4 ms·

Only Americans could invent a more violent form of golf while not realizing that baseball and golf feature watching grass grow as a spectator sport.

ethanbond 3y ago
What In what ways is baseball violent or like golf?
- oh_sigh 3y ago
  Maybe OP only watched baseball a long time ago, where runners could, say, smash the catcher at home plate to try to get him to drop the ball. Those rules have also been changed and those plays are extremely rare, and also frowned upon by players. However, the pitcher intentionally throwing a ball 90 mph at a batter's head because of some perceived slight is still part of the game.
  - davidthewatson 3y ago
    Thanks for your comment. Indeed, smashing the catcher at home plate was common whether initiated by the catcher or the base runner. For over one hundred years, MLB has debated whether there is any place for violence at home plate between base runners and catchers, intentional or otherwise. It is a complex question that has been answered by rules and player attitudes with little consensus between rule makers, players, and spectators, which, of course, closely mirrors society at large. I love baseball and golf and have participated in both, but only as a young player. To me, spectator sports that aren't the Tour de France, F1, or WRC are just not dense enough with action to sustain my interest, even if that action is enabled by wheels and sources of power that may not be human. This tension between safety and freedom is a theme that has played a role for at least as long as the publication of Trevor Melia's book, "Lucifer State", more than four decades ago. I'm out-of-my-depth in classics but I'd be surprised if there weren't a much older reference to this tension in antiquity. The role of that tension in modern society most certainly divides the room whether we are talking about art, sports, or life itself.
tokai 3y ago
Baseball was invented in Great Britain.
- jvanderbot 3y ago
  Not true, but golf was invented in Scotland.
  - tokai 3y ago
    Do me a favor and check a minimum of sources before you shoot that Not true.
    - jvanderbot 3y ago
      I did. > Early baseball or town-ball had many, many variants, as would be expected of an informal boys' game, and most differed in several particulars from the game which developed in New York in the 1840s. All wikipedia pages point to baseball being invented in new england, USA. Yes, other games that involve hitting balls with sticks were invented elsewhere, including great britian, and the influence can be traced to those, but the game we play today was invented in the USA.

ethanbond 3y ago

What In what ways is baseball violent or like golf?

oh_sigh 3y ago
Maybe OP only watched baseball a long time ago, where runners could, say, smash the catcher at home plate to try to get him to drop the ball. Those rules have also been changed and those plays are extremely rare, and also frowned upon by players. However, the pitcher intentionally throwing a ball 90 mph at a batter's head because of some perceived slight is still part of the game.
- davidthewatson 3y ago
  Thanks for your comment. Indeed, smashing the catcher at home plate was common whether initiated by the catcher or the base runner. For over one hundred years, MLB has debated whether there is any place for violence at home plate between base runners and catchers, intentional or otherwise. It is a complex question that has been answered by rules and player attitudes with little consensus between rule makers, players, and spectators, which, of course, closely mirrors society at large. I love baseball and golf and have participated in both, but only as a young player. To me, spectator sports that aren't the Tour de France, F1, or WRC are just not dense enough with action to sustain my interest, even if that action is enabled by wheels and sources of power that may not be human. This tension between safety and freedom is a theme that has played a role for at least as long as the publication of Trevor Melia's book, "Lucifer State", more than four decades ago. I'm out-of-my-depth in classics but I'd be surprised if there weren't a much older reference to this tension in antiquity. The role of that tension in modern society most certainly divides the room whether we are talking about art, sports, or life itself.

tokai 3y ago

Baseball was invented in Great Britain.

jvanderbot 3y ago
Not true, but golf was invented in Scotland.
- tokai 3y ago
  Do me a favor and check a minimum of sources before you shoot that Not true.
  - jvanderbot 3y ago
    I did. > Early baseball or town-ball had many, many variants, as would be expected of an informal boys' game, and most differed in several particulars from the game which developed in New York in the 1840s. All wikipedia pages point to baseball being invented in new england, USA. Yes, other games that involve hitting balls with sticks were invented elsewhere, including great britian, and the influence can be traced to those, but the game we play today was invented in the USA.