Hardest thing to do in all of sports

I would have to say the toughest skill ishitting the baseball even though I don't think it should be.

Surfing 40ft Waimea

Running mile... not hard.

Running 4 minute mile... very hard.

Hitting baseball... not hard.

Hitting baseball thrown by Randy Johnson... very hard.

Climbing mountain... not hard.

Climbing K2... very hard.

Surfing Waimea... not hard.

Surfing 40ft Waimea... very hard.

Original question lacked a qualifier (pro pitcher) for the baseball question. To further negate the baseball argument, there are more people in this world who have successfully hit baseballs than there have been people who have successfully broken 4 minutes in the mile.

I guess I got a little bored at work to respond to this....

ty cobb hit .367 for his career. if u hit above .300 you are like a god of baseball. millions of dollars. tell me where anything else that happens less then 40% of the time is acceptable.

the hardest thing to do in all of sports is losing- in anything against anyone, losing is the hardest, and it sucks

boney wrote:

tell me where anything else that happens less then 40% of the time is acceptable.

Weathermen seem to be able to keep their jobs.

I played little league baseball and couldn't hit worth a damn when I got to the age where they threw curveballs. I know I couldn't hit a fair ball against a major league pitcher let a lone get an actual hit no matter how much I practiced.

But I have run the equivalent of a 4 minute mile and that didn't seem near as difficult. Sure it's hard if you don't train for 6 years straight. There just isn't a high percentage of people that have attempted training for the mile. Otherwise a 4 minute miler may be more common than a major league ball player.

I am going to have to say that some sort of endurance achievement is the hardest thing to accomplish (running sub 4, winning tour de france, or any world record endurance performance). As to what exactly, i dont know. But we are attempting to compare skill athletes (golf, baseball, tennis, etc..)with endurance athletes (runners, cyclists). That is hard to do.

Skill is a a developed aptitude or ability (Webster says so)

Webster also says Endurance is the ability to sustain a prolonged stressful effort or activity.

Why I believe world class endurance efforts are far harder to acheive than world class skill performances is solely about who you are playing. Skill sports have a defense...you play against other human opponents(hitting a baseball has a pitcher and an outfield). In endurance sports, you "play" against yourself. I believe suffering through mental strain in endurance sports and overcoming yourself is a harder achievement than overcoming someone elses skill at what you are doing.

Toughest thing to do? What Norman L. Manley did in August 1964 in California. He is the only guy to ever pull off the double albatross. Consecutive holes-in-one (7th and 8th holes) and both holes were par 4. 6-under in two golf swings.

Maybe it's more luck than tough, but I dare say no one will be replicating that feat for a very long time.

toro wrote:

I played little league baseball and couldn't hit worth a damn when I got to the age where they threw curveballs. I know I couldn't hit a fair ball against a major league pitcher let a lone get an actual hit no matter how much I practiced.

But I have run the equivalent of a 4 minute mile and that didn't seem near as difficult. Sure it's hard if you don't train for 6 years straight. There just isn't a high percentage of people that have attempted training for the mile. Otherwise a 4 minute miler may be more common than a major league ball player.

So let me get this straight: In little league baseball you were able to hit a baseball, up until the point that they threw curve balls. You have never truly run a 4 minute mile (conversions don't count; who knows, you might have tripped). Yet you imply that hitting a baseball is harder than running a four minute mile?

The problem with this stupid arguement is one is not comparing apples to apples. The legendary milestone in track and field was eclipsed so many years ago, but we still hold it as the Holy Grail. I've been to a batting cage and have caught a piece of a 80mph fastball. Sure, it was pure luck, but I did it. And it wasn't so tough. Maybe we should raise the bar in the equation, let's say a 3:50 mile?

Ears2Yoo wrote:

There is no luck in running.

You could, by chance, hit a baseball thrown by a professional pitcher. You don't, by chance, run a 4:00 mile.

yes, but you don't by chance hit .300 for a season...

You caught a piece of a 80mph fastball in a batting cage? That's like making a three pointer with your little brother guarding you. Nothing. If you run a 4:00 mile, you are a very good college miler.

Hardest thing to do in all of sports is run a 4 min mile then hitting a HR off randy johnson then throwing a perfect 50 yard pass to randy moss then batting 1.000 then making 2 hole in 1's in a row then jumping to the moon and drifting to the andromeda galaxy. You would be one dead old guy, but it would be really hard. You might even get respect from letsrun posters, but only if you were jason rexing and did it in trainers.

you can't compare these two. Running a 4min mile will always require the same effort, the major league pitcher may be pitching under arm? to make it fair the question could be something like:

What is harder? Hitting a home run off a major league pitch or BEATING a sub 4min miler?

This IS a fair question (i can see why you think it may not be). Yes the 4min miler may be out of shape and only be able to run 4:10. But also the major league pitcher may be out of shape and not getting there pitches right (being in Aus i dont know all the lingo).

Differences are also that to be a 'sub4 miler' requires one period (<4mins obviously) of insanity, but then again this <4min period of time takes many many hours, days, years of blood sweat and tears to produce.

To become a major league pitcher requires consistency pitch after pitch after pitch, but they still dont pitch 100% perfect everytime, pitchers can still have off days (therefore my question may be more accurate).

Also, there have been only about 1200? (may be wrong) sub 4min milers in history (probably <5000 -4min miles ever performed as a stab in the dark?) i think there would definatly be alot more HR hit in major league baseball.

These 2 are far from the hardest things to do in all sports thou, there would be alot harder, to rate them all on the same scale would be the hardest.

complete a deca ironman triathlon.

Gymnastics is definitely way harder than what you guys have just mentioned. How many people can really do flips with no hands on a 4 inch beam? not a whole lot..

comparing a 4 min mile to making contact is retarded. simply making contact is like racing an 8 min mile. hitting .400 for a season, baseball's premier batting feat is much more comprable to going sub-4:00. although i'm sure this won't be a welcome message in this little "distance running is sooo hard, we're so cool for doing it" circle-jerk going on here

mymom wrote:

comparing a 4 min mile to making contact is retarded. simply making contact is like racing an 8 min mile. hitting .400 for a season, baseball's premier batting feat is much more comprable to going sub-4:00. although i'm sure this won't be a welcome message in this little "distance running is sooo hard, we're so cool for doing it" circle-jerk going on here

Hitting .400 for a season is WAY harder than running a sub 4:00 mile. No one has hit .400 since Ted Williams did it in 1941! The 4:00 minute mile should no longer be the standard of excellence - people we've never heard of have done it.

Maybe we should compare batting .400 to breaking 3:45 for the mile. No one has hit .400 since Ted Williams, and only a few did it before he did (and that was before the five-pitcher rotation...with that, it will be a long, long time before anyone does it again.) Only three runners, Hicham El Guerrouj, Nourredine Morceli, and Noah Ngeny, have broken 3:45.

Flagpole Willy wrote:

mymom wrote:

comparing a 4 min mile to making contact is retarded. simply making contact is like racing an 8 min mile. hitting .400 for a season, baseball's premier batting feat is much more comprable to going sub-4:00. although i'm sure this won't be a welcome message in this little "distance running is sooo hard, we're so cool for doing it" circle-jerk going on here

Hitting .400 for a season is WAY harder than running a sub 4:00 mile. No one has hit .400 since Ted Williams did it in 1941! The 4:00 minute mile should no longer be the standard of excellence - people we've never heard of have done it.

I'd have to say keeping a boner in your shorts while running, after seeing a hot chick on the street or run...That takes some talent to control!