1) This isn't exactly a sports forum. There are plenty of people here who like to talk about baseball, myself included, but this forum doesn't exist specifically to "explain" sports.
2) Even if that was an important part of the community, demanding an answer and offering nothing in return isn't exactly the best way to garner responses.
3) People are extremely picky about spelling and grammar here. People will take you more seriously if your sentences end in periods.
So, maybe tell us why you don't "get" baseball, or why it upsets you not to get it, and ask us what we think of your situation or opinions. Don't just give us a one-liner with a demand for answers. It's a turn-off.
posted
Why Ayelar, I think it's obvious Computer merely hadn't finished his sentence, and is going to contine later with "as a method of keeping aliens away."
posted
As a spectator sport it offers an excuse to sit outside in the summer, eat junk food and drink beer. While other sports limit your opportunities to replenish your snacks to between quarters/periods/whatever, with baseball you're free to go get more food at any time with little risk of missing anything interesting. Occasionally somebody will make a cool diving catch or something, but it's primarily a picnic.
As a participation sport it requires the lowest level of physical fitness of the major sports and requires relatively little equipment or skill for enjoyment, making it a good choice for casual leagues. It's also necessary to get the game out of the way first before going out for a ("a" is a technical baseball term meaning "many") team beer afterwords.
Posts: 317 | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
Well, I think baseball's awesome and I don't get people who don't get it.
I think baseball is great because you don't have to be a specific size or weight to play. It's simple enough for little kids, but complex enough that you can enjoy watching professionals do it really well. And while it does have superstars that get a lot of attention, it's as much about teamwork as it is about individual acheivements (though I guess that could be said for all team sports). I also like all the different skill sets that are involved, from hitting to fielding to strategizing.
Posts: 471 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
I played a lot of league baseball when I was a wee lad. That's probably why I enjoy watching it now. I am, however, very disappointed with my Canadians teams. Toronto used to be good, and now they suck. Oh, woe is me!
Posts: 1855 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
Baseball isn't great, you just put up with it when your team wins the world series and then you stop paying attention when it's dismantled the next year.
Posts: 3446 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
Though it took me a long time to find, there's a wonderful drama to baseball, especially on TV. The pitcher vs. the batter, the closeups with the sweat dripping, the chance that this hit could somehow win the game... the tension right before the swing is pretty intense if you care about one of the teams.
And, as Livious points out, it's a great excuse for a picnic when you see it live.
Posts: 2220 | Registered: Jun 1999
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posted
How about them Diamond Backs? I know they are not doing well this year and have a lot of players on the DL, but I still love to watch them play. I love them even better when one of my subcontractors gives me free tickets on the 5th row right behind the dugout.
Posts: 1244 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
It's also soooo hot at baseball games. That's why I prefer to watch the college world series from the comfort of my own home and when it gets boring I just log onto Hatrack.
Posts: 3446 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
Ah, and I forgot... there's a grace to baseball that I don't see in the other major league sports in the US. Compared to massive bodies smacking into one another every 2 seconds, or a handful of giants elbowing one another to the ground on a tiny indoor court, baseball is very aesthetically pleasing.
And play isn't halted every 5 minutes on some stupid technicality, it just keeps going. Much more pleasant to watch.
posted
Baseball was invented when one guy threw a hard object at another guy, and the other guy happened to be holding a stick, which he proceeded to swing at the object, ostensibly to propel it back at the guy who threw it. That reaction was so unexpected that the quarrel was forgotten and the guys decided to have a beer and draw it all out on a napkin.
I think baseball is popular because it's a thinking game. The interest is created by the many factors that go into scoring (or stopping) a run: the pitcher, the batter, the fielders, the base running, the umps, and all the strategy. You can sit there and see what needs to happen, and watch the players carry it out.
At any rate, like Livious said, it's a good excuse for a picnic.
Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
But it's expected, it's part of the rhythm. I hate getting into a basketball game that's tied in OT, and gnashing my teeth as foul after foul after technical foul after timeout stops the freaking clock. Eventually, no matter how close the game is, I just get fed up and change channels.
With baseball, the majority of time is spent actually playing the game.
posted
I disagree, the amount of time spent between pitches is much larger than the time when the ball is in play. Besides why is foul after foul any better than foul ball after foul ball?
Posts: 3446 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
I like baseball. I used to be unsure, but now I quite like it. Of course, I'm living in Saint Louis, where a baseball game is always an occasion, the fans are enthusiastic, and the team is good (even when it's bad).
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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posted
Well, it ain't cricket. Kind of like the poor cousin... I mean, cricket is a real game. Baseball is just, well, yeah. *snores*
Posts: 2945 | Registered: Apr 2000
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posted
I played baseball all through high school, and to me it was life. But there is a mysterious aura surrounding baseball for me that I am unable to explain. The look of the grass... the smell of dirt and pine tar... its an uplifting experiance of freedom. Im sorry some of you have never had this feeling, but then again I'm a little weird about baseball. To quote Bull Durham "The only religion that works for me, is the church of BASEBALL."
Posts: 10 | Registered: Jun 2003
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posted
A well-hit line drive to left-center field is poetry in motion.
Aside from that, baseball is my game because it is wonderfully leisurely, because there is a lot of strategy involved, and because I was raised to be a baseball fan. Also, except for an occasional bench-clearing brawl (in which there are rarely injuries) or when a pitcher erroneously decides that throwing a beanball is a good idea, it does not normally appear that the players are trying to kill each other.
And that's why I like baseball.
Posts: 2454 | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
I like baseball because it is slow enough for me to follow what's happening Oddly enough, I like watching basketball because of its fast pace - I just rarely know what's going on Posts: 1225 | Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
I have found that no matter the sport, the more you know aobut how it is played and what makes a good player, the more you like the game. I used to agree that soccer was a boring sport, untill I spent 20 months in Brazil. Now I love to watch soccer. I love Baseball too.
Posts: 1244 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
I've actually been meaning to do a Cousin Hobbes post explaining baseball. *ponders* I should probably finish up my Tour de France thing before I hit another sport though...
posted
Not only can you go get a beer anytime during a baseball game as a spectator, you could also drink a beer for 95% of the game as a player.
Sure would make the 7th through 9th innings more interesting if both dugouts were equipped with a keg and a drinking game was played while you waited your turn at bat.
Sip any time the batter gets a ball or strike. Gulp for a base hit, two gulps for a double, three for a triple. Guzzle one down for a homer. Steal a base, shot of tequila. Bean the batter? Fielding team must all come in and do a Jell-o shot apiece. Balk rule invoked... yard of beer to each involved.
And no rotating the pitcher out. Talk about loose cannons. And if you're going to have a designated hitter, they've got to drink each time one of their teammates does anything in the field.
Ninth inning, you can't play if you can still pass a breathalizer test.
With rules like that, Darrell Strawberry could probably re-invigorate his career!
Posts: 2848 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
Listen to George Carlin's baseball/football analysis sometime.
Baseball is pure in a way no other sport is. Its not played by genetic freaks, it doesn't require immense amounts of athleticism, although some of the greatest athletes of all time have been baseball players, and every team has several players who have extraordinary skill sets, in addition to some guys who look like they belong on a couch. Its a thinking sport, primarily. If you can figure out what the pitcher is going to do, you will succeed at the plate. If you can figure out what the hitter is looking for, you can succeed on the mound.
Baseball attracts people who have an interest in numbers. Its a game with innumerable statistics, and its probably the only game where you can actually understand the value of a player if you can understand his statistics... even though most of the ones you see in the newspaper arent as important as the ones you SHOULD be looking at. There is an entire society, SABR, that approachs baseball from a mathematical standpoint. The Oakland A's have made their playoff runs over the last several years by building a team based around the principles SABR has developed, on a budget signicifantly more limited then the Braves, Red Sox, Yankees, or Mariners budgets.
Baseball is a slow paced game frought with intensity, skill, strategy, tension, that can be viewed from a wide variety of angles, whether it be the poetry of a line drive into the gap, the beauty of a well turned double play, the mathematics of a winning team, the athleticism of a short-stop deep in the hole, or the inner workings of the mind of Greg Maddux.
Posts: 4112 | Registered: May 2001
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posted
I am not a fan of baseball, but reading through this, I understand a little more about why some people are.
Unfortunately, most of the reasons given are exactly why I don't like the game. I want to see a sport played by athletes who will probably need to break a sweat during the game. The majority of baseball players seem to have a lot of free time on their hands.
I want to see a game where the players DO require great amounts of athleticism. Anybody can go out and play baseball the same way anybody can go out and play basketball or tennis. But only the truly great athletes are going to rise to the top.
I don't really understand how baseball is considered a thinking sport more than others. I'm not saying that to be contentious - I really don't understand. I see that the pitcher/catcher needs to decide what pitch is going to be thrown for each batter and situation, but a quarterback needs to decide what play to run each time he goes into a huddle based on who they're playing and what the situation is. The batter needs to think about what pitch might be coming and where he needs to hit it, but the defense in a football game needs to decide what formation to set each play. I know the outfielders need to know how to react given the situation on the field IF the ball comes to them, but are there really that many scenarios they need to prepare for. And they certainly have enough time to think it through before the pitch. They're not doing it on the fly.
Posts: 221 | Registered: Mar 2003
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As an outfielder, you have to know which base to throw to in each situation. As in, with a runner on first, you throw to second if you get the ball. If it gets past you, look and throw third or home.
But that's the easy one.
Runners on first and third? What's the score? How important is the game? Do you go for the out or try to cut off the run? If you cut off the run and there's one or zero outs, did you just load the bases?
Now the infield has to decide. Play shallow, regular or deep. Will there be a squeeze bunt? (If you play deep, probably)? What type of hitter is up? What kind of pitcher (certain kinds of pitchers result in way more ground balls than fly balls).
Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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quote: Consider a single moment in a pennant race, a July moment in a minor game against a meaningless team, but a moment in which a ball is hit very hard but caught by an outfielder who is standing in the right place, but before it is caught it must be hit, and before it is hit it must be thrown, and before it is thrown this pitch must be selected, and this pitcher must be selected, and this batter must be selected, and there are reasons why he was selected to throw and why he was selected to hit, and there are reasons why this pitch was selected and why it was thrown this way and why it was swung at and why it was hit and why, finally, the outfielder chanced to be in the right place, so that in the single moment of a pennant race, there is a complexity that surpasses any understanding.
posted
Didn't they have a survey recently where people voted that football was the new national pastime? I heard about that on ESPN. Anyways, I'm with them. I can't stand watching baseball.
Posts: 2258 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
As for baseball players being non-athletic, that's becoming more a lie these days. Some guys do look portly, but they are all stronger than your average man-on-the-street. And have you seen OL/DLs in football? They look big and fat, but they can also bench a small VW!
Aside from perhaps a hockey goalie, a hitter in baseball has the hardest job in baseball: make solid contact with a round stick on a round ball that is travelling 70-100MPH, from a tad over 60 feet away, that is coming at you from above (thanks to the mound) and possible with english on it.
I would also add that the pitcher has the second hardest job: throwing that same 70-100MPH, with or without english over a small 18 inch (?) by 4 foot box, into the catcher's glove, without the aforementioned hitter making contact.
That the fielders aren't in every play only means that every fielder must be alert EVERY pitch. In football, on a good day, you have maybe 60-70 plays. In baseball you are looking at 100+ chances where you have to tense up, and then based on what happens know exactly where you ought to be and what you ought to do.
Oh, and I haven't even mentioned that baseball hitters are obviously gifted with absurd hand-eye coordination. Oh wait, I guess I just did.
posted
mack, Ayelar and Bok, those were all pretty good points, especially mack’s (and I’m not just saying that because she’ll whack me). Maybe it is a little more of a head game than I gave it credit for.
Ayelar, the only problem with your example was that I still think you could substitute football terms for baseball terms and it still be pretty accurate.
Bok, I agree (and have always agreed) that a pitcher is a true athlete. What they do takes a lot of skill, strength and endurance. Hitters, though...eh. I agree that hitting a baseball is very hard, but players don’t have to do it very often. Tennis players constantly have to return serves up to 130 to 140 mph. Yes, they have a bit more time to respond because the distance is greater and they also get to hit it with something larger than a bat, but a serve comes faster than a pitch, it’s not confined to a small area and it has more spin/slice on it. Of course, the fact that hitters in baseball don’t have to do it often actually makes it that much harder and a tenser situation.
As for the outfielders tensing up 100+ times a game, there’s a big difference in tensing up for a play and actually do something, like a football or tennis player does.
I probably won’t start watching baseball anytime soon, but you guys are giving me a bit more respect for the sport. See, I’ll even call it a sport. Hatrack can contribute to the changing of minds. Now if you guys can convince me that golf is a sport...that’s expecting too much though.
Posts: 221 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
You forgot to mention speed, agility, and hand-eye coordination, all of which are necessary for catching those tough outfield hits, turning a double play, running (and stealing) bases.
Baseball is really an exciting game, and the more you understand it, the more exciting it is.
posted
I grew up with a guy name Pat Borders who was a major league catcher. He received the World Series MVP with the Blue Jays.
He was several years older and was the neighborhood bully. He turned out to be a really nice guy, though.
Posts: 221 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
Well, the time it takes for a tennis ball to travel the length of the court is approximately 1.5 times longer then it takes for the baseball to get to the batter... and thats IF you make incorrect assumptions about the pitcher. IF a pitcher throws a baseball 90 miles an hour, which is fairly average, it gets to home plate in .4 seconds. Assuming, of course, that the pitcher threw the ball 60 feet 6 inches, which is the distance from rubber to home plate. However, the pitcher does not do this. He throws it from approximately 55 feet, most of the time, which cuts the time of the fastball down to .366 seconds, during which the batter must recognize the spin, which comes in a lot more varieties then a tennis serve, must recognize whether the pitch is even one he should SWING at, must calculate where the pitch will be when the bat and the ball theoretically make contact, based off of his recognition of the spin on the ball, and proceed to move a very small cylinder through the EXACT space the ball will occupy at EXACTLY the right moment. Unlike with tennis, the surface of a bat is such that if you miss by even a tiny fraction of an inch, you're out. If you miss by a FULL inch, you miss the ball completely. AND, the time frame in which you can hit the ball successfully into the field of play is something under .003 seconds... the time in which it takes the ball to move 6 inches. Outside of that .003 second span, you'll either miss, foul the ball off, or make such weak contact that you shouldn't have bothered to swing anyways.
Now, lets talk about those types of spin, shall we?
Fastballs: Four seamer. This ball is high and hard. It looks juicy, because its up around your chest, so you think you can hit it. Thrown properly, you can't... its moving too fast and it takes longer for a good swing to develop at a ball over your hips, because of the angles involved in hitting a ball properly. This ball mostly moves straight, though any good pitcher's fastball has a bit of a zig to it. Two Seamer. This ball drops. ITs got "heavy" spin on it, and thrown properly, drops about 6 inches in the last 10 feet of travel. You've got to recognize this and lower your swing, not only to adjust to where the ball is, but enough so that you "Get under the ball" enough to hit it on a line, rather then a groundball to the shortstop.This pitch can also be thrown so that it comes BACK towards the hand the pitcher throws with. That is, if a righty throws a two seamer, it moves TOWARDS a right handed hitter.
Cut Fastabll: This fastball is something of a misnomer... its about 2-3 miles an hour slower then a two seamer thrown by the same pitcher. Two miles an hour translates into a foul ball. Thats not the biggest problem, though. The BIG problem is this pitch has a late fade... it dives down and away from the hand that the pitcher throws with. Not a LOT, like a curveball, but a little bit. And, its a late movement as the effects of air resistance build up. Split Finger fastball: Much like a two-seamer, this ball drops. But it moves slower, and drops faster and harder. A good split finger ends up in the dirt. Impossible to hit, but the spin looks much the same as a two-seamer, so it looks like it will be in teh strike zone... right up until its too late to stop your swing.
Those are just the fastballs. A starting pitcher has 2-4 pitches that are NOT fastballs.
Hitting a baseball squarely is by far the most difficult thing to do in sports. A GOOD hitter misses a baseball completely about 100 times a year. Power hitters will often swing and miss 500 times or more over the course of the season. Thats missing completely. Hitting the ball properly comes on about 15% of a good hitters swings over the course of a year. If Sampras hit the ball properly 15% of the time, he'd be the laughing stock of pro-tennis.
Posts: 4112 | Registered: May 2001
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posted
"Hitting a baseball is the single most difficult thing to do in sport. I get raised eyebrows and occasional arguments when I say that, but what is there that is harder to do? What is there that requires more natural ability, more physical dexterity, more mental alertness? That requires a greater finesse to go with physical strength, that has as many variables and as few constants, and that carries with it the continuing frustration of knowing that even if you are a .300 hitter you are going to fail at your job seven out of ten times"
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He turned out to be a really nice guy, though.
