What is harder: running a sub 4-minute mile OR hitting .275 in the big leagues?

who gives a shit....baseball is lame.

Hitting .275 in the big leagues. I think there are very few people out there that aren't in the big leagues that could train and play enough ball AND get good enough to hit .275. Not that it's easy, but I think there's a lot more people out there with the untapped potential to run sub 4:00. That's my initial gut feeling.

Just making it to the big leagues is harder than a sub 4 minute mile.

Sub 4 isn't even the big leagues of track.

I don't think thats true.I would bet that there are 3 times as many people who that can break 4 that don't ever try because they play another sport or just hate running. But, that is still way less than the number of people in pro ball.I say 4 flatt and .275 are the same.

toro wrote:

Just making it to the big leagues is harder than a sub 4 minute mile.

Sub 4 isn't even the big leagues of track.

Batting .275 wins. Until a few years ago I'd say sub-4 was a superior achievement but nowadays mediocre collegiate runners break 4 on a routine basis. I don't know the reason for this. It seems like every year there are a handful of indoor meets (coughoversizedtrackcough) that produce ridiculous mile times. Hell, you had to break 4 just to make the NCAA indoor meet this year! Just take a look at the following list of newly minted AMERICAN sub4 milers from the past few years. (include all other nationalities and this would be even more telling). Anyway, are this many random dudes hitting .275 in the big leagues? (I really dont know).

2009

313. German Fernandez (Oklahoma St)

314. Dorian Ulrey (Arkansas)

315. Liam Boylan-Pett (unattached)

316. Shane Knoll (Michigan State)

317. Justin Switzer (Michigan)

318. Jacob Boone (Oklahoma)

319. Matthew Centrowitz (Oregon)

320. Craig Miller (Wisconsin)

321. Galen Rupp (Oregon)

322. Michael Coe (Cal)

323. Tommy Schmitz (Saucony)

324. Derek Scott (Brooks)

325. Tom Brooks (Oregon TC)

326. Dan Strackeljahn (Big River RC)

327. Evan Jager (Oregon TC)

328. Jordan McNamara (Oregon)

329. Mark Thompson (unat)

2010

330. Andrew Bayer (Indiana)

331. Erik van Ingen (Binghamton)

332. Abdi Hassan (Arizona)

333. Alex McClary (unattached)

334. Andy McClary (unattached)

335. Riley Masters (Maine)

336. Dylan Ferris (Stanford)

337. Eric Harasyn (Oklahoma)

338. Mac Fleet (Oregon)

339. Mark Matusak (Cal)

340. Jordan Horn (adidas)

341. Andrew Jesien (unattached)

342. Sam Bair Jr. (unattached)

343. Kyle Merber (Columbia)

344. Tony Jordanek (unattached)

345. Kyle Heath (unattached)

346. Ben Blankenship (Minnesota)

347. Blake Shaw (USC)

348. Steve Sodaro (Cal)

349. Kyle King (unattached)

2011

350. Rob Novak (New York AC)

351. Cory Leslie (Ohio St)

352. Patrick Casey (Montana St)

353. Mack Chaffee (Ragged Mtn)

354. Miles Batty (BYU)

355. Duncan Phillips (Arkansas)

356. Michael Hammond (Va Tech)

357. Jeff Thode (Iowa)

358. James Cameron (Washington)

Batting .275 wins this one all day. Jeez, even watching a normal person try to hit single A minor league pitching with a wood bat is humorous. I think the difference is that running faster is something that is singular in dimension and can be trained more directly and obviously, whereas the reflexes, hand-eye coordination and bat speed variables of hitting live pitching with a wood bat (which adds way more difficulty than alot of people understand) is difficult to train in someone not already naturally inclined. Even hitting 90mph fastballs in a batting cage with an aluminum bat is nearly impossible for the average person, then you're going to throw in variables of pitch type, location, etc.? No way.

You make a good point.

Tough call. On one hand, it's really hard just to make it to the Big Show. Guys batting .275 are like pros among pros. And to me, that would be the equivalent of runners who run 3:50-3:52 compared to guys who can just barely break 4.

Let's look at the stats. In 2010, it looks like about 65 players in the Bigs had a batting average of .275 or better. In US track and field it looks like we had around 40 guys go under 4:00 (I could be wrong about that number).

Now there are more MLB players than professional distance runners. But for the 4:00 mile mark we aren't just counting pros. College and other amateurs can be included in that count. Which makes this a bit tougher to figure out. Do we compare all high school, college, and pro runners vs. all minor and major league ball players? Someone help me out here.

No idea if this link will work, but according to the mlb website 200 players batted .275 or better last year...

http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/historical/player_stats.jsp?c_id=mlb&section1=1&statSet1=1&sortByStat=AVG&statType=1&timeFrame=1&timeSubFrame=2010&baseballScope=mlb&prevPage1=4&readBoxes=true&sitSplit=&venueID=&teamPosCode=all&HS=true

that list is misleading. you've gotta have minimum at bats to really get a fair comparison. You've got people on there batting 1.000 because they stepped to teh plate once and got a hit.

Entrepreneur. wrote:

No idea if this link will work, but according to the mlb website 200 players batted .275 or better last year...

http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/historical/player_stats.jsp?c_id=mlb&section1=1&statSet1=1&sortByStat=AVG&statType=1&timeFrame=1&timeSubFrame=2010&baseballScope=mlb&prevPage1=4&readBoxes=true&sitSplit=&venueID=&teamPosCode=all&HS=true

The league minimum is $414,000. Anyone batting .275 clears a million or two at least.

Sub 4 gets you shoes and other running gear.

And from personal experience I was in the sub 4 range (3:42.1 for 1500m).

I played a lot of little league baseball but couldn't hit a curve ball when I got up to that level.

There is a lot of competition to make the majors.

Track just doesn't have anywhere near the participation.

I ran because I couldn't hit.

Olympic sprinters do it because they couldn't make the football team.

Nehemiah skipped a chance at winning a Gold medal in the `84 Olymics to play for the 49ers and went back to track three years leter after he was cut.

Just looked up some career .275 hitters (.275 EXACTLY)

Name and salary:

Jorge Posada - $13,100,000

Adam Kennedy - $1,250,000 (but he has made as much as $3,500,000)

Torii Hunter - $18,500,000

Adrian Beltre - $9,000,000 (but he has made as much as $13,400,000)

How about some notable players with a batting average that is LESS than .275?

Adam Dunn (.250) - $12,000,000 (but has made as much as $13,000,000)

Russell Branyan (.234) - $1,500,000

Matt Stairs (.264) - $1,625,000 (but has made as much as $3,200,000)

So, gonna have to say that batting .275 in the major leagues is WAY harder than running a sub 4 minute mile. The financial incentive is there to try to make it to the major leagues...there just is no financial incentive for people to try to become a 4:00 minute miler. In the world at any given time, there are more people who can/could run a 4:00 mile than there are who could hit .275 in the major leagues.

I know a person who just graduated top of their class from an Ivey law school and only makes 500,000 a year. It must be soooo easy to do that since all these baseball players make more.

Flagpole wrote:

Just looked up some career .275 hitters (.275 EXACTLY)

Name and salary:

Jorge Posada - $13,100,000

Adam Kennedy - $1,250,000 (but he has made as much as $3,500,000)

Torii Hunter - $18,500,000

Adrian Beltre - $9,000,000 (but he has made as much as $13,400,000)

How about some notable players with a batting average that is LESS than .275?

Adam Dunn (.250) - $12,000,000 (but has made as much as $13,000,000)

Russell Branyan (.234) - $1,500,000

Matt Stairs (.264) - $1,625,000 (but has made as much as $3,200,000)

So, gonna have to say that batting .275 in the major leagues is WAY harder than running a sub 4 minute mile. The financial incentive is there to try to make it to the major leagues...there just is no financial incentive for people to try to become a 4:00 minute miler. In the world at any given time, there are more people who can/could run a 4:00 mile than there are who could hit .275 in the major leagues.

I would say sub 4. Hitting a baseball depends on several factors and can be easier or harder depending on what team you're on, where you bat in the line up and which league you play in. Running sub 4 doesn't depend on anything other than the work you put in.

Have you ever tried to watch a normal person run a sub 60s quarter? Sure running will improve a lot with training. So will hitting if you spent 20+ hours a week in a batting cage.There were 65 guys that hit .275 last year. About 50 US guys run sub 4 (if you count 3:41 or so 1500m) every year. I have no clue how many foreigners are in the MLB list but both feats seems very similar with most people have zero shot of doing either. You could argue baseball has a bigger talent pool (i.e. running sub 4 gets you pretty much nothing while hitting .275 gets you a couple million a year).

Benson St. Wales wrote:

Batting .275 wins this one all day. Jeez, even watching a normal person try to hit single A minor league pitching with a wood bat is humorous. I think the difference is that running faster is something that is singular in dimension and can be trained more directly and obviously, whereas the reflexes, hand-eye coordination and bat speed variables of hitting live pitching with a wood bat (which adds way more difficulty than alot of people understand) is difficult to train in someone not already naturally inclined. Even hitting 90mph fastballs in a batting cage with an aluminum bat is nearly impossible for the average person, then you're going to throw in variables of pitch type, location, etc.? No way.

You guys aren't seriously trying to build a case one way or the other based on what a person's salary is, are you?? With all do respect, that's just freaking stupid.

I still remember watching Jordan try to hit a minor league pitch. Hilarious. And he's one of the greatest athlete's in the world.

I think the best way to come at this is by thinking of how many people, if properly trained, could do this. More kids play baseball than run distance sports, yet very few can ever progress to where they can hit any major league pitch. Like one poster said, there are a good number of modest-talented D1 runners who can break 4 now. I don't think this is close.

Low 3:50's is something completely different. It seems as though only genetic freaks run this fast. And only genetic freaks bat .275

running a sub 4 mile of course fool

"With all do respect..."

LOL!

After Talladega Nights I can't write that without laughing at myself.