Spending $800 to start, former baseball player Albert Spalding founded a sporting goods company on February 3, 1886. Spalding became the manufacturer of the first official baseball, and would also become the first manufacturer of the official tennis ball, basketball, golf ball, and football.
We are inclined to think that if we watch a football game or a baseball game, we have taken part in it.
~John F. Kennedy
This infographic isn’t quite baseball-specific, but I do find it interesting to see how baseball ranks among other sports in terms of the “danger factor.” Honestly, it surprises me to see hockey rank so low on these scales, but I guess they do wear quite a bit of protective gear. Fatality rates did not make it onto the graphic, but given the focus on safety in all sports, this should barely be an issue. But it still piques my interest.
I got to thinking about some basic differences in the two games for the players. Baseball players play so many games it’s impossible to get emotionally high for any one of them. Football players get all gung-ho in the locker room. . . . If a baseball player got that emotional, he’d go out swinging hard–and miss. I think baseball is more of a skill sport than any other. Hitting is the single most difficult feat in sports. Second most difficult is preventing hitting.
~Jim Bouton, Ball Four
Baseball players are smarter than football players. How often do you see a baseball team penalized for too many men on the field?
~Jim Bouton, 1988
Going out and playing football or baseball with the boys, when I was a tomboy, was a great way to learn about winning and losing, and most girls didn’t have that experience.
~Hillary Clinton
Baseball is the only game left for people. To play basketball, you have to be 7 feet 6 inches. To play football, you have to be the same width.
~Bill Veeck
Football may be the “disco beat” of modern sports, but baseball is Chopin or the mystique of Mozart. Every baseball game is new with the pristine beauty of the notes of Beethoven’s Ninth.
~Phillip Gerstle, attributed
