By Tanner Lecumberry Posted February 19, 2014
There are certain rivalries between sports; basketball and wrestling, football and soccer, which will more than likely rage for all eternity. There is one, however, which I believe can be calmed. The battle between softball and baseball will die, today, in this article.
First, let’s remove all shades of sexism from the equation, for that is not the aim of this article. I intend to compare the sports, and nothing more. Baseball houses tradition, and is certainly the birthplace of softball. Without baseball, there is no softball, just as without a Catholic, there can be no Protestant. It can be said, then, that baseball is the father of softball, and in the natural order of the world, fathers are dominant over their offspring.
Despite baseball’s natural rank above softball, the sports themselves are more different than many realize. Baseball fields are much larger, and the ball moves much faster, while the general speed of play is quickened by a much smaller field in softball. Arguments have been made that the difficulty of hitting is higher in softball than in baseball. However, with a larger ball and lighter bats, combined with lower pitching speeds and shorter fences, the difference in pitching angle doesn’t present enough of a difference to make hitting a softball harder. As far as fielding, increased area per player makes throws much further, and defense overall much more difficult.
All in all, baseball has every right to be claimed as the greatest sport not only in the spring but the greatest sport in the history of mankind. To the baseball players out there March on brothers.
