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Alright HSBBW members, I need your baseball input (rather ammunition) on a heated debate around our office water cooler. To me, this question is a "Slam Dunk" but, my fellow weekend hackers think otherwise. I've read various articles and takes on this question, but I wanted to get the opinion of experts.
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quote:
Originally posted by eddiegaedel:
Alright HSBBW members, I need your baseball input (rather ammunition) on a heated debate around our office water cooler. To me, this question is a "Slam Dunk" but, my fellow weekend hackers think otherwise. I've read various articles and takes on this question, but I wanted to get the opinion of experts.


A baseball.

A golf ball doesn't move.
A generalized question like that doesn't have a correct answer. Totally different games.
BUT, if I were to make the argument that a baseball is more difficult to hit, it would go something like this: The greatest players to ever play baseball are successful in about 30% of their attempts. How many times do you see Tiger Woods miss a fairway or miss a green? hmmmmm.
Now take that back to ya water cooler and settle it once and for all!!
Good Luck
Slam dunk ... my golf balls always curve AFTER I hit them, not before. Obviously that makes it easier to make bad contact with my changeup swing as my hips try to slide past the ball, resulting in a ground ball with eyes as it finds it way into the closest available water as opposed to an infielders glove.

Difference... I can make contact about 85% (Ok, I'm being generous) of the time against my teed up golf ball. I haven't been able to hit a fastball in 30 years now.
Don't forget that in baseball you have people always yelling at you, for your or just flat out yelling while trying to hit a baseball.

Watch out if you so much as shift from one foot to another in golf during a swing. Golf has to hire people to hold up "be quiet" signs during play.

Baseball hires people (PA and sound system guy) to get the crowd riled up while you hit.

The best athlete in our lifetimes - Michael Jordan - became a decent golfer although he never wanted to play professionally but when he tried to play baseball professionally he failed. Probably would have been cut if he hadn't bought them a new team bus.
How can this even be a discussion? A golf ball doesn't move, a baseball is coming at you at 80-90 mph. Timing is critical in baseball. In golf, the ball is going to sit there until you hit it. In golf they shush the crowd, since they don't want the golfer distracted by a couple hundred people. In baseball, you may have thousands of "fans" booing you.
Don't forget that there is a whole range of different kind of golf balls for players to choose from AND all manner of increasingly high-tech clubs.

It's already been said, but there was a line attributed to Darryl Strawberry (amongst others).

"I had no idea how hard baseball was until I took up golf; that ball just sits there and WAITS for you to hit it!"

Golf club heads are flat; bats are round. Round hitting round is more difficult to control.

As with most things, the arguement might be different for pro players, such as: golfers get one 'hit' - ballplayers have multiple chances per at bat, team sport v. individual, etc.
Last edited by Orlando
Well here is some more ammo.
It is very obvious that hitting a stationary golf ball is easier than hitting a pitched baseball. If your water cooler croud doesn't agree than they are knuckleheads and you need to exit the debate. The debate can be taken to the next level as in....Is it harder to hit a baseball or a golf ball SUCCESSFULLY. As mentioned earlier the success rate for the best baseball players is around 30%. The success rate for pro golfers is much much higher. Pro golfers are driving T shots into the fairway 250 to 300+ yards(a successful "hit") 90%+ of their attempts. Similar for successful green shots.
Furthermore, remind these hackers that all the guys on the tour strike the ball very well almost every time, what separates the winners and losers happens on the green, not getting to it!
Now someone in the cooler crowd may make the desparate argument that pro golfers hit the ball better because they are better athletes. Upon hearing this I would advise you to puke your breakfast on his shoes, turn and walk away. As you are walking away mumble something about how there are a lot of 60+ year old guys on the golf course, but ya never see em on a baseball diamond. huh! Go figure!
The best way to shut them up is to get them in a car and take them to a local park where a fairly good (doesn't have to be a superior) team is practicing and tell the jerks to get in there and tell them to hit the ball and get on base safely. Once they have failed miserably at that just tell them to make contact with the ball.

By this point they should be sweating buckets and breathing like a wino who has just smoked 5 packs of Camels. Then ask them if baseball requires athleticism or not and if golf is easier.
I haven't MISSED a golf ball in 35 years. I don't know anybody who can say that about a baseball. I've hit a couple on the toe, the heel, the crown, or the neck, but I ain't missed a **** one. I could hit golf balls while drunk. I can't hit a baseball a third of the time when sober.

Wait, did you say you had this conversation at the Water Cooler or at the Keg on their Deck.
As an ex-single digit handicap golfer (before my son took up baseball and I started throwing BP instead of hitting on the practice range), there is absolutely no question which is harder to hit.A baseball. The ball is moving, the bat is round, the pitcher is trying to make you miss the ball – or hit you, and generally someone is yelling "swing batter, batter, batter". In golf, the ball just sits there, it is just you the club and the golf ball.

In golf’s defense, it is very difficult to play at a high level of proficiency. It takes dedication and a lot of practice to be good but the physical requirements are only average. Most any person can play proficiently if they work hard enough. I don’t believe that is so with baseball. I believe baseball, to be played proficiently, also requires a superior level of fitness, great reflexes, keen eyesight, timing, and a superior work ethic.

I love golf but have wondered whether you should call a golfer an athlete. Some great golfers are athletes but I don’t feel it is a requirement. Probably better suited to call them Sportsman (or Sportswoman). Much like a champion Skeet or Sporting Clays shooter (which I also love). Shooting takes practice, coordination, and timing and you have to handle an 8 pound gun all day and take the punishment of hundreds of rounds of shells per day but not really an athlete but definitely a Sportsman.
Here's my take. I play both sports. The act of making contact with the ball is MUCH easier in golf, obviously.

But, remember, in golf you have to play your next shot, so you have to be somewhat precise about where the ball's going (to be successful).

I am a better baseball player than golfer, and I think if I spent an equal time practicing both sports, I'd still be better at baseball. So, for me, baseball is easier.

However, if you were to pull an average joe off the street who doesn't have any experience in either sport, I think he'd have a better shot at putting one in the fairway (from the tips with hundreds of people watching) than hitting Francisco Rodriguez's slider.

Would said average joe have a better chance to shoot par on 10 consecutive holes or get a base hit given 3 out of 10 chances? I'm thinking the latter.

Interesting debate, though.

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