Baseball V Cricket?

[Athlai]

TBF though, for a decent portion of those 5 days, a player will be putting his feet up in the dressing room.

Exactly the same in baseball tbf.

 

[silentstriker]

lucky to get 20 hits to the outfield in a game

So every mistake is amplified...they have to make sure they get all 20.

 

[Jayzamann]

So every mistake is amplified...they have to make sure they get all 20.

True, they separate outfielders success rates by hundredths of a percent (sometimes thousandths). You'd hardly ever see a player make two mistakes in one game.

The regular season in MLB went for 6 months last year. If you include pre- and post-season matches (2 months of Spring training, ~1 month of championships if you're a contender), if you're an 'everyday' player, or even just a regular in the team, you're spending the majority of your days either playing, training or travelling.

 

[Fusion]

LOL at the condescending attitude towards the skill of baseball players in this thread. Obviously this being a cricket forum, you would have to expect those types of remarks I suppose. I would bet every dollar I own (so about $10) that no cricket player could make a major league team even if they dedicated themselves full-time towards the purpose. In fact, they wouldn’t even make it to the top minor league team. In order to make it to the top level, a player probably has to start honing his skills from little league onwards, meaning when they were 8 or 9 year olds. At the very least, they should’ve played some high school baseball to get the mechanics down. IMHO, the hardest thing in all of sports to do is to hit a baseball. The incredible hand-eye coordination needed and the skill needed to anticipate the speed/direction is immense. I don’t think any other single act in sports is harder. Also, by and large, the average baseball player is a far better fielder than the average cricket player. Don’t get me wrong, I love cricket and actually prefer it to baseball, but let’s not dismiss the sport just because you prefer one over the other. Also, I don’t believe any baseball player could make it as a cricket player. They are two vastly different sports that need different set of skills to excel.

 

[Athlai]

Yeah couldn't see any cricket team being able to do win anything in baseball or vice versa. My point was that I think the cricketers would probably adapt a little more comfortably to the sport than the other way around. By saying this I didn't mean they'd be turning pro anytime soon, just that they wouldn't be as crap as that guy in that video.

 

[stephen]

LOL at the condescending attitude towards the skill of baseball players in this thread. Obviously this being a cricket forum, you would have to expect those types of remarks I suppose. I would bet every dollar I own (so about $10) that no cricket player could make a major league team even if they dedicated themselves full-time towards the purpose. In fact, they wouldn’t even make it to the top minor league team. In order to make it to the top level, a player probably has to start honing his skills from little league onwards, meaning when they were 8 or 9 year olds. At the very least, they should’ve played some high school baseball to get the mechanics down. IMHO, the hardest thing in all of sports to do is to hit a baseball. The incredible hand-eye coordination needed and the skill needed to anticipate the speed/direction is immense. I don’t think any other single act in sports is harder. Also, by and large, the average baseball player is a far better fielder than the average cricket player. Don’t get me wrong, I love cricket and actually prefer it to baseball, but let’s not dismiss the sport just because you prefer one over the other. Also, I don’t believe any baseball player could make it as a cricket player. They are two vastly different sports that need different set of skills to excel.

This is funny because the cricketers would more easily be able to adapt to baseball than the baseballers would to cricket. Even in that video posted earlier, the cricketer's baseball technique was much better than the baseballer's cricket technique.

With six to twelve months intensive training I believe that the best of the best batsmen could adapt to being baseball hitters. I also believe that a few cricketers with rocket arms like Brett Lee could adapt to pitching.

Let's not forget that there are some people (Dirk Nannes comes to mind) who start a sport late and become quite good at it.

I am not saying that all skills translate between the sports perfectly, but if a batsman can handle 150kph swing and seam bowling I see no reason why they couldn't adapt to be able to hit a 150kph curveball.

 

[Fusion]

This is funny because the cricketers would more easily be able to adapt to baseball than the baseballers would to cricket. Even in that video posted earlier, the cricketer's baseball technique was much better than the baseballer's cricket technique.

With six to twelve months intensive training I believe that the best of the best batsmen could adapt to being baseball hitters. I also believe that a few cricketers with rocket arms like Brett Lee could adapt to pitching.

Let's not forget that there are some people (Dirk Nannes comes to mind) who start a sport late and become quite good at it.

I am not saying that all skills translate between the sports perfectly, but if a batsman can handle 150kph swing and seam bowling I see no reason why they couldn't adapt to be able to hit a 150kph curveball.

Because not only do they have to adapt to hitting a curveball, they also have to adapt at hitting a fastball, changeup, breaking ball, slider, knuckleball. They would have to adapt to getting their timing just right to face a 100 mph fastball on the first pitch, followed by a 80 mph curveball that buckles at the knees on the second. They also have to adapt to a different bat and a field that restricts the shots they can play to what’s in front of them. That’s not an easy to thing to do and IMO a different skill set from what a cricket batsman faces. Keep in mind that hitting in baseball is so difficult that a 30% success ratio makes you a good hitter. And only a legendary few have reached the 40% success ratio. It’s all my opinion of course and I could be dead wrong, but I would be shocked if the best cricketer was able to make it as a baseball pro after six to twelve months of intense training. Also, someone like Lee could adapt to pitching fast, but that’s not the only thing you need to succeed as a pitcher. In order to make it, a pitcher needs 2 different type of pitches to survive, 3 to be good, and 4 to be dominant.

 

[The Sean]

Because not only do they have to adapt to hitting a curveball, they also have to adapt at hitting a fastball, changeup, breaking ball, slider, knuckleball. They would have to adapt to getting their timing just right to face a 100 mph fastball on the first pitch, followed by a 80 mph curveball that buckles at the knees on the second. They also have to adapt to a different bat and a field that restricts the shots they can play to what’s in front of them. That’s not an easy to thing to do and IMO a different skill set from what a cricket batsman faces. Keep in mind that hitting in baseball is so difficult that a 30% success ratio makes you a good hitter. And only a legendary few have reached the 40% success ratio. It’s all my opinion of course and I could be dead wrong, but I would be shocked if the best cricketer was able to make it as a baseball pro after six to twelve months of intense training.

Meh, how can you miss? They're all bloody full tosses.

[/Stan McCabe]

 

[silentstriker]

With a cricket bat, you probably wouldn't.

 

[Uppercut]

LOL at the condescending attitude towards the skill of baseball players in this thread. Obviously this being a cricket forum, you would have to expect those types of remarks I suppose. I would bet every dollar I own (so about $10) that no cricket player could make a major league team even if they dedicated themselves full-time towards the purpose. In fact, they wouldn’t even make it to the top minor league team. In order to make it to the top level, a player probably has to start honing his skills from little league onwards, meaning when they were 8 or 9 year olds. At the very least, they should’ve played some high school baseball to get the mechanics down. IMHO, the hardest thing in all of sports to do is to hit a baseball. The incredible hand-eye coordination needed and the skill needed to anticipate the speed/direction is immense. I don’t think any other single act in sports is harder. Also, by and large, the average baseball player is a far better fielder than the average cricket player. Don’t get me wrong, I love cricket and actually prefer it to baseball, but let’s not dismiss the sport just because you prefer one over the other. Also, I don’t believe any baseball player could make it as a cricket player. They are two vastly different sports that need different set of skills to excel.

Agree with all of this- although you do regularly get the same condescending assertions from Americans that any great baseball player could easily make it as an international cricketer.

 

[zaremba]

LOL at the condescending attitude towards the skill of baseball players in this thread. Obviously this being a cricket forum, you would have to expect those types of remarks I suppose. I would bet every dollar I own (so about $10) that no cricket player could make a major league team even if they dedicated themselves full-time towards the purpose. In fact, they wouldn’t even make it to the top minor league team. In order to make it to the top level, a player probably has to start honing his skills from little league onwards, meaning when they were 8 or 9 year olds. At the very least, they should’ve played some high school baseball to get the mechanics down. IMHO, the hardest thing in all of sports to do is to hit a baseball. The incredible hand-eye coordination needed and the skill needed to anticipate the speed/direction is immense. I don’t think any other single act in sports is harder. Also, by and large, the average baseball player is a far better fielder than the average cricket player. Don’t get me wrong, I love cricket and actually prefer it to baseball, but let’s not dismiss the sport just because you prefer one over the other. Also, I don’t believe any baseball player could make it as a cricket player. They are two vastly different sports that need different set of skills to excel.

I've just looked back through the posts in this thread and there is very little in the way of condescension towards baseball players' skill here. I agree with your points that a pro player in one sport would be very unlikely to make it in the other. But I'm not sure many people here are disagreeing with you, and those that would disagree with you are hardly showing condescension towards baseball.

As for saying that hitting a baseball is the hardest skill in all sport, well I'm not sure that this really means anything. The fact that in baseball a good batter manages to hit the ball 30% of the time suggests that it's perfectly feasible. Is it harder than, say, a bowler hitting the stumps? A batsman hitting a six? Delivering an inch-perfect inswinging yorker, or a perfectly pitched googly? Scoring a century? Avoiding the follow-on with 24 runs to get and Narendra Hirwani as your sole remaining batting partner?

Meaningful comparisons between the sports are basically impossible.

 

[zaremba]

you do regularly get the same condescending assertions from Americans that any great baseball player could easily make it as an international cricketer.

Yes. This is what provoked the howls of indignation in the early part of this thread. An American TV show sets up a completely meaningless "experiment" that's so profoundly flawed it's laughable, which is designed basically to show that baseball is harder than cricket, so that a Yank TV audience can enjoy a momentary warm self-congratulatory glow.

 

[fredfertang]

Don't understand baseball myself but I can't believe the skills aren't readily transferable

I have read that between the wars baseball was a major sport in Australia and that Bill Ponsford in particular was an outstanding player

 

[Fusion]

I've just looked back through the posts in this thread and there is very little in the way of condescension towards baseball players' skill here. I agree with your points that a pro player in one sport would be very unlikely to make it in the other. But I'm not sure many people here are disagreeing with you, and those that would disagree with you are hardly showing condescension towards baseball.

As for saying that hitting a baseball is the hardest skill in all sport, well I'm not sure that this really means anything. The fact that in baseball a good batter manages to hit the ball 30% of the time suggests that it's perfectly feasible. Is it harder than, say, a bowler hitting the stumps? A batsman hitting a six? Delivering an inch-perfect inswinging yorker, or a perfectly pitched googly? Scoring a century? Avoiding the follow-on with 24 runs to get and Narendra Hirwani as your sole remaining batting partner?

Meaningful comparisons between the sports are basically impossible.

IMHO, the singular act of hitting a baseball is the toughest thing to do in all of sports. It’s tougher than the singular act of hitting a six, hitting the stumps, bowling a googly etc. I’m not comparing it to making a century or getting a 5-for or heck even scoring 20 runs. I’m talking about the singular act of hitting the baseball (for a hit and not an out). And I’m not limitting it to a comparison only with cricket, but with all sports. Of course, there is no way to prove my opinion and I’m 100% sure that plenty of people here will strongly disagree.

My whole contention is that it’s very unlikely that a player from cricket could make a pro team in baseball and vice versa. It’s a different matter if the said player had been playing/learning baseball all his life. In that case, a superior athelete is more than likely to make it. However, it is unreasonalbe to assume that just because a great player exceeds in cricket, he would do so in pro-baseball after some period of intense training. I believe it would take a life-long commitment from a very early age to make that happen. As far as condescensding attitude, I believe there is some in this thread (and I’ve heard the same from baseball fans concerning cricket tbf). I think both sports are great games to watch and exceedingly difficult to excel in at the highest levels.

 

[archie mac]

Don't understand baseball myself but I can't believe the skills aren't readily transferable

I have read that between the wars baseball was a major sport in Australia and that Bill Ponsford in particular was an outstanding player

Norm O'Neil was offered a contract to play pro baseball, but decided on cricket. In Aust. they use to play basball as a winter sport so it was very popular with cricketers and there were quite a few talented players. The Chappells and Bill Lawry were all good players.

Greg Chappell's son was a very good player, he went to the USA to try is luck but was not quite good enough to play major league baseball

We have had a few baseball players at our cricket club over the years, they are always great fieldsmen with strong arms but are not too good at batting or bowling as a rule

 

[Athlai]

Hardest single act in sport, this is an interesting concept for all sports I suppose. You're right in that baseball probably is the hardest in that regard but what else is there...
Basketball - Shooting from around halfway?
Cricket - Digging out a yorker for six?
Darts - 180, 180 (60,57,d12)
Tennis - Serving up an ace pretty much right on the line
Rugby/Football - I suppose field goals, though perhaps in football a long long long pass
Golf - hole in one... actually this could be it
Anything else anyone can think of?

 

[Top_Cat]

Norm O'Neil was offered a contract to play pro baseball, but decided on cricket. In Aust. they use to play basball as a winter sport so it was very popular with cricketers and there were quite a few talented players. The Chappells and Bill Lawry were all good players.

Greg Chappell's son was a very good player, he went to the USA to try is luck but was not quite good enough to play major league baseball

Didn't all of them play from childhood though?

Anyway, that cricketers could play baseball isn't really what's in dispute here. Of course they could. The problem occurs when fans of one or the other sport say any of their top players could walk into the top level of the other and dominate. That's ridiculous.

 

[GraemeSmith]

I don't think many cricketers will be good at baseball, maybe a couple of players like Gilchrist, Afridi and Klusener might be good at it but other than I don't think an average cricketer will be any better at baseball than an average MLB player at Cricket. Although I'd like to see how fast can someone like Daniel Bard (who routinely pitches at near 100 miles/h) bowl in cricket.

 

[_Ed_]

IMHO, the singular act of hitting a baseball is the toughest thing to do in all of sports. It’s tougher than the singular act of hitting a six, hitting the stumps, bowling a googly etc. I’m not comparing it to making a century or getting a 5-for or heck even scoring 20 runs. I’m talking about the singular act of hitting the baseball (for a hit and not an out).

But I'm surprised at how decent lots of the pitchers who have to bat in the NL are. If it was indeed the toughest thing to do in all of sports, I would have thought there'd be a few more Chris Martin equivalents who can never lay bat on ball.

 

[Agent TBY]

I would have thought there'd be a few more Chris Martin equivalents who can never lay bat on ball.

They're all in the AL.