If football is "beautiful game" So baseball is the most "Perfect" play

The world loves the game of “futbol”, which in America we call soccer. While soccer has enjoyed phenomenal growth as a popular sport for boys and girls, and at the high school and college levels, the game has not been successful at the professional level in the United States. In the rest of the world, however, soccer is the most followed of all sports.

“Football” has been ordered the “Beautiful Game” by crazy football fans addicted to the game. Because the use of the hands to control the ball is not allowed, the game requires great foot-eye coordination, speed, balance, aggressiveness, and a chess-like strategic view of the entire playing field. The flow of the game, which may seem slow to casual observers, is part of the beauty of the game that enhances the passion the sport enjoys among its rabid fans.

I have lived in Europe and have traveled extensively, including second and third world countries. It is an incredible spectacle to see a completely mesmerized country, the population, men and women, old and young, glued to the television screens, while the key matches are played. Games between clubs from different countries create an incredible outpouring of nationalism.

Soccer is a beautiful game. And if that statement is true, then I think baseball is the perfect game. The pace of soccer and baseball is similar in that much of the game is spent preparing for the difficult tasks of scoring, goals in soccer, runs in baseball. Both are total team games, and yet both require people to perform at high levels. The shortstop in baseball is completely alone when trying to field a hard ball, but he needs other players to play their roles to take out the baserunners.

The symmetry of baseball is amazingly perfect. The game has been idealized as having been invented by Abner Doubleday on a field in upstate New York in the mid-19th century. Maybe, maybe not! However, whoever actually drew up the rules of the game designed a playing field with perfect dimensions. The dimensions actually add to the drama of just about every shot and play.

Imagine if the bases were closer or farther than 90 feet apart. The bang-bang game at first would almost never happen. If the bases were closer together, the stolen base would be automatic, even for the slowest runners. The bases are arranged in a diamond shape, providing a perfect path for runners to chase and fielders to aim. The pitcher’s mound, a small hill, is 60 feet, six inches from the home plate spot. If the rubber on the mound, which the pitcher uses to grip and leverage while throwing to the batter, were closer than 60′, 6″, the batter would have almost no chance of hitting the ball. If the rubber was further back, the batter would enjoy an unfair advantage.

The strike zone is designed to balance the opportunity for the pitcher and hitter to be competitively successful. Three strikes and the batter is out; but an at-bat can be extended indefinitely by fouling pitches. Four balls and the batter earns a fair pass to first base, forcing the pitcher to throw strikes or give up baserunners that can lead to runs scored.

The most wonderful thing about the game of baseball is best described in the famous statement of the great Yogi Berra: “It ain’t over ’till it’s over!” Unlike any other team sport, there is no time limit in baseball. The game is not over until the last out of the ninth inning is secured. It’s possible, and it happens regularly, for a team to seemingly be so far behind in the run count that the outcome of the game seems inevitable, but a few hits, a few walks, one error, and suddenly there’s hope. that the result will be inverted.

Spring training, baseball on the radio, hot dogs and beer in the park, and the opportunity to enjoy a game played at a leisurely pace on a warm summer night while chatting with friends make baseball the ” perfect game”. It is as beautiful as football, but if played well, there is no sport as perfectly designed and structured as baseball.