Is Softball Harder Than Baseball?

if you're a sports fan you've probably heard the popular notion that hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in sports however this goes against the facts that research shows hitting a softball has been scientifically proven to be harder at least if you trust a non-peer-reviewed academic paper softballtradingpins.com or a highly controversial episode of sports science which many people believe was purposely misleading deceiving and according to some completely faked but this has not stopped softball players from telling baseball players that even though their sport is more popular more financially rewarding and for some reason perceived as the hardest sport in the world that actually hitting a softball is a lot more challenging and honestly they may have a point although this debate will likely never be officially settled it has not stopped people from trying and has resulted in three of the most notorious male verse female sporting exhibitions in history which date back all the way to 1961 when one of the most accomplished athletes in history who you've probably never even heard of challenged ted williams who is arguably the best hitter of all time six years later a male comedian who just so happened to be the greatest fast pitch softball pitcher of all time and could throw a pitch over 100 miles per hour yes 100 miles per hour underhanded from 46 feet away challenged the best hitters in the world including willie mccovey harlem killebrew roberto clemente and willie mace and finally in the most notable matchup the most famous softball pitcher ever jenny finch went on a season-long tour facing baseball's best hitters which concluded with her facing the home run king barry bonds this matchup was controversial and memorable for many reasons and even featured some banter which may have been left out of the final cut today and he got a hold of me and he wanted to rip me up so barry when do i get to face the best whenever you want to it only takes five minutes oh it's gone you call me direct i put me up again right you got it anytime these quotes all led up to a matchup between the best home run hitter of all time against arguably the best female softball pitcher ever all in hopes to finding out if hitting in softball is actually harder than hitting in baseball and depending on what sport you play the controversial results of this matchup will probably leave you angry disappointed extremely confused and if you have not seen this video before i can almost guarantee that you will not be able to guess how it ends [Applause] this video is brought to you by honey if you online shop which i know you do honey can save you a ton of money it only takes two clicks it is completely free and if you're a fan it is probably the best way to support the channel all you have to do is install honey using the code in the description and next time you're at checkout the honey browser extension will pop up when you click it it will instantly scan the entire web for working promo codes that apply to your purchase and instantly saves you money you've probably seen honey before because it is everywhere so whether you're using it to buy cleats for your slow pitch softball league like i literally did 20 minutes before recording this or something completely different honey has your back because it works on over 30 000 sites you can even use it for food delivery and that stuff is expensive again honey is completely free so if you do any online shopping whatsoever it's really a no-brainer and it helps me out tremendously so please go to joinhoney.com baseball doesn't exist and start saving today the debate between baseball and softball has been going on for over a century but perhaps the most notorious and commonly cited resource to prove that softball is harder than baseball is a 2007 episode of sports science that claims to prove that softball is harder than baseball with science but in reality the quote unquote science they use in this video is incomplete at best the first unit of measurement used in this experiment is how much force a 95 mile per hour fastball has compared to a jenny finch fastball which is around 70 miles per hour the fastball produced 2 400 pounds of force but the jenny finch fastball broke the machine in a very suspicious way unlike the 95 mile per hour fastball they never actually reveal how fast jenny finch's pitch was and the video concludes that since her pitch broke the machine it was safe to assume that the pitch produced more force than the baseball but in reality this was filmed in a way that never actually shows the softball making impact with the glass and instead replaces it with the slow motion replay which seems to be a reenactment because it shows the softball shattering the glass in the top left hand corner while the first clip shows her pitch cleanly splitting the glass in two the video also shows several other softballs on the ground underneath the glass which at least makes it seem like she had already thrown several pitches before breaking the glass which should have produced a reading but sports science concluded that jenny finch's pitch broke the machine so it must have produced more force than the 95 mile per hour fastball now it is possible that a softball going 25 miles per hour less than a baseball could produce more force than a baseball because it weighs more and has a higher impact area but the force made by a ball in no way shape or form proves that it is harder to hit for example a baseball going 95 miles per hour will produce more force than a wiffle ball going 95 miles per hour for the pure fact that it weighs more but if a wiffle ball is going 95 miles per hour and moving like this i think we can all agree it is probably harder to hit the segment then features a head-to-head matchup between jenny finch and a baseball player jenny finch is arguably the best female softball player of all time and the baseball player was a 12th round draft pick who never played a game in the major leagues he also had never played softball in his life and was using a wooden bat with a significantly smaller barrel than the aluminum bats used in softball so jenny finch struck him out easily now this is an extremely unfair matchup and the negative reaction this episode got shows that even though sports science says this bruce softball is harder than baseball the public wasn't so sure luckily for jenny finch she would have many more chances to show the difficulty of softball against some of the best baseball players alive and although this sport science episode is full of problems it does raise a few good points as spore science also pointed out the angle a softball pitch comes from adds difficulty for hitters especially ones used to baseball since the softball is pitched from an underhand motion and a stone from flat ground the ball travels to the batter at an upward trajectory this means that generally speaking in order to reach an attack angle to make optimal contact a softball batter will have to adjust their hands higher while a baseball batter who is facing a downward trajectory will have to lower their hands because of gravity and the amount of distance the pans have to travel raising your hands to make contact takes longer and is more difficult and perhaps the most challenging aspect of hitting a softball is the distance a softball pitch is thrown from a major league mound is 60 feet 6 inches away from home plate a female fast pitch mound is 43 feet away from home plate so even though jenny finch is throwing nearly 25 miles per hour slower than the average mlb fastball it gets to the plate as fast as a ball thrown between 98 and 101 miles per hour from a major league mound so if you thought facing a 70 mile per hour softball pitch would be easy think again and this is not even close to the fastest softball pitch ever recorded monica abbott has been clocked throwing a softball 77 miles per hour meaning that her pitches can get to the plate as fast as a ball thrown over miles per hour from a baseball mount which has never been done before but even monica abbott can't claim to throw the fastest softball in fact that title goes to eddie finer who has thrown a softball over 100 miles per hour i don't even know how to convert that to a major league distance but i can tell you it is extremely fast and if you don't believe it just ask willie mays however these are the top .001 percent of softball pitchers how about the average softball pitcher and from what i've seen online people estimate that the average pitch speed for a division one softball player is anywhere from 62 to 65 miles per hour now there are higher levels of softball but finding statistics on professional softball is extremely difficult but nevertheless the average pitch speed in a division one softball game is roughly the equivalent to a 95 mile per hour mlb fastball so that means the average pitch from a division 1 softball player gets to the plate faster than the average pitch in the major leagues it is also important to note that the throwing motion of a softball pitcher creates way less damage to a pitcher's arm so unlike starting pitchers in baseball who can only pitch every 5 days softball pitchers can basically pitch as much as their team requires just look at the most recent college world series where ucla star pitcher rachel garcia led her team to a national championship by pitching five complete games in six days in 1991 kelly brookhart of creighton university pitched 31 innings in a single game if a manager in baseball had their pitcher do this he would be sent to prison this adds another layer of difficulty in softball because you're forced to face your opponent's ace almost every single game this results in stats and achievements in softball that would be absolutely impossible in baseball and if you are confident that hitting a baseball is harder than hitting a softball this may make you seriously reconsider in the past 140 years only 23 pitchers have thrown a perfect game in the major leagues nicole newman of drake university threw five of them in one season in 2019 there were three no hitters in college softball in one day and hope trotwine of north texas through a perfect game and struck out every single batter she faced that's 21 strikeouts in a row the record for major league baseball is 10 in a row and all of these happened in a single season it is important to point out that a softball game is only seven innings making a no hitter or perfect game more achievable than a traditional nine-inning baseball game however there are many stats that are equally as impressive and would not be more achievable because of the shorter games for example lisa fernandez started 96 games in her college career and had a .22 era jenny finch once won 60 games in a row and danielle henderson pitched 105 consecutive innings without giving up a single run there have only been two qualified pitchers in mlb history to finish a season with an era below one and the last time it happened it was 1914. there are currently six pitchers in division one college softball who have pitched over a hundred innings with an era below one so softball batters have to react quicker to a pitch the trajectory the ball comes from makes making contact more challenging and softball pitchers absolutely dominate softball hitters so based on this it is clear that hitting in softball is harder than in baseball actually no because just like that episode of sports science this only tells one side of the story this only mentions the aspects of softball that make hitting more challenging it does not mention the aspects of softball that actually help hitters compensate for these disadvantages and perhaps the most glaring example of this is the size of the ball and bat which are somehow completely ignored by sports science the ball itself is 12 inches in diameter compared to a baseball which is nine and one quarter in diameter their barrels are significantly bigger in length giving them a bigger surface area to make contact with softball bats are also aluminum and way less than baseball bats so although it is true that the shorter distance and upward trajectory in softball adds difficulty the bigger ball longer barrel and lighter weight bat makes contact more achievable and since the bats are aluminum the amount of force needed for a softball hitter to make solid contact is less and even though it is true that softball pitchers dominate in a way that is unheard of in baseball these stats are somewhat misleading because the same thing can be said for softball hitters for example since 1986 there have been 150 division 1 softball players to finish their four-year careers with a batting average above 400 a major league baseball player has not been able to do this for a single season since ted williams in 1941 and despite all of the insane pitching talent in college softball and their ability to pitch with little to no rest there are actually more runs scored in softball although accurate statistics are hard to find university of nevada softball coach matt michael found that in 2014 division 1 softball team scored on average 4.37 runs per game in seven innings this comes out to 5.62 runs per nine innings in 2019 mlb teams scored only 4.8 runs per 9 innings so basically softball pitches gets to play faster at a harder angle and the best pitchers absolutely dominate competition but the bat and ball are bigger and the best hitters have no problem getting non-stop hits and overall softball games end with more runs so yeah this is extremely confusing and does not give us a clear answer leaving people with only one way to truly find out which sport is harder by pairing up the best softball pitchers in the world against the best baseball hitters in the world this has been going on for over half a century and has resulted in multiple baseball versus softball exhibitions in front of pac stadiums and national tv audiences which have ended with players being embarrassed throwing their equipment storming off the field and even trying to cover up results all in hopes of proving their sport is harder than the other the first notable softball vs baseball spectacle happened all the way back in 1961 and ended in one of the competitors throwing their equipment in disgust and storming off the field this matchup featured ted williams known by many as the best hitter of all time and joan joyce who is probably the best athlete you've never heard of she was a three-time all-american in basketball made the u.s national women's basketball team spent 19 years on the lpga tour set a world record for lowest amount of putts in a single round for men and women and when it came to softball she was ridiculous she began at the highest level of softball at only 14 years old and went on to have a record of 750 and 42 a lifetime earned run average of 0.09 through 150 no hitters and had 50 perfect games and in 1961 20 000 people packed into a stadium that only fit nine thousand people to watch joyce face ted williams the two had even faced each other before at a baseball camp where ted was able to get a hit but joyce claims that she was battling an injury but in their second matchup in front of thousands of people ted williams only managed to make contact three times all resulting in foul balls after about 15 minutes williams threw his bat down in disgust told the crowd that joyce was impossible to hit and walked off the field this matchup proved that softball wasn't just a watered-down version of baseball for girls with no talent but it also left people somewhat unsatisfied from the baseball's perspective you could say sure you struck out ted williams but at this point he was recently retired and he still did manage to get a hit in their first meeting from the softball perspective you could argue that sure ted williams was retired but he was facing a 20 year old woman who was much smaller than williams and generally speaking based on genetics alone men have a huge advantage in terms of muscle mass and even hand-eye coordination a more fair experiment would be a professional baseball player in their prime against a professional fast pitch softball player with the same physical advantages luckily there was a perfect candidate his name was eddie finer sports illustrated named him the most underrated athlete of all time but this is not what made him unique what made him unique is that he wasn't even an athlete he was a comedian who just so happened to be the best fast pitch softball pitcher of all time eddie finer traveled town to town with a team of four players challenging the best softball teams that specific area had to offer and with only four players they dominated pretty much every team while trolling them the entire time he pitched behind his back from his knees sometimes he would pitch to himself and he even pitched blindfolded and when he ever faced a team who actually came close to his talent he could just start pitching normally and strike every single batter out because eddie finer could pitch a softball underhanded over 100 miles per hour personally i have serious doubts he actually was able to pitch over 100 but this has been reported in the new york times the washington post and sports illustrated so really who am i to say that he wasn't able to do it but perhaps what eddie finer is most known for was a match-up between him and the league's best hitters including willie mays willie mccovey harlem killer brew and roberto clemente he faced all five hall of famers with a combined five mvp awards and 53 all-star appearances and he shook them all out in a row and did this while pitching to himself and even behind his back many people at this time and still today believe that you could put a major league hitter against a softball pitcher and they would be able to hit them no matter how good that pitcher was finer proved that this was completely wrong but finer was the best softball pitcher of all time and he was facing players who had never played softball in their lives so to truly prove without a doubt that hitting a softball is harder than hitting a baseball they would need to take an extra step by going back to the joan joyce vs ted williams model but this time instead of putting a woman against a legendary hitter who has passed their prime they would need to get a woman to face a legendary hitter in their prime to be publicized and seen by millions of people jenny finch and barry bonds fit this mold perfectly because not only is jenny finch one of the most accomplished softball players of all time she is the most famous softball player of all time and barry bonds is not only the most accomplished hitter of all time he was on an extremely high amount of illegal steroids making the physical gap between the two far beyond any fair competition so if jenny finch was able to embarrass the best hitter on the planet like joan joyce and eddie finer had done previously despite the completely unfair physical advantage in front of a massive audience she would be able to once and for all prove that hitting in softball is harder than hitting in baseball by 2003 jenny finch had endorsements from companies like 24-hour fitness sprint and bank of america people magazine put her on a list of the 50 most attractive humans alive and even espn named her the hottest female athlete in the world and yes espn used to write articles like this jenny finch had transcended softball and had become the unofficial ambassador of the sport this led to her being hired on a show called this week in baseball where in 2003 she was featured touring major league parks facing major league hitters on this tour she struck out hitters like mike piazza ken giles albert pujols and many many more but jenny's main target was barry bonds and finally the two met at the 2003 all-star game where they agreed to face each other at a later date the stage was set the softball vs baseball debate was ready to be put to rest forever and after a quick hitting lesson from bonds and a little bit of venting oh bobby barry and i was always you know i was always upset about that because i was like you know i'm a person too yeah so it's hard he stepped into the box to face the best softball pitcher in the world and according to this sports illustrated article he even insisted that the cameras not show the at-bat he went on to watch dozens of pitches just to see how they looked i just want to see it commented on how nasty they were check swung at a few and even talked some trash oh i'm sorry then he stepped out of the box and said you're the best and you know what i truly believe you could strike me out but jenny finch never did strike barry bonds out because that was it they never actually faced each other we can only speculate why this is maybe barry bonds was injured maybe he was worried he would hit a line drive back at her and injure her before the olympics or maybe it's the obvious answer and he was afraid to strike out and look bad in front of his teammates and on tv but we'll never actually know but we can still learn a lot from jenny finch's matchup between other major leaguers she's made dozens of major leaguers look silly and in my opinion proved that with the shorter distance and upward trajectory that yes making contact in softball is harder than in baseball this is why pitchers are able to put up numbers that major leaguers could not even come close to matching but does even this make hitting in softball actually harder not really because even though making contact is harder in softball hitters have a shorter distance to run to first base so feelers are forced to stand closer to the batter in order to have enough time to field and throw the hitter out meaning that in softball if you hit a weak ground ball you have a better chance of beating out the throw to first base and if you had a sharp ground ball unless it's hit directly at an infielder it has a very good chance of going into the outfield because infielders have to stand so close to the batter this is why in softball you see so many bunt and slap hitters who only goal is to make contact and are less concerned with how solid the contact is baseball players are more focused on making hard solid contact because any weak contact will be easily fielded and made into and out this is why despite the ridiculously dominant numbers put up by softball pitchers softball hitters are still able to put up averages over 400 and they end up scoring more runs so just like jenny finch joan joyce and eddie finer proved yes hitting a softball is probably harder than hitting a baseball but getting a hit in baseball is probably harder than getting a hit in softball but even this does not prove that one sport is harder than the other it just shows the distinctions in the sports and shows why when you put a baseball player against a softball pitcher they will struggle and if you put a softball hitter against a baseball pitcher they will also struggle because the facts are both sports are extremely challenging in their own unique ways

Channel: Baseball Doesn't Exist

Views: 844,286

Keywords:

Id: gYucSC8hhNU

Length: 23min 32sec (1412 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 30 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Quople]

Wouldn’t call it as easily comparable as people make it out to be, but imma watch the video

[u/Ryuuken1789]

Just finished this video. This was a great episode.

If anything, this question just needs to die and there should be more questions about the state of softball as a sport. The close proximity of the mound to plate and small dimensions of the infield promotes a really unappealing, weak contact-oriented offensive gameplan.

The dimensions of softball fields should be increased, along with the infield dimensions and distance between the mound and home plate. It'll reward great fielders more and put less burden on the hitters' hand-eye coordination.

[u/bobichetteismydaddy]

Idk just squeeze it and compare

[u/UltraFinePointMarker]

They're really two different games. You can argue that at each sport's top level, softball rewards quick reflexes and smart athleticism – while baseball relies on those to an extent, but also strength and speed.

[u/CrisisAverted24]

I'm a life long baseball fan, coach, and player, and also a guy, and I like watching college softball. At least to my eyes, its faster paced with more balls in play and less skewed towards the "three true outcomes" (walk, strikeout, or home run". In short, it's kind of what the MLB has been looking for in their recent rule changes.

[u/Leftfeet]

I'd say parts of it can be. It's different though, so harder probably isn't the right term. The pitchers are closer, and throw really hard. The infield is smaller, so fielders are closer, but the ball is softer and exit velocity is lower.

[u/successadult]

Hitting a round ball with a round bat is hard. Hoping this doesn’t devolve into a softball tiktok comment section.

[u/MatsuiPornCollection]

In High School, the varsity softball coach was also our PE teacher. He was a great coach and had a very successful program.

One day a bunch of guys on the baseball team, myself included, had this debate with a few members of the softball team in our class. In hindsight, it was less of a debate, and more of them just saying we wouldn't do as well as we were claiming. We were definitely being assholes, probably trying to flirt or something.

PE teacher said screw it, and set it up. Softball field, softball rules. We suggested we do both, he made it clear that wasn't the argument, we agreed.

One way through both orders, most runs won.

We won by a bunch, they didn't score.

[u/FunnyID]

18:05 - "...and did this while pitching to himself."

What he meant by that, I think, is Eddie Feigner (FAY-NER, not FI-NER) used to occasionally pretend to throw a pitch, and the catcher would pretend to catch it. He did it to Willie McCovey in the video. But it's not like those "pitches" counted. It was for fun.