"Hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in all of sports."

[barman]

Gotta admit I was yanking ILLINI's chain a tad

I have also umpired men's amateur ball (Dallas TX about 15 years ago) and seen some pretty strong pitching.

So if we're talking 50 AtBats (four balls counts as a BB and you start the count fresh) I think both ILLINI and I could get loose with maybe three or four base knocks.

Which is admittely just a .080 average, but hey....


And yeah, I'm including the couple I might get when I dribble one down the third base line and beat out the throw, but last I checked most good MLB hitters can thank those type of "hits" for at least a half dozen safeties per year.....

 

[barman]

Surprised that no MLB club has tried that as some kind of pregame promotion.

Have the 11th man in the bullpen come in before game and three Lucky Fans get a shot vs a four man infield.

Three strikes and you're Out...But hit one safely into the outfield or beat out a ground ball and you win a Cool Prize.

 

[royboy_3831]

i agree with the title of this thread.... unless chan ho park is pitching

 

[jambolaya1]

I have to say this is one of the dumber threads on the forum. And worse yet so many participants seem to have a very narrow scope of the world of sports and yet they still think they have a valid contribution to make to a theme that was doomed from the start..

first and foremost, the author of the thread simply fails to explain what the hell he means by hardest so every one and any one can simply formulate their opinion as to what the harship may be in a particular sport and unanimously decide that his choice is the right one and the rest are wrong.

One brave soul posted, that baseball hitters have the hardship of hitting a 90mph ball, that could very well hit them and kill them...

That ignoramus should send this fella an email and make that argument to him.


Other folks yet argue that its the skill that determines hardship..(total dunce). Honestly folks if you are going to make an argument try and educate yourself on the topic before you come on here and make a fool of yourself. (and if that comes of abrasive then i hope your dumbass is embarassed enough not to repeat the mistake)
Baseball is a game believed by some to have evolved from a game called cricket.

Dont worry...you are american and your ignorance is typical of most us. People around the world really expect this from us. But i will try my best to educate my brethren.
To argue that the degree of difficulty is greatest in a sport that was intentionally dumbed down and made easier for yankee yobs to understand play and enjoy is totally absurd.

See those three little sticks behind the guy with the large bat? Those were removed and replaced with a guy holding a glove bigger than his head. Just so that dumb little timmy could play an easier game. They removed the further hardship, requiring the bowler (pitcher" for my dumb american brethren) to bounce the ball and some how curve it around a full grown man swinging a bat wider than your palm!!!

That is about the equivalent of saying playing checkers is harder than chess.......


But i understand..You simply couldnt know better. You are american and are entitled to your spew your crap borne of a poorly educated mind!:howdy::howdy::howdy:

preach on!

 

[jambolaya1]

 

[jambolaya1]

http://www.dumpalink.com/videos/Mexican-Bull-Rider-Killed-91f2.html

Maybe this guy tried to hit a baseball and figured this was easier..

 

[jambolaya1]

Wanna see a real "curve ball'?

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/7Q5FvN6zz08&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/7Q5FvN6zz08&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
Lol...and he is using a foot buried sock deep in a leather shoe!!!:nohead:

 

[jambolaya1]

but i digress, soccer is a sport for sissies..

 

[jambolaya1]

he definately didnt eat his wheaties!!!

 

[Illini]

Jambolaya- take it easy, man.

I started the thread out of the amazement that I saw in the tennis match. I can't think of any sport that requires so much skill than what I saw on Sunday. Of course everything is subjective and opinionated when it comes to "most difficult."

Get a life and don't be so easily offended. And next time read the thread before you spew 10 paragraphs refuting something.

 

[brewers7]

All I know is that if I faced CC Sabathia, I might get a hit 1 out of 20 times. Facing Roger Federer's serve, I couldn't return it once out of 100 times.

Illini:

I have always respected you as a capper/poster on this forum and don't take anything I say personally here, please...

But if you faced CC Sabathia for 500 ABs, you would not get 1 hit, not 1 hit, period, if you are saying you are unable to return even 1 out of 100 of Roger Federer's serves in play, because if you cannot return even one of his serves in play, then you have very little to no athletic ability...

You are obviously a big tennis fan, and hey, there is nothing wrong with that, but don't let being a big tennis fan cloud your common sense when it comes to the difference between hitting a tennis ball and hitting a baseball...If you've never played baseball in your life, then, hey, I can see where you're coming from, but then you shouldn't be comparing the two as if you know what you're talking about from personal experience...You have umpired and seen 92 or 93, huh?...And this makes you an expert now?...And no, you do NOT want to face Papelbon now...Who the f*ck cares what he did in a summer league 7 summers ago...

Yeah, folks hitting a major league pitcher, it always looks EASY from the stands, on TV, from the dugout or behind an umpire's mask...

Now go grab a bat and stand in the box...

No chance...

And I don't know Mr_J at all, but his comments prove to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that he has not played any sport at any significant level...I mean, get real...

Barman, a weak dribbler counts?...Only if you can drop the bat and get your ass to 1B in 4.1 seconds or less, because the Pitcher, 1B, 3B or Catcher is going to gobble up that "slow dribbler" and throw your ass out...

Slapshot: You have obviously never played a baseball game in your life other than with a Fat Albert wiffle bat in the backyard against your 7-and-8 year old nephews and nieces...

And for the folks trying to compare golf to hitting a baseball, well, my god, how ridiculous is that?...How well do you think Arnold Palmer or Jack Nicklaus are going to do against Major League pitching these days, yet they can still go out on a golf course even tomorrow or any damn day and make par on a few holes at just about any damn golf course in the land and certainly nail plenty of fareways...

We are going to compare hitting a baseball to hitting a tennis ball??...Are you serious??...You see how big these racquets are these days?...And again, the length of a tennis court is 78 feet, not 60 feet, 6 inches, which negates any increase in speed of the ball (or pitch/serve)...

And there is another HUGE difference nobody has even mentioned yet (which tells me that we have a bunch of non-athletes posting in this thread) and that is, when you are hitting a tennis ball, the ball has already hit the ground first, which eliminates mucho m.p.h. AND, even more importantly, when the ball comes off the ground, it is now coming on an UPWARD plane toward you, making the ball much easier to pick up as the ball rises to the "hitting zone" of that absolutely huge-ass sweet-spot of that huge-ass tennis racquet these guys use these days...The ball moves right up to eye-level and gets fatter and fatter for any athlete worth his salt to destroy with these modern-day-huge-ass racquets...The tennis ball is practically on a tee by the time it gets to you (see even more on the importance of the upward plane and its significance below, under the review)...

And oh boy, in tennis, you have to hit the ball on the run even!!...Is that so, Mr_J??...Good Golly, how difficult!!...It is so, so difficult, in fact, that MANY, MANY of the top players in tennis turn PRO well before their 18th birthday...We have seen many women turn pro at age 14, 15 and even guys turn pro at ages 16 & 17 and play against the best tennis players in the entire world at that age and hold their own because hitting a tennis ball at the professional level is so damn tough...

C'mon, wake up...Some of the folks in this thread need a reality check...

I go to a racquet club 4 to 5 times a week to work out and the gym is on the 2nd floor and there are windows that allow you to see the 6 indoor tennis courts below and this sport of tennis is so damn tough, in fact, that senior citizens are out there playing tennis every damn day while I am lifting weights in the gym...How many 65+ year-olds are on a baseball field playing?...And how many raquetball clubs are there across the nation??...

So let's review:

Baseball: A variety of pitches, release points, ball moving left, right, down, left & down, right & down, and more importantly, the ball is moving on a DOWNWARD plane, away from your eyes, and if you do have enough hand-eye coordination and bat-speed to actually connect with a MLB pitcher, that is STILL NOT ENOUGH as there are 9 players who can catch your weak-ass pop-up or field your weak-ass grounder with ease and throw your sorry-ass out at first base if you aren't fast enough to drop the bat and run from home to first in 4.1 seconds or less (4.1 seconds is the major-league average) and let's face it, not many people can accomplish that even...And oh yeah, when the pitcher throws the ball, you have to hit it out of the air, you aren't going to get a chance to let it bounce off the ground first and have the ball practically sit there on a tee as it crosses home plate on an upward plane, moving closer to your eyes (so it looks fatter and fatter the closer it gets to you), so you can stand there and mash it (like tennis)...

Golf: Hitting a stationary ball off a tee or off the ground...Ok, do I even need to continue or type another freaking word??...

Tennis: Forget the mph of the serve, because so much of that mph number is negated after the ball hits the ground...And yes, folks, everyone has conveniently forgotten to mention that in tennis, the ball HITS THE GROUND FIRST...OK?...Understand this...That furry tennis ball is NOT picking up speed off the ground...If you believe that, then you're living in a Psychological Disneyland where you just make up your own rules and talking to you is like talking to a wall...If you know ANYTHING at all about sports and if you have played tennis at any significant level at all, then you KNOW that in order for a player to get a 130 mph serve into that designated 21 by 27 foot service court, they need to put a shitload of top-spin on the serve because they also need to get the ball over that 3-foot net (in the middle of the court, slowly rising to 3 feet, 6 inches on both outer edges)...So after that ball hits the service court, it:

1) slows down dramatically, and
2) rises upward as it bounces

And as stated before, when the ball rises on an upward plane, it is moving closer to your eyes and the ball is moving directly into your hitting zone virtually every single time...When a ball moves at an upward plane, like it does in tennis, always bouncing off the ground, the effect is simple: the ball looks fatter and fatter and fatter as it gets closer to you as you stand there and get ready to crush it with your huge-ass tennis racquet...

Which brings me to yet another point, only mentioned once in this thread, and that is just how much bigger the tennis raquet is compared to a baseball bat...

How much bigger, you ask?...

Most tennis pros use mid-sized racquets that have 85-to-95 square inches to work with and people who use the over-sized racquets have 100 to 140 square inches to work with...And at least 80% of the surface of a tennis racquet is considered the sweet spot...

On a baseball bat, the standard diameter of the barrel (which is round, by the way, not square) is 2 5/8 inches...The sweet spot on a wooden bat is about 4 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide, for a total of 6 square inches...

So in tennis, a Pro has roughly 72 square inches of a sweet spot to use with his racquet (while non-pros have roughly 104 square inches), while a baseball player (pro or non-pro) has roughly 6 square inches to work with to hit that round ball with that roud bat square...

So the built-in advantages a Pro tennis player has over a Pro baseball hitter are:

1) 12 times more surface area to hit that furry ball with
2) that furry ball is coming at him on an UPWARD plane (much easier to hit, than when you are dealing with a downward plane), and
3) that furry ball is being slowed down by bouncing off the ground first


I have played both sports at fairly high levels (among others), and speak from personal experience...Everything I have stated is pure and simple logic based on personal experience...Reading a book doesn't enable you to know a damn thing about hitting a baseball or a tennis ball...Watching baseball or tennis on TV doesn't mean SH*T, as sports always look easy on TV or from the stands...Umpiring baseball games and seeing 92 or 93 mph in summer leagues also doesn't mean you know SH*T about hitting a baseball from a MLB pitcher...

I saw someone mention people hitting in batting cages or taking batting practice at a major league park...HaHa...Please...Anyone, and I mean anyone can hit a pitching machine at virtually any speed whn the machine throws the ball straight to virtually the same exact spot time after time after time...The same with batting practice pitchers serving up meatballs to Aaron freaking Krickstein or Billy Crystal for crying out loud...They are TRYING to allow you to hit the damn ball, idiot...That's why they call it batting practice...


And finally, this statement is ABSURD for 2 reasons:

All I know is that if I faced CC Sabathia, I might get a hit 1 out of 20 times. Facing Roger Federer's serve, I couldn't return it once out of 100 times.

1) Like I said above: If you are saying you are unable to return even 1 out of 100 of Roger Federer's serves in play, then you have very little to no athletic ability and no hand-eye coordination whatsover...So logically, since you have little to no athletic ability and no hand-eye coordination whatsover, then if you faced CC Sabathia for 500 ABs, you would not get 1 hit, not 1 hit, period...

2) This is a flat-out UNFAIR comparison...You are talking about Federer and Nadal, who you even said are "inhuman"...They will certainly go down as two of the best ever in Tennis history...One is a southpaw...So a FAIR comparison would be to take 2 of the best pitchers of all time, 2 pitchers who had such sick stuff in their prime that they could no-hit a team on any given day...I am talking about Nolan Ryan (7 no-hitters and 12 one-hitters) and Sandy Koufax (4 no-hitters)...

You cannot even begin to compare the stuff of CC Sabathia with the NASTY SH^T that Nolan Ryan or Sandy Koufax had in their prime...Not even close...

So if you want to compare returning the serve of Federer or Nadal in play as being so "tough", then put that up vs. getting a base hit off of Nolan Ryan or Sandy Koufax in their prime...

No offense to anyone in this forum, but if you think any of you are going to get even 1 hit in 200 ABs off Koufax or Ryan, then you are nuts...I'd give you 200 career ABs against each one of those 2 pitchers and you'd be 0-for-400...Would you put balls in play?...Sure you would, after striking out the first 40 or 50 ABs...

And I know for an absolute fact I could not only return serves from Nadal and Federer in play, but I would get points off their serve if given 100 serves and I haven't picked up a tennis racquet in almost 10 years...

Could I ever break either of their serves in a game situation?...No way...No way in hell...NO chance...None, unless they double-faulted 4 times...

Could I get a lucky winner or make a good enough return where they would hit the ball long or into the Net and I'd win the point?...Absolutely...Without a doubt...

So again, if you compare returning the serve of Federer or Nadal in play as vs. getting a base hit off of Nolan Ryan or Sandy Koufax in their prime, then it is no contest:

Hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in all of sports...

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[brewers7]

I have to say this is one of the dumber threads on the forum.

No it is not a dumb thread at all, jambolaya1...

People have a right to exchange information and others have a right to reply and educate people in the thread who aren't narrow-minded enough to learn...

But you are obviously a total idiot...Your post added NOTHING to this thread but BS...

You think playing Soccer is DIFFICULT??...

Let's run around and kick a ball...Oh, don't even get me started...I have seen soccer players try and hit a baseball and it is just flat-out embarrassing to even watch...

Add something meaningful to the thread (which you haven't done yet) or stay out...

 

[Illini]

I didn't read all that, but I just wanted to make myself clear. I am not a tennis fan, so I know nothing about it. I have just recently within the past few years started watching the finals of the major events, and I am impressed with those two as athletes. Tennis seems like an impossibly difficult sport to play.

And I know that umpiring doesn't make me an expert on hitting a baseball. It doesn't make me anything in terms of a baseball player. I'm just saying that I have basically stood in the batter's box, and I wasn't as wowed as I thought I would be. If any pitcher can bat .100, I think I could go 1 for 50 off anybody. I may be wrong, but that is a bet I would make.

 

[barman]

BREWER7 protests: Barman, a weak dribbler counts?...Only if you can drop the bat and get your ass to 1B in 4.1 seconds or less, because the Pitcher, 1B, 3B or Catcher is going to gobble up that "slow dribbler" and throw your ass out...

SH: I'm quick as a cat

 

[brewers7]

I didn't read all that, but I just wanted to make myself clear. I am not a tennis fan, so I know nothing about it. I have just recently within the past few years started watching the finals of the major events, and I am impressed with those two as athletes. Tennis seems like an impossibly difficult sport to play.

And I know that umpiring doesn't make me an expert on hitting a baseball. It doesn't make me anything in terms of a baseball player. I'm just saying that I have basically stood in the batter's box, and I wasn't as wowed as I thought I would be. If any pitcher can bat .100, I think I could go 1 for 50 off anybody. I may be wrong, but that is a bet I would make.

Fair enough...You made my point for me in your 1st paragraph where you said you know nothing about (tennis) and your expertise on tennis is simply watching the Finals within the past few years on TV (where Federer has been in 11 of the last 12 majors and Nadal has been there, what, 5 or 6 times in the last 3 years?)...

Nothing wrong with that but you are comparing the top 2 tennis players in the world, who will go down as 2 of the best ever, with CC freaking Sabathia...

Anyway, Tennis isn't that tough (when compared to hitting a round ball square)...I still play baseball and have my whole life and I picked up tennis very quickly just by watching lesson-shows on PBS in middle school and I ended up playing tennis a lot in high school and college as a cross-training tool for, yes, baseball...

Take it from me, if you've seen 92 and 93 up close and aren't impressed,(and I've faced that already, and faster) then if you were able to be a ball-boy at the U.S. Open this summer and got to stand 15 feet or so behind the guy returning serve from Federer or Nadal, you'd be a lot less impressed, trust me...

As far as your bet goes, remember, pitchers who hit .100 were all very good hitters in HS and/or college and get scouting reports on the pitchers they are going to face every game, if they choose to use that info...So they still have a huge edge over you or John Q. Public...

Could you go 1-for-50 off some major-league pitchers?...Sure, mediocre ones, if you have the hand-eye coordination and physical skills to do so and with some training and a lot of preparation, no doubt...No doubt a lucky shot will drop in somewhere...

Are you going to go 1-for-50 off any of the top 50 pitchers in MLB history in terms of having the nastiest stuff?...I severely doubt it...

Could you go 1-for-50 off the 10 current pitchers in the MLB with the nastiest stuff?...Doubt it...

But I like this thread because I really wish some John Q. Publics would have a chance to get into the batters box and face the top 10 or 20 pitchers in MLB right now...Not record-wise, but with the nastiest stuff, as voted on by MLB players...Have some John Q. Public guy get 3 official ABs off the the top 20 pitchers (that's 60 ABs) with 8 fielder's in place, and I guarantee there would be one 0-for-60 after another after another after another...It looks easy on TV or from the stands, but it ain't easy when you step into that box and see an 82 mph slider start at your head and break right over the middle of the plate for a strike...Or get a 93 mph brush-back pitch at your neck...

Hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in all of sports...

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[MrJ]

Brewers, you're obviously a jackarse.

 

[brewers7]

SH: I'm quick as a cat

Are you as quick as that black cat who ran by the Cubs' Ron Santo in 1969 at Shea Stadium??...

Oh by the way, after that happened the Cubs blew a seemingly insurmountable 9 1/2 game lead to the Mets...

 

[brewers7]

Brewers, you're obviously a jackarse.

Maybe, maybe not, all depends on your perspective...

But I obviously know way more than you about baseball and tennis and that is indisputable based on the posts in this thread...

I have played both sports and my first-hand experience & knowledge of both sports outweighs anything you can say about either sport based on what, you watching both on TV or reading about both in books?...

Think about it...

 

[TheKinz]

Guys- I have a great idea..take a "Bash" Excursion to a batting cage dial up the pitching machine to 80 and place your wagers...:toast:

 

[jambolaya1]

No it is not a dumb thread at all, jambolaya1...

People have a right to exchange information and others have a right to reply and educate people in the thread who aren't narrow-minded enough to learn...

But you are obviously a total idiot...Your post added NOTHING to this thread but BS...

You think playing Soccer is DIFFICULT??...

Let's run around and kick a ball...Oh, don't even get me started...I have seen soccer players try and hit a baseball and it is just flat-out embarrassing to even watch...

Add something meaningful to the thread (which you haven't done yet) or stay out...

I added plenty of meaningful stuff to this thread including educating morons like you on the evolution of the dumbed down sport you mistakenly think is so hard!!!

We have seen your pathetic musings on how hard it is to hit a baseball..
Of course any one with a moderately function brain knows you are complete fool because hitting a hole in 1 in probably 1000 times harder than hitting a mere baseball!!! :lolBIG:

You see the rest of the world is not made up of narrow minded idiots whose sports knowledge is limited to baseball and whacking off to jerry springer reruns of "my girlfriend is a man"

Really folks think about this guy's mental acuity! He honestly thinks hitting a baseball is harder than hitting a hole in onehno:

and i am engaged in a discussion with a fool like this because!!! err!!!
I am done here!!!

preach on!!!!

Baseball=dumbed down cricket for idiots!!! (not suprising same idiots think its hard)