i get tired of hearing about hitting a baseball is so tough. i mean u cant talk about average etc if youre just talking about hitting the ball. they prob have contact with the ball on more than 50% of the times swung- they just get lots of outs and lots and lots of foul balls. so hitting the ball really isnt that hard- getting on base is.
Hitting a baseball is definitely tough, however many people could be trained to atleast make contact in relatively short period of time. I have played all of the big four American sports for extended periods of time and nothing comes close to the amount of effort and pain involved in trying to run a 16 min 5k let alone a 4min mile. To run under 2:30 for a marathon........ now that is awesome.
Win the Marathon des Sables in the Sahara. Nearly impossible to finish, let alone win, no matter how good your fitness is.
Ball Player wrote:
No one has ever hit 1.000 for a whole season either.
I have. 6th grade softball. OOOAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
Winning the Tour de France...
Winning an Ironman...
What's the name of that 100=mile race through the desert those two brothers win...
for gymnastics, maybe scoring a 10.0
I think that it depends on the sense in which you use the word "hard." Hard in the sense that something is physically taxing or hard in the sense that it is a tricky and/or difficult skill? If you think hard means physically taxing, then no Tiger Woods getting a hole in one and a baseball player hitting a pitch are not hard. You just have to decide what you are talking about. For what it's worth, I think it's the Tour de France. 100 miles on a bike every day for almost a month. They burn upwards of 10,000 calories each day during the tour. That's mental stamina added in with the physical endurance and race tactics.
Fifteen rounds in boxing!
No contest!, Stammina stringh all while getting BEAT. Lot of boxers DIE, in the middle of there fights. This is one hard hard sport.
get respect from fellow letsrun posters
and we have a winner
I played a lot of sports in middle school and high school: cross country/track, baseball, football, lacrosse, wrestling, basketball- only cross country, track and lacrosse for my high school teams. I always felt that running was the most physically demanding (requiring the most will power) sport, while baseball required the most pure talent. That being said, I don't think you can fairly compare fitting a major league splitter to running a sub-4 mile.
Another thought about baseball: I've always thought it was the most random sport. You can hit the hardest line drive, but have it go right at the third baseman for an out. You can also hit a pop-up in no-man's land in shallow center for a double. Go figure...
Hardest thing in all of sports is for a MLB pitcher to hit 6 home runs in a game while striking out all 27 opposing hitters. No...wait....8 home runs would be even harder.
it is difficult to say what is hardest, but some thought should be given to defending a penalty kick.
Being a famous runner, running a race, and not getting critized on Letsrun has to be the hardest.
BTW If hitting a baseball is the hardest thing in sport, is pitching the easiest?
1)WIN 6 TdF
2)RUN UNDER 26:22 FOR 10K
3)WIN WORLD CUP IN SOCCER
It looks to me like hitting a baseball doesn't even make the top ten hardest things to do in sports. No surprise to me.
These "what's the toughest" threads are the best reading. My opinion of why hitting a baseball is so hard is this. If the pitcher were just trying to throw the ball over the center of the plate at the same velocity, no matter how hard, every time, good god look out. Someone would get hurt. The batters would tear up the pitcher. Now add the fact that the pitcher is going to throw at varying speeds, different locations over and around the plate, if not at you, and have the ball do different things, curve, drop or run up. Then add in the defense. Now you're talking about hitting the ball, on any kind of consistant basis, being a rather formidable feat. That's why players who get hits one out of three time at bat are sports gods. Do I think it's the toughest thing to do in sports, no, but right up there.
Distance running in general is the hardest thing in sports. What other sport makes you push your entire body to its physical and mental limits day after day? None. What other sport is meant to test the limits of the human heart? None. Distance running talent is tied to specific metabolic capabilities within an individual, not merely the ability of good nerves(I.E. hand eye coordination). That is why any world class time in a distance event is in my mind the hardest thing in sports.
Making contact with a baseball is not the hardest thing in sports. There is alot of guessing going on and alot of luck, which luck is created w/ hard work. In running a sub 4 mile there is no randomness or luck. It is all about hard work and good training principles. It is exact. You either can or you can't.
1. Climb Mt. Everest
2. Complete the Tour De France/Ironman
3. Sub 4:00 mile
4. Hit a fastball
5. Complete a Marathon
How I look at it; If it was easy, everyone would do it. Not many have conquered Mt. Everest, It has killed a 1/3 of the people that have tried. Completing the most grueling race in the world, and Ironman or Tour de France... and just to think that Lance has won 5 in a row is simply mind-boggling. All of the ESPN/Around the Horn guys were talking about this the other day, they can say Bannisters sub 4, or anyone for that matter, is easy... Get them out there, let them attempt to run a 200 at 4:00 pace, then ask them how easy a sub 4 is. Hitting a 95mph fastball involves two things: skill and luck. luck plays a lot of that. finally, yes millions have completed a marathon, but it is a test of ones will, mentallity, and strength