Quote:
Originally Posted by highthief
The point about scoring was a direct response to a comment about end results (hitting a moving football ball into a net or hitting a moving baseball). The whole comparison of the two sports is - most people seem to agree - a bit out there to begin with.
However, as a player of both, there is really zero comparison in terms of physicality between the two sports. Yes, you have athletic people who play baseball at high levels, but the fact is not all of them are very fit (unlike top level football). There are a more than a few fat DHs, catchers, 1st basement and pitchers out there. You really can't get away with being unfit at high level football - that's why even the best players in the world tend to be too old for Premier League or La Liga or international duty by their early thirties (32 or 33 sees most top players dropping off the rosters of the Liverpools and Arsenals and Real Madrids because they can't compete anymore). And anyone aside from the very best by that age have dropped down the European leagues or, like Beckham, find themselves playing in the lower standard MLS. In baseball, many players (especially pitchers, 1st basemen and DHs) can easily hang around into their later thirties or even 40s because all around physical ability is much less in demand.
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The question was which sport is harder, not which one requires greater physical endurance. Although there are some superior conditioned athletes in baseball, there is not much comparison between soccer and baseball athletes in terms of physical endurance. But really any sport whose biggest difficulty claim is that their players can run around for 90 minutes isn't that impressive (I am being somewhat hyperbolic here, as I know soccer players have lots of technical skill). But seriously, does this mean that the Tour De France riders are better athletes, or triathletes? Almost every US Marine I know could run your average soccer player into the ground, so does that mean that they are better athletes? I guess my point is that there are a tremendous array of sport specific skills that someone must have to succeed at baseball, tiny nuances that separate average from superior ballplayers, that I believe make baseball harder.