Baseball Is America 's Past Time Sport

In Major League Baseball, numerous players have put up tremendous statistics and record breaking numbers. There are a great amount of players in the league that have done this naturally, however it is not uncommon to see star players get caught taking performance enhancing drugs or steroids. Steroid use in baseball has been an issue since the earliest days of the game, and can be seen very frequently in players today. Jose Canseco was a star hitter in the major leagues, who had admitted to steroid later in his career. Canseco once estimated that 85% of other players were also taking performance enhancing drugs. Though that estimate is not proven, there are still many players today that are taking these steroids, and it needs to remain an issue in the eyes of the MLB. Taking these drugs not only promotes the risk of significant side effects and health problems to the player consuming them, but it makes changes to the game itself as well. The way the game is being played has changed over time due to this issue, and players are receiving advantages that other players are not. Overall, these illegal drugs are unfair to other players in the game and simply are not safe, and should never become legal in the league.

Out of all the vast variety of sports there are, baseball is the most challenging and difficult sport to play. No other sport compares to the degree of difficulty that you have to deal with, like you do in playing the game of baseball. There are so many different elements that make this game the most difficult. Three major elements stick out in my mind as to why this wonderful sport is the toughest of all. The three main factors in my mind are the increased physical and hand eye coordination component, the mental aspect of this game, and the human interdependence between umpires, which are a vital part in every play.

Baseball players have less than 0.40 seconds to defend themselves from a whirling 100 mph ball hit by a 200lbs beast. And take into consideration that if the fielder takes more than 4.5 seconds to field and throw the ball to first base, then it becomes impossible for them to throw the runner out. The motor, cognitive, and visual skills needed to succeed in baseball may explain why many believe baseball is harder than softball.

A pastime is a hobby that is performed in someone’s spare time. The term America’s pastime is something that the entire nation enjoys and participates in. Since its creation, baseball has taken the top spot as the nation’s favorite recreation. For generations it filled the homes of Americans whether it be via television, conversation, or participation. Families would travel together to their local baseball stadium and root for the home team. Kids would organize games at their local baseball field and play until dark. Stars like Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio were idols to fans, both young and old. It was evident that baseball was in the peoples hearts and truly was America’s pastime. However, today there is a debate whether baseball is still The United States number one choice of hobby. It is unclear whether it actually is America’s pastime or if that term is just associated with the game. Although the game has deep roots, due to the rise in popularity of other professional sports, a drop in baseball game viewings and a decrease in the number of young fans, baseball should no longer be considered America’s pastime.

First off, many players will not like this because they do not make money in the Olympics. Almost all players, especially the ones with good salaries would rather be making money for playing instead of taking time off. There are also many players that would rather just stay because they get to play more. In international competition, there will be few games in the tournament compared to the three games every five days that they will get in the MLB. The athletes will also have to stay at the Olympics for a month when competition may only last for five to seven days. This shortage in time played compared to time spent in the host country will drive many players away from playing. In conclusion, athletes will hate not making money and lacking time played and will resent playing at the

Besides the velocity of the ball coming off of the bat there is also the reaction time to look at. “Baseball Rules Committee believe that a collegiate pitcher needs approximately .4 seconds to react and move to avoid being struck…a pitcher is between 51 and 52 feet away from the point of impact between the bat and ball at the time of impact” (3). Dempsey also states that “at 94 mph the ball will travel 52 feet in approximately .371 seconds… with high power aluminum bats speeds well in excess of 100 mph the ball will

In the game of softball the baselines are only sixty feet long. Therefore, you must run super fast in order to be safe at first base. However, baseball baselines are ninety feet long, so the infielders have more time to get the runner out, and the runners have a longer distance to run. Softball pitchers have an advantage because the pitching mound is so close. An elite softball pitcher can throw speeds topping seventy miles per hour. This means a softball pitch can reach the plate in only thirty-five hundredths of a second! That is actually faster than it takes a 100 miles per hour major league fastball to reach home plate. The baseball takes thirty-eight hundredths of a second. After locating the pitch, a softball batter only has about twenty-five milliseconds to decide to swing or not. That is about fifty-five percent less time than a major league baseball player has. The game of softball can be very challenging for a batter. However, it can be even more challenging for an infielder. When balls come off of the bat at about one hundred miles per hour, a softball

From the sandlot to stadiums seating over fifty thousand people, the game of baseball has provided people of all ages with a

Baseball has been played by millions of people all over the world. The sport has been a staple of entertainment on radio and tv for many years. And just in the last few decades there has been a huge spike in arm injuries, and a lot of them have been in younger players. "Year-round baseball is number one,"is what Dr. Andrews said about Tommy John surgery(Snyder). What year round baseball means is that players play baseball in the fall and winter months, this never happened in years before. Also kids are now being allowed times for their arms to rest and heal. Year round baseball should definitely be regulated one reason is the increasing amount of arm injuries in younger kids, Also the kids may burn out mentally and not want to play the sport anymore, they may just one day say they do not want to

Admittedly, implementing instant replay for all levels of baseball would be economically challenging. However, at the very least, instant replay should be implemented on the professional level where the athletes are being paid and millions of fans are paying to watch a good game.

A.     Baseball purists argue that contraction will bring the game back to the way it was meant to be with only the best out on the field playing.

The article “America’s Pastime” by Robert S. Fay and Tom Pfannoch, teaches readers about the history of baseball. The first unofficial baseball games were played in the early 1800’s, these games otherwise known as “town ball”. One of the earliest organizations to influence modernized baseball was the knickerbockers, the knickerbockers put together a set of rules and gave the game structure which helped standardize how the game is played today. Soon after, the game spread throughout the country and gained popularity among players and spectators as well, which led to the professional sport of baseball. Following the professionalization of the sport many leagues were formed, the present day MLB (Major League Baseball) has been considered America’s

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports wrote the article, “Players Must Pitch in to Avoid Pitch Clock.” Now Ken doesn’t disagree with it, it’s some of the players who do. He says that some players think it’s unnecessary, and they don’t want to get fined for violating the new rules. O.K I may agree with them on the fining part, but the pitch clock is necessary if they want to pick up the pace of play. If those players want to cry about it, then why are you playing the game?

Those against the idea of instant replay say that if baseball games were stopped so that officials could carefully review every close play, this already slow game would take even longer to finish, and fans would start to lose interest. However, if you have ever watched a baseball game on television then you have seen plays that looked questionable, as to which way the call should have been made. When this happens, the TV broadcasters will quickly pull up the shot of that play and watch it again, in slow motion, often times even from multiple angles. They will show this on the screen so that their television audience can see what actually happened during the play, and at the same time the broadcasters will analyze the play and

This past offseason, the MLB extended replay review to cover essentially all umpire decisions except ball and strike calls. Now as before, no justice will be served when a pitcher throws a strike and the umpire calls it a ball. remember, too, that umpires are missing calls for other reasons. It’s just difficult to see the edges of the strike zone, especially considering how hard these guys throw ... and of course they’re throwing harder all the time. Of course the umpires can and will adjust, just as hitters can and will adjust. We also know that hitters are missing pitches more than ever. If the players are doing this I feel like the umpires