Football vs Baseball (injuries)

[Chris Luva Luva]

I was approached by a poster on this site. He said that the probowl is the wackest allstar game. I dont look at other sports so I couldn't say either way. Its understood that these guys dont want to get hurt out there, so the intensity level is low.

Which sport is the most grueling physically? He made in argument that baseball is just as grueling if not moreso than the NFL.

Tell us what you think.

[Irn-Bru]

Oh my, get ready for the can of worms. . .



It's hard to understand how football isn't more physically taxing than baseball. But then you get soccer, rugby, hockey, and a lot of other tough, tough sports in the mix and it's too hard to make a clear argument.


(shouldn't this be in the lounge? :-")

[Chris Luva Luva]

Oh my, get ready for the can of worms. . .



It's hard to understand how football isn't more physically taxing than baseball. But then you get soccer, rugby, hockey, and a lot of other tough, tough sports in the mix and it's too hard to make a clear argument.


(shouldn't this be in the lounge? :-")

(anything football that has no Washington Redskin relevance. Im not sure. )

[ejay183]

How is this an agruement? Football is more physical than Baseball. Watch the games and see which one is more physical. Also, Sean Taylor plays football, so its very physical.

[skinsRin]

Yeah, thats a no brainer football. Baseball might be more of a skilled sport then football but not more physical.

[die cowboys die]

this is one of the most preposterous questions i have ever heard in my life. baseball is by far the least physical team sport in the history of the universe. each player may have a few brief moments of heavy exertion, but at least 95% of the time they are just standing there doing nothing. contact is rare. football players are either sprinting down the field or wrestling huge guys on every single play, over and over again, and the majority of plays ends with someone getting knocked to the ground!

[Chris Luva Luva]

this is one of the most preposterous questions i have ever heard in my life. baseball is by far the least physical team sport in the history of the universe. each player may have a few brief moments of heavy exertion, but at least 95% of the time they are just standing there doing nothing. contact is rare. football players are either sprinting down the field or wrestling huge guys on every single play, over and over again, and the majority of plays ends with someone getting knocked to the ground!

This thread should get very interesting very soon. Hey, I agree with you 100%.

[Skinsfan55]

Maybe, MAYBE one game of football is tougher than one game of baseball for certain positions...

But an MLB season is more taxing on an individual than an NFL season.

People think baseball players just stroll around in the sunshine for two hours, ridiculous.

You guys really underestimate the wear and tear on your arm from being asked to throw a ball your hardest at any given time during the game, or what the constant start, stop running does to your joints, hell, go to a batting cage and swing at pitches for two hours, notice that feeling in your ribs afterwards? Not to mention the collisions with the ground, walls, other players, railings, etc.

Baseball is a tough sport played by tough men, and to shrug this question off like baseball players sit around and sip drinks with pink umbrellas in them in between talking brisk walks around the field is ridiculous.

The baseball season, without question is tougher than the football season.

[skinsRin]

You have a point and it is true but over all football is still more physical. Pitchers do have to throw a ball 100 times a game, every 4-5 days, that is hard on the shoulder. Catchers have it the hardest, wearing all that gear and up and down all game. Even though baseball players play 5 games and football is only one game a week. Football players hit the gym hard during the week and they practice all week. Baseball you don't practice, you just warmup before a game. Linemen are working the hardest every single play, WR are running a route or running and blocking every play of the game, same as RB, defensive players are running full speed and hitting people also every play of the game. Only QB and kicker is not that physical of a position.

[Skinsfan55]

In baseball you don't practice?!

You're there like 6 hours before the game running, stretching, throwing, taking grounders, batting practice, etc. etc.

That's practicing!

But maybe this is an apples and oranges comparison... baseball takes more stamina over the long haul and football is more immediately punishing....

I still know which I find more gruelling though...

[Chris Luva Luva]

Ok you named two positions in baseball so far that is grueling. Pitching and catching. I can agree that they have it hard but what about everyone else?

Im sorry but baseball's most grueling positions still aren't more taxing than in football.

Pitcher vs QB

QB -
Runs
Gets hit
Has 250+ laying on them
Has 11 defenders to be aware of.

Pitcher -
Gets hit maybe once in 20 games
Does not have to run for his life
Does not get tackled
Does not have 250lb+ men laying on him

Pitchers do have a lot of stamina but to say they are taxed more than a NFL QB I can't agree with.

I bet a QB could throw the ball hundreds of time if they didn't have to run the ball and didn't get tackled.

[UK Skins Fan]

Baseball players are in greater danger of gum related accidents. Dislocated jaws, badly bitten tongues, lips and cheeks. And then there's the horror of a gum-swallowing related illness.

I'm sorry, I probably shouldn't get involved. I admit that my opinion is prejudiced due to the fact that I think baseball is one of the most tedious sports ever devised. And I come from a cricket playing nation.

Actually, this might be like comparing cricket and rugby. And I know which one of those is hardest on the body. Sure, a bowler/pitcher will take an awful lot of wear and tear, but every player on the gridiron/rugby field stands to get his bell rung at any second.

Depends if you think chronic wear and tear is worse than suddden violent trauma. A bit like choosing between an armlock and a kick in the crotch.

[Skinsfan55]

People act like having someone laying on you is just the most punishing thing you can immagine.

Take the matress off your bed, lie under it, ta-da! It's not like having a 300 pound weight in the center of your chest, it's another player laying on top of you, it doesn't hurt, and it's one of thje few bits of rest a QB gets all game.

Also, you do the toughness of being a QB without even mentioning the toughness of being a pitcher.

1.) A QB hardly EVER gets hit hard, mostly are just dragged down to the ground on sacks.

2.) Yeah, he has 11 defenders to be aware of but he's primarily concerned with approximately 4 players on the defense and a pitcher and catcher must be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of every player on the opposing team, what pitch to throw and when, what combination of pitches is going to get the batter out, etc.

And the idea a QB could throw the ball hunredS of times, presumably in a single game, if they didn't have the threat of being sacked (anyone who is this scared of contact should probably not be in professional sports) is ridiculous.

I doubt any quarterback could throw a baseball or football even 100 times in a row with short breaks without getting tired.

Also, as far as skill goes, Mike Vick, Bret Favre or other hard throwing QB's MAYBE able of getting a baseball up to 100 MPH, but they couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with it, and they know nothing of what throwing a curveball does to your arm.

[ejay183]

Take the matress off your bed, lie under it, ta-da! It's not like having a 300 pound weight in the center of your chest, it's another player laying on top of you, it doesn't hurt, and it's one of thje few bits of rest a QB gets all game.

Its not like that, sure you can stand to have that type of weight on you, but its different since the 300 pound thing can move and falls on you at different angles. Also its not much of a resting period, since its not the easiest to breathe if the 300 pound guy is on your chest.

[Skinsfan55]

Its not like that, sure you can stand to have that type of weight on you, but its different since the 300 pound thing can move and falls on you at different angles. Also its not much of a resting period, since its not the easiest to breathe if the 300 pound guy is on your chest.

I would agree, if the quarterback in question is a giant vagina. (I don't consider this profanity or vulgar at all according to the rules, it's a clinical term.)

Since when is a QB just being landed on all game long? It maybe happens like 5 times a game, and most of the tackles are not painful at all...

How many of you played football where you were tackled? Even without pads it's not that bad, only once in a great while are you just hammered with a hit, most of the time you are wrapped up and dragged down, no pain whatsoever...

Now go play a 9 inning baseball game, you're going to be just as sore, if not moreso.

[Chris Luva Luva]

Take the matress off your bed, lie under it, ta-da! It's not like having a 300 pound weight in the center of your chest, it's another player laying on top of you, it doesn't hurt, and it's one of thje few bits of rest a QB gets all game.

If you're going to compare laying a mattress on you to having Cornelius Griffin running at you, tackling you and allowing his 300+ pounds which is intensified due to gravity and inertia then its clear that you dont know what you're talking about.

1.) A QB hardly EVER gets hit hard, mostly are just dragged down to the ground on sacks.

See Patrick Ramsey.

2.) Yeah, he has 11 defenders to be aware of but he's primarily concerned with approximately 4 players on the defense

Ugh…you have seen Gregg Williams's defense before? Any/every player is a possiblity on any/every play.

and a pitcher and catcher must be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of every player on the opposing team, what pitch to throw and when, what combination of pitches is going to get the batter out, etc.

Whats so different then Football? Audibles, check-downs. You have to aide in line protection when going against Simeon Rice or a Lavar. You have to get the right matchups with WRs and DB's. The center has to call out blitzers, you must have cohesion on the line.

And the idea a QB could throw the ball hunredS of times, presumably in a single game, if they didn't have the threat of being sacked (anyone who is this scared of contact should probably not be in professional sports) is ridiculous.

Just as ridiculous as comparing a mattress so a Warren Sapp?

I doubt any quarterback could throw a baseball or football even 100 times in a row with short breaks without getting tired.

Vice-versa. I doubt any pitcher could compete in the NFL at QB. They have to focus on one person 80% of the time and maybe whoever is on base.

[Skinsfan55]

Are you saying an NFL player converting to MLB is easier than the other way around?!

HA!

You can be a "good athelete" and be a decent football player, the same good athelete could be positively awful at baseball.

It's a no contest which one takes more concentration and refined skills, so let's not even get into that argument.

And yeah, Griffin coming off a block and taking one or two steps into the QB is not that punishing. A DB comingon a blitz and hitting the QB with a running start is MUCH more so, but again, that play does not usually end in a square hit.

The guys on the football field that get hit the hardest, and who have the most spectaular hits perpetrated against them are wide recievers and tight ends (or anyone coming out of the backfield to make a catch.)

They have to see the ball and are defenseless against jaw dropping hits.

Even then, the wear and tear on the body of the average baseball player is greater over the course of a season...

Nomar Garciaparra ripped his groin muscle off the bone last season, Geoff Jenkins has smashed his ankle like a half a dozen times, Mo Vaughn's career was pretty much cut short by injury, so many players fray their arm ligaments that Tommy John surgery is a staple of the game, Torii Hunter ripped a tendon in his ankle last season going for a catch, etc. etc. etc.

Also, the collisions in baseball are FAR, FAR more brutal than any tackle in the NFL. Two guys whithout any protection running full speed for a fly ball and they collide? An NFL player has no idea of that kind of pain.

As far as I'm concened this poll is a joke, as it stands now it's like 8-2 in favor of football being more punishing... I can't even begin to make sense of that, do people even have any idea what they're voting on??

[skinsRin]

We're not talking about skill, Baseball players are more skilled because I feel it is a more skilled sport. We are talking about Physical if you took a national poll it would be 80/20 split for football. So it it pretty obvious regardless how much we go back and forth, football is the more PHYSICAL sport.

[Chris Luva Luva]

Im shocked baseball has two votes.

[SkinsFanInHawai'i]

What is the average length of a player's career in each sport?

That should give you your answer.

[UK Skins Fan]

Has anybody got the stats on the percentage of games missed through injury in the NFL last season compared to the last MLB season?

Here's another way of thinking about it: if you wanted your son to play a sport, but didn't ever want him to get hurt (either a sudden devastating injury or chronic joint problems), would you push him to football or baseball?

[skinsRin]

There probably is but you cannot look at that, because lots of lineman play with sprained body parts and with broken body parts with casts. Pitcher won't even pitch when they have a hangnail or a blister. Even a sore elbow will keep a batter out of the lineup. So looking at missed games in both sports will be very off.

[die cowboys die]

Are you saying an NFL player converting to MLB is easier than the other way around?!

HA!

You can be a "good athelete" and be a decent football player, the same good athelete could be positively awful at baseball.

It's a no contest which one takes more concentration and refined skills, so let's not even get into that argument.

first of all, a MLB player converting to the NFL would get the holy snot knocked out of him.

next: the Quarterback position is the single most difficult position in all of sports, especially from a mental standpoint. think about how many good QBs there are in the ENTIRE world-- 10, 15, 20? The QB has to be able to keep track of 21 other people on the field, scanning through progressions, reading coverages, and avoiding the pass rush. then you have to actually make the throw, and if it's off by very small margin, chances are it will be incomplete or intercepted.

it is absurd to compare any other position in sports to this, nothing comes close to that level of mental involvement.

[Skinsfan55]

I can't believe how many stupid things have been said in this thread.

Anyone who has to downplay baseball to make their argument is CLEARLY coming from a position of weakness.

I expected football to win in a poll on a football message board, but none of you are even ATTEMPTING to be objective... wow

[skinsRin]

I'm on a baseball board aswell, it's for the Yankees. I'm gonna post a poll later tonight and I will get back with the results. I will only write which sport is more Pysical. it will still be a 70/30 or a 80/20 split for fottball. I'm willing to bet on it.