call from GQ magazine to pit the St. Louis slugger against the Sultan of Swat.
Could science measure El Hombre's greatness? Does it match the Bambino's?
Researchers put Pujols through a range of tests, from finger tapping to visual responses to bat speed. He smoked them. And while the comparison has limitations, his results were strikingly similar to the Babe's. Advertisement
In 1921, psychologists at Columbia University put the Hall of Fame hitter and pitcher through scientific tests to try to determine what made him so great. The New York Times heralded the results, proclaiming George Herman "Babe" Ruth "supernormal." He had faster than average reflexes, steady nerves, and superior sight and hearing.
At Washington University, clinical neuropsychologist Desiree White and cognitive psychologist Richard Abrams and their colleagues gave Pujols tests resembling the ones Ruth took. Both men were 26 years old and top hitters when they were tested. And both demonstrated they were above average - way above average.
For one test, White put a piece of paper in front of Pujols. Capital letters were strewn about the page. White told Pujols to locate and cross out all of the A's.
White realized she'd never seen anyone scan the page the way Pujols did. Most people scan a page left to right, the way they do when they read, she said. Pujols visually divided the page into sectors and searched each one briefly for the letters before moving on to the next sector. When he'd searched all sectors, he returned to the first and started over. It took him four rounds and a minute to complete the task.
"I've never seen anyone scan that way, but it would be important on the baseball field," White said.
The skill would allow Pujols to scan a baseball field and know where everyone is without missing any action.
GQ features some of the results of the Pujols tests in its September issue.
GQ writer Nate Penn took the tests the day before Pujols did. Penn thought that some of the skills he has developed as writer would give him an edge over the baseball player on certain tasks. He did manage to get the better of Pujols on one test, in which the men had to convert a series of numbers into symbols. But when asked simply to copy the symbols, Pujols left everyone in the dust. He replicated 133 symbols in a minute. It's a testament to his excellent hand-eye coordination. No one else performs at that level. Literally no one. The test makers don't even list a score that high.
Penn should have been warned, but he thought he would surely be the victor in a test of finger-tapping speed.
"People my whole life have been awed by my typing speed," Penn said. (He types 120 words per minute.)
But when Pujols laid his finger to the tapping counter, Penn didn't have a prayer. Pujols' speed was 2.4 standard deviations faster than average. That means he would be faster than 99 of every 100 people who take the test. "That's in the 'very superior range.' It just doesn't get any better than that," White said.
When mighty Pujols popped the screw right out of the finger tapper, he was contrite. He even fixed the machine, tightening the screw with his fingernail.
White says she is retiring the tapper and peg board Pujols used during the tests. She is hoping he'll autograph the equipment someday.
Pujols declined to talk to the Post-Dispatch about the test results. He was on the road, padding his sterling statistics.
White says Pujols' performance on any one test doesn't explain his abilities; it's the whole package that probably counts.
"My hypothesis would be that there's something special about how he puts it all together" on the field, she said.
| 
