Article says : "Hitting a Baseball is the Hardest Skill to Pull Off in Sports." -- Not IMO

Island Drive

Otto/Dads College Roommate/Cleveland Browns
Silver Member
It's difficult to compare any pro sport at the top level to another, unless you've played both at the same level. Tho it's VERY easy to say your right, when you think your right. :)
 

measureman

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I don't remember who said what.
A baseball player said to a golfer"It's harder to hit a baseball than a golf ball"
The golfer said "Thats true but we have to play all of our foul balls"
I'm thinking the golfer was Sam Snead?
 

gregcantrall

Center Ball
Silver Member
Great quote, I think it went "everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth"
Shit my first lesson had the punch in the mouth and well I guess I had a plan. It was only to protect my little sister. At 6 years old I had my first lesson in martial arts.😉
It was a lesson well headed. Nobody has gotten me in the mouth since. And I have dispensed.... Maybe only one. He said, "and if you come back I will kick your ass!" I said, " I'm Back!" His jack in the chest was all I needed. The police took the report on his lip split to the chin.🤷
 

vjmehra

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
To fix pool we need to look at the next closet thing that has a successful tour and that is snooker.

My question to you is who are the major sponsors of snooker tournaments?

Now mainly Cazoo, a UK/European car leasing company.

Betting companies were the main sponsors, but there is a lot of anti-gambling sentiment in the UK at the mo, so they are slowly being replaced (e.g. Cazoo will sponsor the 2023 World Championships instead of Betfred).
 

Bavafongoul

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Anytime you have to hit a round ball with a round stick, i.e.,baseball bat, that is traveling at various velocities,
some of which happens at speeds unimaginable and the ball moves, rises, curves, dips with different rotational
movements and the batter has about 1/4 of a second to decide to swing or not and then still strike the ball, then
without a doubt baseball is the hardest skill to pull off in sports. In golf and pool, the balls are stationary, perfectly
still just sitting right in front of you to decide what to do and just take your time deciding too. Baseball is the surely
the hardest sport for hand eye coordination and raw athleticism. And fielding, I.e., catching, balls hit over 100mph
playing the infield requires incredible talent and skills versus picking which golf club to swing or in pool, pocketing
the object ball. OMG, to offer other sports examples supposedly harder than baseball suggests you never played it.
 

Fatboy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Lenny Dykstra lived with me for 4 years. He told me that for him baseball was easy. He said “It ain’t in the books-it’s instinct”. Sounds like top level pool players. Batting and fielding. I can’t argue with that. Either you have it or you don’t. Even still he said that it requires total immersion and years of practice, sounds like pool again to me.

That’s pretty much all I got,
Fatboy😃
 

arnaldo

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
“Everyone has a plan until they get knocked out”

Mike Tyson said it best
Eric: Your recollection is just about there, but I have to verifiably submit that his actual, (equally concise) quote contained even more vividly stunning imagery and best-selling poster applicability to allowing for life's sudden derailments of our plans. What he actually said in response to the pre-fight interviewer about any of Holyfield's publicized plans for the fight:

"Everyone has a plan -- until they get punched in the face."

We'd all agree I'd guess, that Mike (or his savvy advisor) correctly presumed that the image of a glove painfully damaging and distorting every element of the opponent's face in a millisecond is more directly shocking and memorably quotable than the mental image of an inert body laying on the canvas. Whether pre-planned words or spontaneous, it's an historic sports-world quote.

Arnaldo ~ I often criticize myself for hypocritically having boxing match-viewing as one of my favorite guilty pleasures while I rail against the increasing violence in our world.
 
Last edited:

vjmehra

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Anytime you have to hit a round ball with a round stick, i.e.,baseball bat, that is traveling at various velocities,
some of which happens at speeds unimaginable and the ball moves, rises, curves, dips with different rotational
movements and the batter has about 1/4 of a second to decide to swing or not and then still strike the ball, then
without a doubt baseball is the hardest skill to pull off in sports. In golf and pool, the balls are stationary, perfectly
still just sitting right in front of you to decide what to do and just take your time deciding too. Baseball is the surely
the hardest sport for hand eye coordination and raw athleticism. And fielding, I.e., catching, balls hit over 100mph
playing the infield requires incredible talent and skills versus picking which golf club to swing or in pool, pocketing
the object ball. OMG, to offer other sports examples supposedly harder than baseball suggests you never played it.

The only direct comparison to baseball (well not direct, but the closest viable one) is cricket.

The speed is similar (top level bowlers reach speeds of 90-100mph), but the key difference is that the ball typically hits the ground first, this lowers the speed (normally), but introduces another random variable as it can shoot off, on an unexpected trajectory, so no idea which is harder there, probably subjective.

As for the fielding, this isn't even close, cricket wins this hands down as fielders have to catch a similarly sized ball, similar hardness, hit at similar speeds...but they don't have the luxury of a huge glove!

As for pure Athleticism, definitely historically baseball wins over cricket hands down, but with the increased professionalism and introduction of T20 cricket I'm not so sure anymore, that again is subjective, especially as cricket doesn't allow substitutions (the only exception is for concussion if you're batting or for a fielder, but they then aren't allowed to bowl).

I'm not sure its clear cut though, hockey looks pretty tough (physically and the level of difficulty), some of the Gaelic sports (e.g. Hurling) look brutal and F1 / Indy / Nascar must require super human reactions (and higher fitness levels than people assume), so they could be up there too!
 

ShootingArts

Smorg is giving St Peter the 7!
Gold Member
Silver Member
Eric: Your recollection is just about there, but I have to verifiably submit that his actual, (equally concise) quote contained even more vividly stunning imagery and best-selling poster applicability to allowing for life's sudden derailments of our plans. What he actually said in response to the pre-fight interviewer about any of Holyfield's publicized plans for the fight:

"Everyone has a plan -- until they get punched in the face."

We'd all agree I'd guess, that Mike (or his savvy advisor) correctly presumed that the image of a glove painfully damaging and distorting every element of the opponent's face in a millisecond is more directly shocking and memorably quotable than the mental image of an inert body laying on the floor. Whether re-planned words or spontaneous, it's an historic sports-world quote.

Arnaldo ~ I often criticize myself for hypocritically having boxing match-viewing as one of my favorite guilty pleasures while I rail against the increasing violence in our world.


I see you have Joe Frazier in your sig. He said something similar about the time Tyson was born. Before him a black boxer that had trouble getting in the ring in the USA when they were boxing with four to eight ounce gloves or bare knuckle said much the same. No doubt the saying keeps going back to who knows when.

I sparred a few times with two guys. One was a black belt quite a bit bigger and more athletic than I was. Covered him readily. The other was six inches shorter than I was, I probably had at least ten inches reach on him. He had boxed about 150 fights split pretty even between amateur and pro. Absolutely no contest! When he put on gloves the light of human intelligence went out of his eyes and he operated on instinct, reflexes, and training that was bone deep! He had been ranked top twenty in the world for most of his pro career by Ring magazine. I did my best but even with sixteen ounce pillows and no tape every blow he threw stung, even the jabs. He hit from the toes up and with a speed designed to beat counterpunches from guys just like him. No question I was miles out of my depth!

Hu
 

poolnut7879

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Now mainly Cazoo, a UK/European car leasing company.

Betting companies were the main sponsors, but there is a lot of anti-gambling sentiment in the UK at the mo, so they are slowly being replaced (e.g. Cazoo will sponsor the 2023 World Championships instead of Betfred).
What's the gambling sentiment in the US right now?
 

vjmehra

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
What's the gambling sentiment in the US right now?

It seems much more positive than over here!

In the UK there is an increasing movement to shut down gambling completely, now it won't go that far, but there is talk of bringing in very draconian measures such as over zealous affordability checks and having deposit limits capped at ridiculously low (absolute) levels (e.g. capped at £100 regardless of income etc).

In the US it sounds like things are opening up quite rapidly and I can't believe the same level of interference into personal finances would be tolerated, would it?

Obviously I appreciate some people struggle with gambling, but as with alcohol or tobacco or any drug it seems unfair to ban (or heavily restrict to the point where something becomes unviable) things for the majority because of the actions of the minority.
 

tomatoshooter

Well-known member
Played ball in college a bit.

The guys that got to the minor leagues, they were amazing.

The Show? Unbelievable.

You have no idea what it is like to stand at the plate with a 95 MPH pitcher on the mound. It's even worse squatting behind the plate when the pitcher is ignoring your signals and putting the heat on.
I talked to a guy who I think topped out at AA ball. He said he hit .700 in high school. It's amazing when you are that good in high school and there are guys that much better.
 

alstl

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
With the exception of sports involving physical contact hitting MLB pitching is the toughest skill in sports. They get 3 or more swings per at bat and still the best hitters in the game fail 70% of the time.
 
Top