NakamuraWhy Baseball is Better Than Your Sport - Part 1: Physical Toughness
Let's take a break from the playoffs for a second. All these numbers and stats have filled my head and I think we should just take a step back and relax and talk about the sport itself for a second. Recently, one of my friends was bashing soccer, saying it was a sport for the weak. I'm no soccer fan, so I jump in and bash soccer as well. You've all heard the arguments; they don't make real tackles, they're never in danger, their injuries aren't real, etc. Then some guy has the nerve to come up to me and say baseball is a weak sport. So this is it, he sparked this series of blogs, "Why Baseball is Better Than Your Sport", and this is Part 1. Let's show him he's wrong.
Let's start with the most obvious point. It's easy to get hurt in baseball. Any one who disagrees is fool. Just under 70 players started the season on the disabled list, and that number vastly grew over the course of the year. Most of those players are pitchers. Why? Because their job is to throw. Over 65% of injuries in baseball happens to pitchers. Over 73% of pitchers who have spent at least 3 seasons in the majors land on the disabled list at one point in their career. Your shoulder wasn't built to throw a baseball. When was the last time you drew your arm back and moved it over your head in a forward direction? The motion for throwing a softball is so much
easier on your arm. When you walk, your arms swing back and forth, similar to a softball pitcher, only a lot slower. But rarely does your arm go over your head and almost never does it snap down at the rate of a throw. Any these professional starting pitchers throw about 100 pitches every 5 days, not counting bullpen sessions. Over the course of a 162 game season, that builds up on you. When you add 2 months due to spring training and the playoffs, it's likely that your arm's going to die out. And some of these people play in the world baseball classic and winter baseball. A quarterback rarely throws more than 25 times in a game. 25 throws a week, jeez that's going to put a strain on you. You try throwing a baseball as hard as you can 100 times every 5 days, occasionally putting so much spin on the ball to make it move and bust your elbow at the same time. Yeah, I didn't think so.
Let's take a look at what the pitcher's opponent. The batter stands in a box and has to hit a baseball where no one is standing. Sounds easy enough. Until you try it. A lot of these pitchers throw 95 mph. For those of you that don't enjoy math, here it is: that's 139.333 feet per second. Let's do a little more math. The distance from the mound to the plate is 60 feet, 6 inches. The average pitcher's stride to the plate is 6.5 feet. 60ft 6" - 6ft 6" = 54ft. Using the equation Velocity = Distance/Time, a ball released 54ft and traveling at 139.333ft/s would reach the plate in 0.38 seconds.
But wait, we're not done yet. The best players in baseball can recognize the spin of a ball in 0.2 seconds, something that neither of us can do. That means you have 0.18 seconds to react and get your bat on the ball, something neither of us can do. When was the last time you saw LeBron James hit a three with 0.18 seconds left in the game to win it at the buzzer? Well, we're not talking about a buzzer beater, we're talking about making contact. Not a home run, not a hit, just making contact. That's right, getting a piece of wood on a major league pitch is like hitting a game winning three at the buzzer.
So for those of you who think you can't get hurt playing baseball, guess again. It's not just the pitchers, shortstops have to make constant throws across their body. Or when a catcher gets trucked, that's no rugby tackle, that's the MLB version of "JACKED UP". And hitting is never a joke. Don't mind how hard it is to hit the ball, what happens if the ball hits you? Those of you who read "Pitching Inside and Hitting Batters" know what I'm talking about. It's possible to die by getting hit, but we don't protect the batters because fear is a necessity to the game. Seriously, why would there be such a big issue on steroids if baseball was a weak sport? There's a reason why those people cheated, because it gave them a significant advantage. Because that extra strength they received would make them that much better. If baseball is a weak sport, then so is boxing, hockey and football. Oh and not to mention, soccer.
Still not convinced? Come back soon when I release the next blog of this series, "Why Baseball is Better Than Your Sport - Part 2: Hitting .400"
-Written by: Nakamura. This article is copyrighted © by Nakamura and may not be reproduced, recopied, or used in any form without permission from Nakamura
Let's start with the most obvious point. It's easy to get hurt in baseball. Any one who disagrees is fool. Just under 70 players started the season on the disabled list, and that number vastly grew over the course of the year. Most of those players are pitchers. Why? Because their job is to throw. Over 65% of injuries in baseball happens to pitchers. Over 73% of pitchers who have spent at least 3 seasons in the majors land on the disabled list at one point in their career. Your shoulder wasn't built to throw a baseball. When was the last time you drew your arm back and moved it over your head in a forward direction? The motion for throwing a softball is so much
Let's take a look at what the pitcher's opponent. The batter stands in a box and has to hit a baseball where no one is standing. Sounds easy enough. Until you try it. A lot of these pitchers throw 95 mph. For those of you that don't enjoy math, here it is: that's 139.333 feet per second. Let's do a little more math. The distance from the mound to the plate is 60 feet, 6 inches. The average pitcher's stride to the plate is 6.5 feet. 60ft 6" - 6ft 6" = 54ft. Using the equation Velocity = Distance/Time, a ball released 54ft and traveling at 139.333ft/s would reach the plate in 0.38 seconds.
But wait, we're not done yet. The best players in baseball can recognize the spin of a ball in 0.2 seconds, something that neither of us can do. That means you have 0.18 seconds to react and get your bat on the ball, something neither of us can do. When was the last time you saw LeBron James hit a three with 0.18 seconds left in the game to win it at the buzzer? Well, we're not talking about a buzzer beater, we're talking about making contact. Not a home run, not a hit, just making contact. That's right, getting a piece of wood on a major league pitch is like hitting a game winning three at the buzzer.
So for those of you who think you can't get hurt playing baseball, guess again. It's not just the pitchers, shortstops have to make constant throws across their body. Or when a catcher gets trucked, that's no rugby tackle, that's the MLB version of "JACKED UP". And hitting is never a joke. Don't mind how hard it is to hit the ball, what happens if the ball hits you? Those of you who read "Pitching Inside and Hitting Batters" know what I'm talking about. It's possible to die by getting hit, but we don't protect the batters because fear is a necessity to the game. Seriously, why would there be such a big issue on steroids if baseball was a weak sport? There's a reason why those people cheated, because it gave them a significant advantage. Because that extra strength they received would make them that much better. If baseball is a weak sport, then so is boxing, hockey and football. Oh and not to mention, soccer.
Still not convinced? Come back soon when I release the next blog of this series, "Why Baseball is Better Than Your Sport - Part 2: Hitting .400"
-Written by: Nakamura. This article is copyrighted © by Nakamura and may not be reproduced, recopied, or used in any form without permission from Nakamura
