i think the bus example above is more useful. i obviously know very little on baseball. i do think a tree can think. it would be very different from how we do of course. it is easier to support one's belief that an animal thinks by pointing to how they behaves or communicates. unable to do that with a tree, i think it can only be left as a matter of faith (and that a tree should think does fwiw tie into spirituality for me)