A question

[chickenfeet]

Why do baseball players wear mitts?

I can see that a mitt makes it easier to catch a high fly ball though most fly balls I've seen caught in baseball would rate as fairly easy catches in cricket anyway. I would have thought this was more than offset by the small reduction in reach to the right side of the player (assuming right handed) and even more so in the reduction of efficiency in ground fielding. A mittless player can gather the ball so that his throwing arm is already half way back to the start of his throw and he has the ball in hand. A player with a mitt has to extract the ball from his mitt and then begin to throw. Surely this wastes, potentially crucial, time?

It can't just be that Americans are big wusses who can't catch with their bare hands.

Comments

[daubentonia.livejournal.com]

> It can't just be that Americans are big wusses who can't catch with their bare hands.

And why do American football players wear so much padding?

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

I can see the point of 'padding', though it's more like armour. It's a bit rigid to be described as 'padding'. It would be even more effective if it had big spikes on. A mitt seems a bit more like a football player wearing diving boots in case someone treads on his toe.

[anthrokeight.livejournal.com]

I think due to the way the balls are thrown by pitchers and hit by batters, by the time a baseman or outfielder gets to the ball, it's going at a velocity that *hurts.* As far as I can tell, cricket doesn't expect players to sock their balls out of a park and up into stands like we do. It seems like the bowlers are expected to throw in a way that slows the ball down more than baseball. (all that wierd overhand windmilling seems to do complicated things to spin and stuff, but surely they aren't flying at 90 miles an hour when a batter gets to the ball?)

Having had my fair share of little league experience, I'd say playing fast pitch softball without a mitt would be Broken Finger Central.

Regarding football players and padding. Well, I dunno how it works in rugby, so comparativley speaking, what do I know? But football players have lots and lots of problems with chronic, low grade, constant injuries. Like with dancers, you can blow out your knee or whatever in one bad accident. But if you play pro ball for any length of time, you can expect to just wear out. It seems to me that rugby players are pretty rough on each other for guys who wear no armour. But if foot ball players did what they do to one another with out protective gear, they'd be giving each other paralysis like there is no tomorrow.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

A fast bowler in cricket operates at around 90 mph and I reckon balls often reach fielders a great deal faster than they do in baseball. One learns to catch in a way that doesn't break fingers.

As to football players, I think we have a chicken and egg situation. If football players didn't have all the gear they wouldn't tackle the way they do. If they knew they had to play 80 minutes, instead of playing 20 seconds and then going off for a rest, they would probably be 30 pounds lighter and not play the way they do.

[anthrokeight.livejournal.com]

Who knew about the cricket? I've just begun to figure out how the game works, and it's rather charming that it shares with baseball the gloriousness of minor details being strange and awesome. And Laagan was an awesome movie.

Yar, those bullnecked scary-looking over-steroid-laden ball players unnerve me greatly. Rugby boys are just buff enough.

'sides, football players would look like total idiots trying to do a haka in all that getup.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

'sides, football players would look like total idiots trying to do a haka in all that getup.

I've only once had to face up it a haka. We were playing a team from Tahiti. It was quite an experience.

[sollersuk.livejournal.com]

I heard the other day what was alleged to be a summary of the All Blacks' haka, and it may be accurate. Apparently it's part "You put your right leg in, your right leg out, in, out, in, out and shake it all about" and part "We're going to kill you".

It's always struck me that apart from the psychological advantage, which team has had a last-minute warm-up on the field and which one is standing around getting chilled?

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

which team has had a last-minute warm-up on the field and which one is standing around getting chilled?

The way teams warm up for games these days it may be an advantage to have a couple of minutes breather before the action starts.

[sollersuk.livejournal.com]

It's more than "a couple of minutes", it's quite enough for muscles to cool down enough to tear!

[sollersuk.livejournal.com]

I had a fingernail taken off once just trying to stop a cricked ball that was rolling past.

[tanuja.livejournal.com]

If football players didn't have all the gear they wouldn't tackle the way they do. If they knew they had to play 80 minutes, instead of playing 20 seconds and then going off for a rest, they would probably be 30 pounds lighter and not play the way they do.

Couldn't agree more

A fast bowler in cricket operates at around 90 mph and I reckon balls often reach fielders a great deal faster than they do in baseball. One learns to catch in a way that doesn't break fingers

Cricket balls are bloody hard. I've come extrememly close to breaking fingers when trying to catch a cricket ball, I've certainly bruised fingers. But then I am a girl.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

I'd say playing fast pitch softball without a mitt would be Broken Finger Central.

Cricketers don't catch with their fingers. They let the ball come into the palms of their hands and wrap their fingers over it. Also one learns to 'give' as one takes a hard ball. Taking a sharp catch does sting but it's not too bad.

[parisbaby-2003.livejournal.com]

FFIW, there is also the point that wearing a baseball glove extends a baseball player's area of "reach" quite a lot, compared to the average male's hand size. Not to mention the curve of the mitt itself, which, while causing extra time needed to retrive the ball from its folds, can significantly aid a player in being able to catch the ball in the first place.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

I can see that the glove extends reach on the LHS but don't you lose out on the RHS? I can get my Right hand at least two feet further right than I get my left. Plus if I go across my body I'm forced to catch in a highly awkward "thumb down" position.

[besideserato.livejournal.com]

That's what I always thought it was about: Americans being pussies!