50 Reasons Baseball is better then Football

I said I could list 50 reasons why baseball was better than football in a facebook post awhile back.  I was then challenged on that.  Not one to back away from a good challenge here goes.  Here are in my opinion fifty reasons why baseball is better than football.

1. Weather - Let’s start with the most obvious one.  Baseball spends the bulk of its seasons being played in the beautiful summer months. Sunshine, warm temps, it just puts you in a better mood. Football plays in late fall and winter where if you want to go to a game you sit there freezing your ass off if you happen to live in a cold weather city.  The only option is they could play under a dome which in my opinion is even worse. 

2. No clock to run out – Not just in football but in every other sport you can run out the clock.  Not in baseball.  How many times do you watch a football game and whatever team has the ball last wins.  You run out the clock you take a knee whatever it is.  You cannot do that in baseball.  You have to get that elusive 27^th out.  To me that is what makes the game all the more exciting.  And I don’t care what you say knowing you have to finish off the other team by getting that last out adds drama to any game.

3. The thinking man’s game – Baseball always has been the thinking man’s game. This may sound elitist as all hell but football is for morons.  Now, don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of strategy in football.  But it does not compare to baseball.  I love when people try to tell me baseball is boring.  Football games take three hours and there is an average of eleven minutes of action.  There are around 120 offensive plays ran in a game.  In baseball there are on average 300 pitches per game.  And on each pitch there is a strategy involved.  Each player in the field must position themselves based on the count, what kind of hitter is batting which many a graph is studied to figure out.  You need to take into account the situation, are there runners on base.  If you are in the field you should be constantly thinking where do I throw the ball if it is hit to me.  If you are catching or pitching you have to think about pitch selection and location.  I am just reaching the tip of the iceberg here. I won’t bore everyone but if you really watch the game and know it there is so much going on that if you do fancy yourself someone who loves strategy  then baseball has it in spades. 

4. Hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in sports – This one is not even up for debate.  Hitting a round baseball with a bat is the most difficult thing in all of sports to do.  It’s a talent that few on this earth have.  The hand eye coordination it takes is simply mind boggling.  And to all those morons who think it doesn’t take guts to play baseball I guarantee they have never gotten in a batter’s box and faced a 95 MPH fastball.  Then when you are geared up for that a pitcher can throw you an off speed pitch and make you look foolish.  Even a .200 hitter in the show has an amazing ability. 

5. Any person no matter their size can play – I grew up a small skinny kid.  Football was out of the question growing up. I mean have you seen Lucas?  Baseball however, I could still play.  It does not matter how big you are.  If you can play the game you can play.  Or you can be an out of shape tub of goo and still be a stud.  Babe Ruth is still for my money the single greatest baseball player of all time.  He ate hot dogs by the case, smoked Cuban cigars and drank booze like it was water.  He was only in shape if you consider round a shape.  Yet, he still had that ability to hit the baseball like certainly no one before him and few after him. Many will say the NFL has better athletes and that is fine.  I much prefer a sport where I see normal sized people playing it.

6. You cannot substitute in and out of the game – Baseball is the only sport where once you are out of the game you are out.  Thus, you have to choose when to pinch hit and run and when to take a pitcher out with much more caution.  In football you run ten yards and you get substituted out for a play.  You cannot take off plays in baseball. But I forgot football players are more rugged, spare me.

7. The Parks – People in the summer plan family vacations around visiting baseball stadiums.  There is a reason for this.  They are beautiful.  Baseball is played in parks and football is played in stadiums.  It’s played in the summer and with the exception of Toronto and Tampa, on grass.  The smell of a baseball park is one of the best that God has created.  Football is a game best seen on TV.  That is why it is so popular in that format.  Baseball is fine on television but nothing compares to being at a game.  The crack of the bat, the excitement of the crowd, the smell of steamy weenies on the grill, you cannot duplicate that.  I have had some of the most miserable times of my life sitting at Solider Filed watching a Bears game.  You could not pay me to go and watch a live football game in December. 

8. Each Park is different – No two stadiums have the same dimensions.  Think about that for one second.  It is the only sport where you alter your game based on what park you are playing in.  Is it is hitters park, is the wind blowing out?  Is there a hill in centerfield?  You have to alter your game based on conditions and location.  Sure football has bad weather but each field is a hundred yards long.  

9. Baseball is also the only game where the defense has the ball- If you have the ball that means you control the pace of the action, and you control the game.  Baseball again is the only sport where this occurs.  In every other sport including football, you are reacting to what the offense does with the ball.  In baseball as a hitter you have to react to what the pitcher is throwing you. 

10. You have to play offense and defense – I am going to limit this to the far superior brand of baseball they play in the National League where they don’t use that abortion of a rule called the designated hitter.  You cannot hide a deficiency, you have to be able to not only hit but also be able to play the field.  No one plays both sides of the ball in football anymore.  You could be an awesome power hitter but if you have stone hands in the field you can’t be hidden you still have to go out there and play the field.  I love that about the game.  Conversely, you could be a wizard with the glove but if you can’t hit a lick you won’t be an everyday player.  And since there again is no substituting in and out of the game you have to be somewhat adept at both parts of the game.

11. The 7^th Inning Stretch– Simply put there is nothing like the tradition of baseball.  The 7^th inning stretch where fans get up and sing in unison to take me out to the ball game is not only a bonding moment for the home fans, but a tradition that goes back decades.  Tell me what the equivalent is in football? 

12. The Announcers - Baseball has revered announcers, Vin Scully, Jack Buck, Harry Cary, Jack Brickhouse, Mel Allen, the list goes on and differs on your home team and where you grew up.  Listening to a baseball game on the radio on a summer night, seriously to me nothing like it.  Name me one famous football announcer, John Madden would be the only one I would give you and he was vastly overrated. 

13. Opening Day - Opening Day in baseball, with the bunting and the pomp and the first pitch being thrown out by some dignitary, I get goose bumps just thinking about it.  There is nothing else like it in any other sport.  Yes, people get up for the beginning of the season in football, but it doesn’t even come close to comparing it to the pageantry and tradition of opening day in baseball.

14. The Numbers –In no sport is a mere number so important.  Every baseball fan knows Joe DiMaggio had a 56 game hitting streak that still stands.  Can you tell me the longest touchdown streak in football without looking it up?  3,000 hits, 500 homers, 300 wins, and 3000 strikeouts those numbers mean something in a career, what is the equivalent in football?  Babe Ruth hit 714 homers everyone knows that.  Roger Maris hit 61 homers in 1961 everyone knows that as well.  Quick someone tell me how many TD’s Bret Favre threw or for that matter who had the record before he broke it? 

15. Analytics – In the last 15 years new math and new metrics has simply changed baseball. I won’t bore you with statistical analysis and even if you don’t fully buy into the new school approach it is pretty cool that it is there and available.  You just can’t measure football that way. 

16. Whiffle ball– There are so many variations of the game itself.  For my money nothing on god’s green earth is better then whiffle ball. You have to go O.G. here and get the thin plastic yellow bat and the official ball.  I can throw curves and sliders with that thing like I am a real major leaguer.  Yes, there are Nerf footballs but let’s face it they are kind of lame.  A great game of whiffle, there is nothing like it.

17. Less concussions – Sure you can get a concussion playing baseball.  But it is much more prevalent in football.  Watching some of these old timers struggle after their playing days are over is downright sad.  We are just now starting to realize the after effects a pretty good chunk of players deal with after their career are over. 

18. Longer playing career – The average playing career for a football player is 3.3 years.  For a baseball player it is 5.6 years.  But that does not tell the whole story.  You can still play baseball into your late 30’s and while you might not be what you once were you can still hold down a job. John Lackey just got a 32 million dollar deal at age 37.  At age 37 only an elite QB is still going to be able to play.  If you have the choice, it is a no brainer play baseball and you will have a much longer shelf life.

19. Cheaper to go to the game – The average price for a ticket to a baseball game is $28. The average price for a ticket to a football game is $79.  I am sorry but that is nuts.  I get it that there are only 8 home football games as compared to 81 for baseball.  With that said, you want to take the wife and kids to the ball park you can still afford to do so.  You want to take them to a football game you better get a bridge loan.

20. Movies – Again this is opinion but I am sorry baseball has far superior movies.  The Pride of the Yankees, Field of Dreams, The Sandlot, The Natural, Bull Durham, Bang the Drum Slowly, Moneyball, The Bad News Bears, Major League and hell even League of their Own all great flicks.  For football I will give you the OG The longest Yard and Friday Night Lights.  That is about it. 

21. Less outdated macho crap – I loathe the what I like to call it, the football mentally, where it is cool to browbeat a kid into submission with screaming tirades of outdated nonsense clichés. You’ve got to want it more, be a man, winners never quit, losers like losing, and on and on.  Not that there isn’t some form of that in baseball but the testosterone factor is 1/10^th what it is in football.

22. Differences in the Leagues – In football there is really no difference in the NFC or the AFC. It is the same game with the same rules.  But in baseball the two leagues are very different.  The DH factor obviously is the biggest reason for this.  While I am a tremendous supporter of the pitcher hitting, I know that there are others out there who are not.  So, they can watch AL ball if they want to while I can revel in the beauty and strategy of the NL game.  It really is the best of both worlds.

23. Baseball is international – Currently baseball is being played in all over the world.  Football by and large is an American game.  They play it in Canada (with slightly different rules) and that is about it.  You have players from all over the world currently playing in baseball. Again, football is pretty much the good old USA.  I for one like the international flair.  I like that there are different looking people and different traditions based on one’s country of origin.  No matter how much they try the NFL while watched in other countries is rarely played there.

24. NFL has no idea what a catch is – Someone anyone, please explain to me what a catch is in football?  Because, seriously I don’t think the NFL even knows anymore.  I will be watching a game.  A receiver will make what looks to be a perfectly good catch and yet somehow it will be ruled incomplete. It is completely illogical. Baseball has a pretty simple rule.  If you get your glove under the ball before it hits the ground it’s a catch. See how easy that is.

25 Hot Stove – Yes, football now has free agency but trades are very rare in the NFL.  In baseball trades, in particular in season trades are a common occurrence. It keeps things interesting and the hot stove heated up.  Also, in the NFL a team can just slap on the dreaded franchise tag on a player and then they are stuck where they are for what could be two more seasons forfeiting two years of free agent money.

26. No neutral sites – You play all year you finally make it to your sports ultimate prize, the Super Bowl and your fans don’t even have the chance to go to the game in their own city.  I get it that football has to have a neutral site Super Bowl.  But, to me it is much cooler to watch a fevered home crowd that is enjoying a home World Series game.  As a fan you live and die with your team all year and then if it should be so lucky to get to the series, you get the pay off by hosting games at your home park.  In the NFL, get a plane ticket and book an expensive hotel room and hope you can find a seat. 

27. All Star Game is much better – If you watch the pro bowl you seriously have issues. This year almost 50 players dropped out of the game.  No one wants to go.  While baseball’s all star game does have issues (I hate that home field in the world series is based on who wins the game) it is still an actual baseball game.  Sure a few players have to drop out but nothing like the pro bowl.  The two don’t even compare.

28. Keeping Score – I know I am a fossil but yes, I still keep score when I go to the ballpark.  There is something about it that just brings out my inner baseball geek.  I get in, go right to one of the surly old men at Wrigley who have worked there since Jack Brickhouse was still doing the games and get my pencil and scorecard.  There is no equivalent to that in football or any other sport other then bowling for that matter.

29. No hitters and perfect games – There is nothing in any sport more exciting, during the regular season then a pitcher throwing a no hitter or better yet a perfect game. I cannot think of anything in football that even comes close.  The drama when a pitcher gets through the first 6 to 7 innings with a no hitter sets up the dramatics.  I’ve been in the park with a pitcher taking a no-no into the ninth and let me tell you the excitement is off the charts.  A couple of years back when Mark Buerhle of the White Sox was throwing a perfect game I was at work, and was rooting for him, big time even though I am not a Sox fan.

30. No Cheerleaders – Now listen, I enjoy the female forum as much as the next guy.  However, baseball doesn’t need the distractions of half naked women shaking their moneymakers to make our game interesting. 

31. Hot Dogs – I can’t go to a baseball game without getting a hot dog. To me that smell when you walk into the park and get hit with that aroma of steamy weenies, there is nothing like it.  I know you can eat a wiener at a football game.  However, you usually are having to eat them with gloves on freezing your ass off and nothing is worse than a half cold hot dog.  And, let’s face it baseball and hot dogs are what goes together and everyone knows it.

32. Baseball doesn’t need gambling to be popular – Let’s get real here.  The main reason why the NFL is more popular then baseball, is gambling.  It is much easier to place a bet on a football game then a daily baseball game. Even the worst teams in baseball are still going to win 62 times a year. So, on any given day even the crapiest squads out there can go out and win a game.  Football only plays 16 games and point spreads are much easier to decipher then your standard baseball line. I’m not saying there isn’t gambling on baseball but it is far less prevalent.  Football comes out with that injury report on Thursday for a reason. 

33. Parity – Jason Stark wrote a great piece on parity in the NFL vs. baseball here http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/14713796 Trust me it is worth a read and proves baseball has much more parity then the NFL. My favorite nugget in the last 5 years only 6 teams have failed to make the postseason in baseball.  That is pretty remarkable if you think about it.

34. You can sit right up near the action – You can if you have the means sit, right behind the dugout and this affords you the luxury of being right in on the action.  With sidelines and end zones in the NFL you simply cannot sit that close to the actual live game.  And if you have ever sat that close at a baseball game you know there is nothing quite like it.  You have to be on your toes for foul balls and you literally feel like you are part of the game.

35. Ball Caps – I love me a baseball hat.  Sure you can buy a cap of your favorite NFL team but that is not what they are wearing on the field.  I probably have 30-40 Cub hats in my possession and my favorite is still the classic blue Cub hat with the capital C on it just like the players wear.  There is something cool about wearing the same model cap as the guys on the field.

36. Managers wear uniforms – Baseball is the only sport where the managers and coaches still wear the team’s uniforms. No suit and ties, no friggen hoodies, or Cosby sweaters.  Managers still wear uni’s, have numbers and it is awesome.

37. Umpires are actually full time employees – NFL Refs, are actually part time employees.  I get it they only have to work 17 Sundays a year and then a couple crews get to work playoff games.  But still to have 60 year old lawyers running around trying to keep up with NFL players is ludicrous. I have my own issues with MLB umpires but by and large I will still argue it is the best officiated sport and way better then the NFL. 

38. Baseball Hall of Fame – The baseball hall of fame is still by far the hardest to gain entrance to.  Now, yes have some borderline guys been elected over the years of course. But it is still much more difficult to gain entry.  The Hall of Fame should be reserved for the truly greats of the sport.  Some may argue that the baseball hall of fame is almost too rigid, which I find ludicrous.  On top of all that I have been to both Cooperstown, and Canton and trust me the experience in Cooperstown is ten times cooler than that in Canton. 

39. Classic Postseason Finishes – Joe Carter, Kirk Gibson, Bill Mazerowski, Bobby Thompson, Carlton Fisk, Luis Gonzalez, and the list goes on.  And with each name if you are a baseball fan you know exactly what moment I am talking about.  In football simply put there are not finishes in the history of the game that even compare. Adam Vinateri kicking a game winner in the super bowl is good and all but it does not compare to a moment like Gibson or Joe Carter had.  Not even close.

40. Spring Training – Baseball’s spring training is very unique in that it takes place depending on your favorite team in either Florida or Arizona. And many fans in cold weather cities make vacation plans each March and head on down to where their favorite team plays.  No one is going to Bourbonnais to vacation.  Going to Arizona or Florida and traveling from city to city to see different teams is something you can only do in baseball and is pretty damn cool if you ask me.

41.  Baseball doesn’t try to fleece their fans into buying two preseason games in order to buy season tickets.  Nothing and I mean nothing is more boring than a pre-season football game. Yet in the NFL if you want to buy season tickets they make you purchase the two preseason games as well as the eight regular season contests.  It is pure larceny as no one wants to sit through a game of 3^rdand 4^th string guys who will be pumping gas in a couple of weeks.

42. Minor Leagues – Football has a minor leagues it’s called the NCAA.  And, it has reaped many a reward by not having to have a minor league feeder system of their own that they have to pay for.  If you have never attended a minor league baseball game you really should try to hit one, it’s cheap and it is fun.  The great thing about baseball is that you can follow prospects and get attached to them and follow their progress along the way.  Sometimes it works out (Kris Bryant) sometimes it doesn’t (Corey Patterson.)  Either way, it is something that football does not allow you to do.

43. The Writers – Baseball has legendary scribes.  Peter Gammons, Roger Angell, Roger Kahn, David Halberstan, Peter Golenback, Hal McCoy, Keith Law, Rob Neyer, I could go on.  Football has Peter King and Adam Schefter two of the biggest buffoons on earth. There is a reason the best writers gravitate to baseball.  It is a much better game to write about.

44. Foul Balls – There is something about bringing your glove to the game hoping to snag a foul ball (or a homer if you are sitting in the bleachers.)  Sure you might occasionally get a football tossed into the stands, but there is nothing like the thrill of going after a ball in the stands and snagging one.

 45. Longer season means no fluky playoff teams – The NFL season is 16 games long. The baseball season is 162 games.  In football you don’t even play all the teams in your conference.  So, you may be trying to get into a wildcard spot against a team that has played a much easier 16 game schedule.  It is easy to see how a fluke crappy team (say this year’s Washington and Houston teams) can sneak into the playoffs.  Over the course of 162 games the weak teams get weeded out. Yes, I dislike the 2 wild cards but I get that it had to be done.  Even, with the wild cards now, you still have to prove yourself over the marathon that is the baseball season.

46. No flags – Is there anything worse than seeing a long pass get completed only for it to be brought back on a holding call.  Also, the rules are so arbitrary.  Pass interference is a judgment call of the ref’s and we’ve all seen calls that were tick tacky in that regard. Actually all penalties in football could be considered judgment calls really. In baseball, there are no do over’s.  If a batter hits a homer there is no chance of it getting called back.

47. Football is basically who commits the least turnovers – Teams that win the turnover battle in football win 76% of the time.  So, all the other nonsense that goes into planning, and all the over coaching (and man is there over coaching in football) pretty much boils down to this.  Force turnovers and limit your own you win. Have I over-simplified things, maybe but the numbers don’t lie. 

48. Batting Practice – Getting to a ball game early to see hitters park balls into the bleachers is truly a fun and different experience.  You get to a football game early and you can see the punter practice putting balls inside the 20 an guys stretching.  That is fun.

49. No boring halftime – Baseball is the only sport where there are no breaks between the half or periods.  And there is nothing worse than sitting through a football halftime show.  In baseball, you don’t get that downtime where you are left to watch a clock wind down to zero.

50. 25 man roster in baseball as opposed to 53 man in football – You know every player on a baseball roster from the starting first baseman to the backup catcher.  You know them because with the roster being smaller it is much easier to recall the player and have a recollection of them.  When a guy is either on the mound or at the plate it is a one on one match up and it is easy to form a connection with that name. In football, how many people really know who the third string safeties are?  . They might get on the field for special teams and during the season get their names called maybe 3 times the whole season. Sure, the hardcore football junkies will know the backup guards name but the casual fan will have no idea.  But even my girlfriend knows who David Ross is.