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I'll throw in my two cents for baseball since there are a whole lot of soccer/football supporters in here. I'm also going to be another one taking a different take on baseball. The skill required to be a legitimate pitcher is still baffling to me. Being a major league pitcher has to be one of the hardest things I've ever seen. Throwing a ball into a strike zone that is approximately 2ft. wide X 2ft. tall (dependent on the batter's size and stance) in addition to throwing as hard as 100+ mph for some of the stronger arms. But the power pitchers don't amaze me as much as the finesse pitchers. It's baffling how you can throw a 95 mph fastball from the hill to that lower target, and then the next pitch proceed to control that same ball 74 mph having a break that starts by the batter's head and shoulders, and ends below his knees, weaving it's way through said strike zone on the way. And that's no luck, its pure control, especially being able to do so throughout the course of an entire game.
The pitcher's skill is what makes batting difficult in itself. As Ted Williams once said:
"Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer."
Baseball is also intriguing for other reasons than hand eye coordination. There is a certain level of intellectualism and strategy involved with the game. Base stealing, squeeze plays, bunts, hit and run plays, defensive alignments. Some of you that don't know much about baseball probably don't think much about defensive alignment, because most think that the hitter just kind of swings at the ball and hits it wherever. What makes a hitter successful is their ability to do a number of things during the at-bat, one of which is placement of the ball with a bat. The timing of the swing either early or late will determine where the ball is hit in a pull (RF for a lefty, LF for a righty) or push (LF for a lefty, RF for a righty) situation. That adjustment is done in a split second when the pitcher throws and the batter has to guess the pitch once it comes out of the pitcher's hand. That's not a lot of time when a 94mph ball is traveling 60ft. The pitcher's goal is to deceive the batter, who is guessing the pitch based on the status of the count and the pitches already/not already thrown. There are also left handed pitchers coming in for left handed batters, adjusting the lineup to have alternating L/R hand hitters making the approach more difficult for a pitcher, having a speedy runner instead of a power hitter. Heck, I'd like to see some of the faster base stealers of today like Carl Crawford or Jacoby Ellsbury matchup with soccer players and see who can run 90ft. faster.
Again, its like comparing apples and oranges but since 80% percent of people in this thread are touting about football football football, I figured I'd put some more info out there for baseball.
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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.
---Aristotle
Deeds, not words, shall speak [for] me.
---John Fletcher
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