Hey guys! I’ve been thinking about my last blog a lot and decided I wanted to elaborate more on it! A lot of people look at softball as being the watered down girl version of baseball. I’ve actually had people tell me that! I can’t help but wonder if these people have ever actually sat down and watched softball lol! Softball and baseball are two different sports. They share some common grounds but they have several key differences. So I am going to discuss some of them and also some of the common things about them.
I’ll start with the things they have in common. Obviously the object of both games is the same. Get on base and score runs by getting a hit, being walked, or hit by a pitch. The basic rules are the same. The number of people on the field and their titles are the same. That is pretty much the extent of the similarities lol.
Now for the differences, first off for the obvious ones. The softball is much larger than the baseball. The way the ball is pitched is totally different. In baseball the ball is thrown over hand and goes from high to low. In softball the ball is thrown under hand and goes from low to high. It has been proven time and time again that despite popular belief hitting a softball is much harder than hitting a baseball because of the low to high movement and other things. As far as the pitching in baseball the pitcher is on a mound and in softball there is no mound it’s a circle. In softball, you have a pitching rubber and a pitching lane. You have to stay within the pitching lane or it’s an illegal pitch (I’ll discuss that more later). In baseball, they have just the pitching rubber. Softball bats are usually made out of composite or sometimes aluminum. Baseball bats are wooden (and break way too easily in my opinion lol). In softball the distance between the pitching circle and home plate is 43 ft. In baseball, it’s 60ft 6inches. The distance between bases is shorter. Also in softball the whole infield is dirt. In baseball, only the pitching mount and the base paths are dirt. In softball, a runner who is on base can’t leave the base before the ball leaves the pitchers hand. In baseball, the runner can leave the base at any time. In softball, if the pitchers feet are both off the ground at the same time during their delivery it’s an illegal pitch. If you replant or crow hop it’s an illegal pitch. The closest thing to that in baseball is the balk. A balk the way I understand it (and forgive me if I don’t explain it right, I grew up watching softball not baseball lol) is when the pitcher stops after he has already started his pitching motion, most of the time to check on a runner.
The bigger differences though are not about equipment, the field, the rules or anything like that. I was thinking earlier that I would love to have been able to watch baseball before the millions of dollars were in play. What I mean by that is, I would love to been able to see baseball played at its beginning when it was new and the passion and love was at its strongest. I’ll be honest I don’t much like to watch baseball. I especially don’t like to watch professional baseball. I find baseball to be a game played not for the passion or love of the game but for money. The money the players make, the money the owners make, the money the coaches make, and the money the venders make. Honestly I find professional baseball to be boring. I watched the World Series and several of the games leading up to it but the only game that really caught my attention was of course game 6 in the World Series. I saw more passion in that game then I have any baseball game I’ve ever watched. But even in that, I still didn’t feel like they were going all out. I was very confused by the fact that the Rangers had the World Series in their hands and at times flat didn’t seem to care. Twice they needed 1 strike to win it all and yet they couldn’t get it done. I watched as Nelson Cruz(anybody who knows me IRL knows I’m not a fan of his at all) made a halfhearted attempt at catching what was ultimately a game tying 2 run triple and I thought do they really want to win? It doesn’t much look like it. I knew that night the Rangers weren’t going to win this World Series and sure enough I was right. That game 7 made me sick. The Rangers never even looked like they were trying to win. They went through the motions, lost the game, and flew home to their expensive cars and million dollar homes. For them it’s just a job and another day at the office!
For softball players there is no million dollar paycheck, in fact they don’t even make a 10th of that. Most of them have other jobs during the offseason just to pay their bills. They coach, give lessons, do commentating, play in Japan and all kinds of things. For them it’s not just a job or another day in the office. It’s their love and passion! You’ll never see a game where they don’t go all out because that is their pay off. Their pay off is the feeling they have when they make that great catch, strike out that batter, or hit the game winning homerun. Their pay off is in knowing when they walk off the field they have done everything they can to help their team win. They play with a hunger! A hunger that is written all over every diving catch, strike out, double play, 2 out game winning double, and every tear they shed when despite their best efforts it is simply not enough! They run into walls, step in front of sprinting runners, take cleats to their legs, get hit with balls, they play with bruises, pulled muscles, stitches, broken bones, dislocated joints, and everything in-between. They also spend a great deal of time passing this game on and doing everything they can to help it grow. These women are all amazing roles models who spend a huge amount of time with their fans and teaching young girls the game! I think that is what makes this game so much more fun to watch for me. Because I know who those ladies are! I get to follow them on Facebook and Twitter and see the ups and downs of their lives (or at least parts of it). Softball is a game full of emotions! The games are loud and animated! The girls are always yelling and cheering each other on. They are always pumping each other up! You can always tell if the game is going well by the look on their faces! They shed a lot of tears both happy and sad! They respect the game! When they step on the field they aren’t just fighting to win that game, they are fighting for their sport (especially the NPF)! They are fighting to bring in crowds and get noticed! They truly play simply for the love of the game. It’s so pure and beautiful! When you watch a softball game you know you are watching humans, you are watching athletes!
Baseball over the years as the paychecks have gone up has lost something I think. I love to watch the Little League World Series (wish they show more of the Little League Softball World Series but that is another blog lol). I think that is the purest form of baseball being played right now! They don’t play because they get large sums of money; they play because it is fun and they love the game. They play with emotion and an extremely strong drive to win! But somewhere along the way that is lost. It’s buried under dollars signs, expensive cars, big houses, and fame! Baseball at the professional level in general in my opinion is an emotionless game. It’s like watching a bunch of robots play a game. As game 7 wrapped up that night I remember watch both teams and thinking what just happened? The Rangers players, coaches, and manager looked really indifferent about losing. The Cardinals did dog pile and show a little more emotion. But when they were interviewing Freese after they announced he was the MVP he seemed like it was more of a hassle than an honor. He just won the World Series, was named MVP, and given the keys to a brand new car and he barley even cracked a smile. He looked bored at times during the interview. I’m by no means saying all the players play with no emotion and don’t care if they win or lose. I’m also not saying softball is perfect! I’m just saying baseball could learn somethings from softball! Some of those big name baseball players, could really get a good lesson from the lesser known softball players like Caitlin Lowe(who would have totally ran into the wall and done everything she could have to catch that ball Nelly Cruz only half way tried to catch! Don’t believe me, search her name on Youtube and there is a video of her doing just that and breaking her nose. She came back and played the next day!), Jessica Mendoza(I’ve seen this woman take out outfield fences, 1st basemen, and I saw her put a lick on a catcher that made my bones hurt!), Danielle Lawrie (In 2009, she carried her team at the University of Washington on her shoulders and took them on to win the Women’s College World Series. What nobody outside the team knew was she did all of that with a stress fracture in her wrist on her pitching arm that normally would have meant her sitting out the whole season!), Cat Osterman (During worlds in 2010 she went down with arm injury to her pitching arm. A lot of people thought she’d never pitch again. But she proved them all wrong and pitched in Japan for 3 months and for the Pride during the NPF season. Unfortunately her injury reappeared during the championship series at the end of the season and things are again up in the air for her. But if anybody can come back again it’s Cat!), and so many more! I could go on and on! These women don’t just want to win, they hunger for it! I think baseball needs to get back to its’ roots. Maybe they all need to go watch the Little League World Series or go watch some softball because a lot of them seem to have forgotten what it feels like to truly hunger to win and be on fire for your sport!
These ladies are truly some of the hardest working people I know! They take care of their bodies and keep in shape better than anybody I know! This game runs so deep for all of them and their passion and love for it, is always on display! But also when their playing days are done no matter how much they’ve done or how great their career was a part of them dies and it is emotional and hard. I remember watching 2008 Olympics and watching those women who were retiring laying their cleans down at homeplate and tears just streaming down my face because there was so much emotion in that one gesture! It was a moment in softball history that I don’t think any true softball fans will forget. It symbolized not just those players leaving the sport but the sport being pushed out the Olympics. It is funny to me though to look back at that and see how many of those women actually came out of retirement! It’s a hard sport to walk away from!
The main difference in softball and baseball is softball is still fighting to be noticed and fighting to be given a chance. Baseball is established and loved by millions. But softball like every other women’s sport has to do 4 or 5 times as much as men’s sports to get the respect it deserves. I think baseball players need to open their eyes and look around and see how lucky they truly are! Because I know a group of women who work way harder, give up way more, and get back far less than they do! I know a group of women who would love for their sport to have half of what their sport does! If they don’t want to get out there and play game with 100% of their heart, they shouldn’t be out there at all! I think they need a lesson in hard work, passion, and hunger because the baseball I saw played this season was robotic. The baseball I saw in this season left me wondering if the game is so boring to those players why are they out there? Maybe the MLB needs to cut some salaries and bring these guys back to earth. I don’t know but what I saw this season was inexcusable! So to baseball players out there I say come on guys!! Get back to the heart of your sport and remember why you fell in love with it in the first place!
Alright I am done now lol! Sorry for getting on my soap box! I hope you enjoyed what I had to say! If you have any thoughts feel free to say something!
I can’t wait for college ball to start in the Spring! OU beat the NPF All Stars last night and something tells me this is the start of something really good for them! Let’s go Dawgs, Boomer Sooner, and RTR Go Bama!!
