On the Beauty of Baseball

While watching Game 3 of the NBA finals last night, I was reminded of something a friend of mine told me. She said Baseball was better then Basketball because there are no rebounds in Baseball.

Every play counts in Baseball. If you bounce into a double play, you don’t get a chance to take the ball back and try again. There are no rebounds. There are no second downs (and certainly no third or fourth downs).

There are also no turnovers or interceptions. If you want to get back on offense in Baseball, you have to stop the other team. You can’t just steal the ball. Stealing the ball wouldn’t do you any good anyway since in Baseball the defense is in possession of the ball.

One point I always bring up in defense of Baseball is that it is the only major sport in America in which play does not stop just because one team scores. Score a touchdown, and play stops. Score a goal, and play stops. Score a run, and play does not stop. Play continues until either all the runners are home or none can advance safely.

Scoring plays are also more significant in Baseball than they are in Basketball. For example, one Basketball game may see 200 points scored between the two teams. This means that every two-point scoring play in the game only accounts for 1% of the total scoring. Granted, a 200 point game is a high-scoring affair. But let’s look at a 10 run Baseball game, also a high-scoring affair. In that game, each run scored accounts for 10% of the total scoring. And, of course, one play could result in more than one run. If a grand slam is hit in this game, those 4 runs would account for 40% of the total scoring. So 40% of all the runs scored in the game were scored on one play. That cannot happen in Basketball, Hockey, or Soccer.

Despite the perverse form it has taken on in the Major Leagues, Baseball is still a beautiful game.

–J.E. Heath
Enthralled by my wisdom? Get more at per-fidem.org.
Comments? Email us.

Texian Weblog © Copyright 2005, Jason E. Heath