Quote:
Originally Posted by kyleb
But the real question is: Why don't you just play baseball instead of fast-pitch softball and whiffleball?
There's a few reasons. The first is, while Justin Verlander may not be a good wiffleball pitcher and Albert Pujols may not be able to hit my wiffleball sinker consistently, that doesn't mean he wouldn't be able to hit my sinker with a hardball
Obv hyperbole, but the point is all those games while similar in design and concept are pretty different wrt skillsets that excel at them. I played hardball most of my life. I was always good, not amazing. I was never a great hardball pitcher even though I did pitch for awhile. Played left and right mostly in HS, led teams in OBP and no scout ever gave a **** (probably why I always contend that getting a hit takes more skill than drawing a walk). But, was never as good at hardball as I was at wiffleball, plain and simple.
Apart from that, I just enjoy wiffleball more. At this point in my life, the dream of becoming CF for the Yankees is long over, so I don't feel the need to play hardball anymore. There are some local men's leagues I could get in, my friend plays for a team and they could use another OF and they ask me all the time, but it's a pretty serious commitment time wise and I guess I don't see the point in it. Softball and wiffleball are much less time consuming and suit me well.
An interesting story as kind of a sidebar to the first paragraph. I also play stickball sometimes, but not competitively of course but just for fun with friends (I wonder how many ppl even play stickball anymore lol). A friend of mine is a terrific stickball pitcher, and can throw a tennis ball very hard. Having played pickup baseball games with him my whole life, I never remembered thinking he could throw a hardball that fast. We had an experiment, getting some accurate radar guns and had him throw both. Indeed, he can throw a tennis ball considerably harder than he can throw a hardball. I have never met anyone else who could say the same, so it's kind of a weird thing I guess. But the idea is skills don't necessarily translate across different baseball derivatives.