Baseball. It’s America’s past time. So many different things make baseball the greatest sport in the country. Out of the four major sports in the country, football, basketball, hockey, and baseball, not only is baseball the least violent sport, but it is the best sport to teach to kids. People of all ages are drawn to baseball for a variety of reasons, whether it’s easy to understand rules, its vast history, its fun for all ages, or how widespread it is outside of the United States.
The World Baseball Classic is a baseball competition that happens every winter between the major countries of the world. The Little League World Series is a competition for young kids that draws millions of viewers each summer. Teams come from all over to participate in both of these fantastic events. Japan, China, the Philippines, The United States, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, are only some of the countries that participate in both events.
Baseball is the least violent of the 4 major sports in America. Football is by far the most dangerous sport, with injuries happening every week. In 2013, there were 269 season ending injuries in the NFL. This number has been steadily climbing for the past five years at a pretty consistent rate.
Football teams need to have at least 3 team members for every position, in the very likely possibility that someone gets hurt. Hockey is attended not just for the hockey, but for the very violent fights that break out every game between opponents. It has been proven that as hockey gets more violent, TV ratings go up.
Basketball is a game where you are always trying to get fouled to stop the clock, and some of those hits can get pretty nasty. Baseball, on the other hand, is a slower paced game than some of these, but is also a lot more safe and fun. There is no “fouling out,” there are rarely fights, and players can expect to play entire years without getting injured.
Another reason why baseball is the greatest sport out there is because there is no clock. You can not run the clock like you do in basketball if you’re up by 1 point, and you can not kneel down at the line of scrimmage as one might in football. You have to throw the ball over the plate and give the other team a fighting chance to get back into the game. Some might argue that this removes a sense of urgency from baseball games, or a sense of suspense or intensity, but I would say that having no clock just adds to the intensity.
Anyone who would make the claims above should go watch the 2014 AL Wild Card Game between the Kansas City Royals and the Oakland Athletics. This game went 12 innings instead of its usual 9, and the Royals came back from being down 7-3 to win the game. The Athletics would have won if baseball had a game clock, but instead the entire game was changed.
Baseball was first played in 1838, and has now grown to be a significant part of the country. Plenty of events have been highlighted by baseball games and by baseball seasons. For example, the first game that the New York Mets played after the September 11th attacks at Shea Stadium in New York helped start the healing after the attacks when Mike Piazza hit an 8th inning home run to beat the Atlanta Braves. It is considered one of the best moments in their franchise history. Or after the Boston Marathon bombings, when the Boston Red Sox went on to win the world series in 2013. All the players wore a Boston Strong patch, and when they won, the World Series Trophy was laid on the finish line where the bombs went off.
The Baseball Hall Of Fame is a major tourist attraction in Cooperstown, New York, where there are hundreds of baseball players enshrined in lore. No other sport has as rich of a history, or can have as big of a healing effect on a city, and a nation.
Hundreds of beautiful ballparks dot the nation, with historic parks such as Fenway Park in Boston, Yankee Stadium in New York, Wrigley Field in Chicago, or Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles. Major League baseball is the only major sport to not have undergone a strike in the last 5 years.
Major League baseball has not had a strike since 1994. Hockey had a strike in 2013, football had a strike in 2011, and basketball had a strike in 2011. When entire sports organizations go on strike, they don’t play until an agreement has been made about how much they are going to be paid. This means shortened seasons, and just generally less of the sports we love. Baseball has had non-stop agreement  since 1994, and that means non-stop play for 20 years.
Baseball is the greatest sport in the nation, and it expands all around the world. The lush history of baseball towers over every other major sport, and showcases the real America. Not only is baseball America’s pastime, but it is America’s great equalizer, it is America’s great unifier, and it is the rock of American sports.