Blue-Eyed Baseball Player Blames Sun for Lower Daytime Batting Average.

Texas Ranger’s superstar outfielder, Josh Hamilton, has recently publicly stated that he feels that the reason he is hitting so pooly during the day is because of his blue eyes.   Take a look at Hamilton’s daytime batting average, which is a very sad .122 under natural sunlight and an impressive .374 under the lights of night games.  Excuse?  Old wives’ tale?  After all, retired Hall of Fame Baltimore Orioles Infielder, Cal Ripkin, who had ice blue eyes, never claimed to have this problem.

For years, blue eyes have been a sign of popularity.  Frank Sinatra’s nickname was “Old Blue Eyes.”  Elizabeth Taylor was known for her deep brunette hair and her stunning violet-blue eyes.  Pets such as Siberian Huskies and Himalayan kittens are popular for their light blue eyes.  Even Elton John wrote a hit song about Blue Eyes.  In high schools all over the country everyone wanted to be as popular as the blonde haired, blue-eyed cheerleader.  Could it be true that blues eyes are actually more of a curse than a perk?

The fact is that due to the  lack of pigment in lighter color eyes — like blue or green eyes as opposed to brown — you get a lot more unwanted light and that can create a tremendous glare problem.  This phenomenon is called intraocular light scatter, meaning the light scatters as it enters, producing a focal point that isn’t as good, making it virtually impossible for Hamilton to focus on a white ball coming at him at 90+ miles per hour in the bright sunlight.

Baseball players are not the only people who struggle with this.  Airline pilots,  truck drivers, lifeguards…any profession where you predominantly work in the sunlight could be effected by this phenomenon.  There is no “cure”, so to speak, but a good pair of quality sunglasses would certainly filter enough of that light out, drastically improving  daytime vision.

Mary Sweetman, C.O.A.
Certified Ophthalmic Assistant

=============

Sunglasses aren’t enough. The ballplayers describe losing the ball in the sun, even when wearing dark shades.

This is because  there is less melanin pigment directly beneath the fovea, which the center of the retina for seeing detail vision – such as the seams of a baseball as it is hurled at the plate.

In a recent New York Times article about glare and blue eyes, Dr. Ton Teig, an optometrist who founded the Institute for Sports Vision, stated that he recommends supplements with Lutein and Zeaxanthin for blue-eyed athletes, because these substances contain high levels of melanin pigment.

Not surprisingly, our customers who take VisiVite supplements with high doses of Lutein And Zeaxanthin have been reporting improved contrast and decreased glare for years.

Paul Krawitz, M.D., President
Vitamin Science, Inc.