Yes, baseball is the greatest sport of all time. No, football isn’t better, and soccer might be huge everywhere else, but not here. Basketball has its appeals and so does hockey, but they just don’t measure up to this great game.
1. It is just so damn hard!
You might not have to run miles or hit anyone, but you do have to hit a round ball with a round back that’s coming at you around 90 miles per hour. For the people who like stats, it takes .4 seconds for the ball to reach the plate when it's released out of the pitcher's hand…That’s hella fast, considering it takes you more than half of that to even recognize the ball itself.
2. The greatest athletes play!
Yeah, you know that one really good basketball player? Uhm, Michael Jordan? He stopped playing basketball nearly in his prime to play the game of baseball because that is the game he always wanted to play. Bo Jackson, the man most call the greatest athlete the world has ever seen. He had a career average of .250, which means the greatest athlete ever couldn’t even get a hit 3 times out of 10.
3. It has an equivalent!
No it's not football or basketball, and HELL NO its not lacrosse! It's softball; the men's and women's versions of this great game are equally hard and endearing in their own ways. It is just about as hard to hit a baseball as it is softball, and most MLB hitters can’t touch a professional fast pitch pitcher.
4. Everyone gets his or her chance!
There is no running out the clock, or freezing guys. No fouling to slow it down, or putting a terrible free throw shooter at the line. Every man, woman, and team gets their shot. You have to get 27 outs no matter what and there is no way around it.
5. It humbles you.
One second a player can be on top of the world, hit a walk-off home-run or pitch a perfect game. The game of baseball doesn’t let you get too high before you go 0-fer or you get rocked on the mound. Vice-versa, if you strike out three times last game, or let up a couple nukes. There is always a possibility that baseball doesn’t let you get too low either, and you go 3 for 4 next time around or pitch a gem.
Baseball has a way of making you love the game, while simultaneously hating it. You want to give it a big kiss and punch it in the throat. It attracts the best athletes in the world and makes them look silly at times. Yet, it teaches you patience and keeps you humble. To me, baseball is a passion to the pure point of obsession, as the late great Brooks Robinson would put it.
