Baseball is the Greatest Game!

There are no truly original thoughts here. A lot of this is in Ken Burns amazing documentary on baseball.  But baseball truly is the greatest game for these reasons and many more.

Baseball is the only game where there are no time limits or arbitrary scoring limits.  Every other game either ends when the clock runs out or one team reaches a certain predetermined score.  But in baseball the game theoretically can go on forever, with each team having its right to twenty-seven outs.

Baseball is the only game where the defense controls the ball.  The pitcher, with instructions from the catcher and coaches, determines when to put the ball into play, in what manner the ball is put in play and whether or not to allow a good hitter on the other team to even get a chance to hit.

Baseball is the only sport where each individual player is required to take his turn in the spotlight, either in the field or at bat. In the field, there is no one to assist you when a screamer has been hit your way or you have to chase down a long fly ball in the corner.  There is no one to block for you or to set a screen.  You are on your own. 

With the obvious exception of the pitcher in the American League, each player may only come to the plate once every nine times and every player has to take his turn at bat.  A team cannot choose one player to hit in a clutch situation, it has to rely on the batter whose turn has come in the lineup.  In basketball the Bulls could go to MJ every time down the court if they chose.  In football a Walter Payton may be called on to run the ball 40 times in a game.  But in baseball Babe Ruth still only game to bat one time out of nine.

Every field has the same distance between the bases and the same distance from the pitcher’s rubber to home plate. But that is where all similarity ends.  Every field is unique, with distances varying down the foul lines, to straight away center and to the power alleys.  Every field has different angles in the outfield wall that must be learned by the outfielders and different foul territories where the pitcher gains an advantage in fields such as Oakland and loses it in Fenway.  And a football field, basketball court or soccer pitch cannot give us features such as the Green Monster in Fenway or the grassy knoll in Texas.

Baseball is also the sport that is most tied to statistics.  We have measurements to compare Ruth to A-Rod, Koufax to Santana, Ricky Henderson to Cobb.  And the stats are never ending and ever expanding with OBP and OPS and saves and holds and quality starts. Arguments arise as to whether it is fair to compare players of the dead ball era to the steroid era or ERAs before the mound was lowered and after.  But all of those argument provoking stats add to making this the greatest game ever.

Baseball is more generational than any other.  Our grandfathers and great-grandfathers knew the same game we know today.  The game was played the same way, with almost the same equipment.  There were no radar guns and eighth inning left handed specialty relievers, but it was still essentially the same game.  And it was the same game whether it was being played in Ebbetts Field, the Polo Grounds or behind the 2^nd Avenue Elementary School.