So Major League Baseball Players Are The Best Athletes?

[hoppscot22]

this is rediculous, athleticism has nothing to do with acquired skill (aka baseball)

otherwise hockey players would be the best athletes... i mean for gods sake the glide around on a blade the width or a knife or something, no one else can do that

athleticism should be based on raw ability, not acquired skills. could any baseball player play pro basketball, probably, but surely not david wells. i would guess that more basketball players could play pro baseball, they are surely overall better athletes and putting the energy they put into baseball rather then basketball would yield a very good baseball player etc.

david, i think you need to alter your understanding of athleticism here, it seems very off base

[TC Franks]

I suspect anyone who does not list NBA basketball players as the best athletes in the world has never been to an NBA game.
Linebackers and skill positions in football are close as well. Decathletes also are in the mix. Baseball center fielders and shortstops also are up there.
As for the conditioning sports--soccer, cycling, distance running, those guys amaze me but I guess I don't see that as raw athleticism. More dedicaton.
The thing is, watching world class athletes always amazes me, in any sport. But then you go to an NBA game and it's just another level of speed, power, conditioning, and skill.
Baseball gets a lot of mileage out of the line, "the toughest thing to do in sports is hit a 90 mph fastball." But baseball scouts will flock to a HS player who can hit .280 and run a 4.3 40y dash before a player who is slow and hits .400. Why? They figure they can teach the fast guy to hit a little better but that good HS hitter isn't going to get much faster.
I'm going with basketball on this one.

[David Steele]

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could any baseball player play pro basketball, probably,

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Danny Ainge, so certainty

[jackaaron]

What DS is trying to get us to understand is that, just because he is very, VERY, good at math, that doesn't necessarily mean he's the best poker player.

[img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[deadfromsuckouts]

One thing that rarely gets mentioned with Ruth is-what hapeened in baseball the year before Ruth hit 50 for the first time. What happened in baseball the year before Sosa and McGwire slugeed it out?

[deadfromsuckouts]

happened

[Baracus]

I have to agree with the posters who claimed hockey was the most demanding sport according to athleticism. They are strong, fast and agile and at the same time have great ability in a wide set of skills like passing, split vision, stickhandling, first touch, skating, checking etc...

[Notfunny1]

I think it all comes down to pure athleticism vs. having a specific skill set. My thoughts on pure athleticism.

1. Gymnasts (has anyone mentioned this?)
2. Boxers/Fighters
3. Hockey
4. NBA
5. NFL
6. MLB (Lots and Lots of MLB players aren't all that "in shape" they just have a specific skill that they are very good at"