Terry Cowgill

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1. That was fast! (Not real.)

   Comment by jake — June 26, 2008 #

2. Couple of things. It wasn’t clear, when the ball was in flight, whether it would be fair or foul. The left fielder would have had this in mind; he would have been running towards to wall. He wasn’t. He just stood there and watched the girl do her thing. And his reaction, post catch, and the catcher’s reaction appeared rehearsed, staged.

   My guess? Not real. Computer generated YouTube viewer seeking schtick. I still like Manny’s ( real ) catch earlier this season. The one where he made a great catch, high fived a fan, then got an assist on a double play. Manny being Manny. Not YouTube being YouTube.

   Comment by Terrence McCarthy — June 26, 2008 #

3. My initial sense was that the ball was hit as shown but that much of the rest was digitally staged. But I agree that the left fielder’s reax is incongruous with the context.

   His actions are more consistent with a player watching a ball hit out of the park that falls back into the field and is retrieved by the ballgirl and tossed back to him.

   Comment by Terry — June 26, 2008 #

4. I just showed it to our classified ad manager, Mark Neidhammer, who in a previous life was a professional news photographer, and his reaction was that it was probably real. His feeling was that if it was computer-generated animation, you’d probably have to generate the whole thing after the ball leaves the batter’s bat and the camera switches to the outfield view.

   Comment by Terry — June 27, 2008 #

5. It was fake. The girl was a stuntwoman, hooked up to cables. Whole thing part of a Gatorade promotion.

   Comment by Terrence McCarthy — June 27, 2008 #

6. I’m a cynic and a skeptic so my initial reaction is to watch it a couple of times to try and spot any inconsistencies and then do a little bit of research.

   First note, we see the batter connect with the ball but don’t see it flying through the air until the close-up replay.

   This is a viral video put together by a design firm called Element 79 for Gatorade. The stunt girl was lifted up by cables where she planted her feet against the wall. This footage was cut into the original footage of the game. At the very end when the ball girl is sitting in her chair there is a Gatorade bottle sitting on the ground.

   This video is brilliant subtlety. Too bad more firms don’t realize that sometimes it’s not about shoving your product in people’s faces.

   * Element 79 is also the firm that put together the “Is it in You” Gatorade campaign.

   Comment by James — June 27, 2008 #

7. Bah. Terrance, you beat me by a hair.

   Comment by James — June 27, 2008 #

8. Terry–
   You’ve gotta watch that Niedhammer…he’s slick. Back in 1980 we both worked for ABC and were at the Olympics in Lake Placid. Remember Eric What’s-his-name in that gold suit, racing around the skating track like greased lightning? Didn’t really happen. Just Neidhammer’s superb camera work.

   Comment by Doug Richardson — June 29, 2008 #

9. Full story here:
   http://www.snopes.com/photos/advertisements/ballgirl.asp

   Comment by Jenny — June 30, 2008 #

10. Jenny,

    Yah, Snopes is where James got his info, too. Thanks.

    Comment by Terry — June 30, 2008 #

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