MLB

galleryTitle description galleryUrl thumbnail
Dodger Stadium 50th anniversary Look back on the history of Dodger Stadium as it turns 50. /mlb/lists/Dodger-Stadium-50th-anniversary-contruction-pictures-020912 http://static.foxsports.com/content/fscom/img/2012/02/08/dodgerstadium_2012020820313888_136_102.JPG
Baseball's best announcers /mlb/lists/best-announcers-in-baseball-050510 http://static.foxsports.com/content/fscom/img/2010/05/06/730_20100506002849_136_102.JPG
The most-hated people in sports Tiger Woods, Michael Vick and Alex Rodriguez have company on the list of the most-hated people in sports. /mlb/lists/The_most_hated_people_in_sports http://static.foxsports.com/content/fscom/img/2012/02/08/020812-NFL-Philadelphia-Eagles-Michael-Vick-PI_20120208155144677_136_102.JPG
Best bad excuses in sports Best bad excuses /nfl/lists/Best_bad_excuses http://static.foxsports.com/content/fscom/img/2010/08/09/texans-cushing-pi_20100809145051_136_102.JPG
categoryName categoryId galleryId galleryTitle mediaId imageTitle league description shortDescription attribution large thumbnail
MLB 49 43 9 reasons baseball is better than football 11018601 For the love of the game MLB One of the great truths of life is that baseball is better than football.

Disagree? If so, then ask yourself: Besides being wrong about this, why do you also hate puppies, grandmas, children and freedom?

Provided you are sufficiently chastened, let us, in the dual interests of reaffirmation and reeducation, remind ourselves why baseball is indeed better than football. With a nod to the baseball significance of the number nine, here are nine reasons why this is undeniably so …
 Al Bello - Getty Images http://static.foxsports.com/content/fscom/img/2010/03/08/030710-MLB-Dayn-JW_20100308195644_600_400.JPG http://static.foxsports.com/content/fscom/img/2010/03/08/030710-MLB-Dayn-JW_20100308195644_107_80.JPG
MLB 49 43 9 reasons baseball is better than football 11018483 History MLB Baseball has a stronger historical resonance than football does. Jackie Robinson as the image of valor, Babe Ruth as the symbol of American possibility, Mickey Mantle as the quintessence of boyish zeal, Roberto Clemente as an icon of furious pride. It was baseball — not football — that ferried our nation through two World Wars and the Great Depression, and it's baseball that has a more prominent place in the American narrative.
 STR/AFP - Getty Images http://static.foxsports.com/content/fscom/img/2010/03/08/030810-MLB-Dayn-Gallery4-JW_20100308195531_600_400.JPG http://static.foxsports.com/content/fscom/img/2010/03/08/030810-MLB-Dayn-Gallery4-JW_20100308195531_70_70.JPG
MLB 49 43 9 reasons baseball is better than football 11018568 Parity MLB For all the meowing about baseball's competitive-balance "problems," it's worth noting that MLB gives a fairer shake than the NFL. Over the past 10 seasons, the NFL has produced seven different champions and 14 different Super Bowl participants. Over that same span, MLB has churned out eight different champions and 14 different World Series participants.

Now consider the structural differences: If MLB, like the NFL, let a larger percentage of its teams into the playoffs, used a one-game postseason format, played a vastly smaller sample of regular-season games, gave teams a week between games to scout and game-plan the opposition and rigged the schedule to benefit weaker teams, then there would be no comparison in terms of parity.
 LEE CELANO/AFP - Getty Images http://static.foxsports.com/content/fscom/img/2010/03/08/030810-MLB-Dayn-Gallery7-JW_20100308195504_600_400.JPG http://static.foxsports.com/content/fscom/img/2010/03/08/030810-MLB-Dayn-Gallery7-JW_20100308195504_70_70.JPG
MLB 49 43 9 reasons baseball is better than football 11018580 The in-person experience MLB Honestly: Lambeau in November or Wrigley in June? Advantage the latter, and it's not a particularly close call. Football, by choice, is played in the cold — or at least the gathering cold — but baseball is the sport of spring and summer. At a baseball game, the beer refreshes you. At many a football game, the beer contributes to your mounting hypothermia.

As for the venues, there's a sameness to football stadiums that extends beyond the uniform dimensions of the playing field. Ballparks, in contrast, are part of the experience. There's Wrigley and Fenway as portals back in time. There's PNC and Camden Yards and many others for those who like architectural beauty mixed with modern comforts. Each ballpark has a personality and a story.
 Scott Olson - Getty Images http://static.foxsports.com/content/fscom/img/2010/03/08/030810-MLB-Dayn-Gallery1-JW_20100308195503_600_400.JPG http://static.foxsports.com/content/fscom/img/2010/03/08/030810-MLB-Dayn-Gallery1-JW_20100308195503_70_70.JPG
MLB 49 43 9 reasons baseball is better than football 11018482 Action MLB An all-too-common refrain among some sports fans who — pity them — don't know better is that baseball is boring. Those fans may be surprised to learn that the average NFL game serves up a mere 11 minutes of, you know, actual football. As the Wall Street Journal discovered, viewers of an NFL game spend a whopping 67 minutes feasting their eyes upon … "players standing around." Of course, any sport with a halftime is fundamentally flawed to begin with.

Complain all you want about pitchers stalling on the mound or batters stepping out of the box to check the sign, admire the grain of bat or undertake crotch modifications, but baseball has no halftime and certainly delivers more than 11 minutes of product.
 Jed Jacobsohn - Getty Images http://static.foxsports.com/content/fscom/img/2010/03/08/030810-MLB-Dayn-Gallery6-JW_20100308195504_600_400.JPG http://static.foxsports.com/content/fscom/img/2010/03/08/030810-MLB-Dayn-Gallery6-JW_20100308195504_70_70.JPG
MLB 49 43 9 reasons baseball is better than football 11018330 The morality of the system MLB The NFL has a salary cap, which is nothing more than a mechanism to protect the owners' profits. And, despite the violence of the sport, they don't hand out guaranteed contracts. Players are expected to honor the contracts they sign, but teams cast players aside when they become less than useful.

The NFL is a game of dangerous attrition, and former players face post-concussion maladies (including mental disorders), limited mobility, constant pain, infirmity and perhaps early death. And that's to say nothing of the ongoing neglect of its retirees. The NFL views its players as faceless automatons — functionaries to be plugged in, used up and replaced. That mentality makes Florida State's Myron Rolle undesirable because he had the temerity to become a Rhodes Scholar.

Because baseball has a strong union and is demonstrably less harmful to participants (Jamie Moyer, pictured, still plays at 47), there are no such hang-ups.
J. Meric - Getty Images http://static.foxsports.com/content/fscom/img/2010/03/08/030810-MLB-Dayn-Gallery9-JW_20100308195517_600_400.JPG http://static.foxsports.com/content/fscom/img/2010/03/08/030810-MLB-Dayn-Gallery9-JW_20100308195517_70_70.JPG
MLB 49 43 9 reasons baseball is better than football 11018567 Skills MLB Back in the days of Grange and Nagurski, this would've been a debatable point, but in the modern era no pro football player plays both ways on a regular basis. In baseball, every starter save the DH and pitcher in the AL must hit and field his position. We're lucky to be able to see guys like Ichiro and Chase Utley (pictured) wield the bat and the glove. And doing both with proficiency is perhaps the most impressive feat in all of sports. After all, even the otherwise great Michael Jordan was lousy at baseball.

 Jed Jacobsohn and Nick Laham - Getty Images http://static.foxsports.com/content/fscom/img/2010/03/08/030810-MLB-Dayn-Gallery3-JW_20100308195504_600_400.JPG http://static.foxsports.com/content/fscom/img/2010/03/08/030810-MLB-Dayn-Gallery3-JW_20100308195504_70_70.JPG
MLB 49 43 9 reasons baseball is better than football 11018331 Cost MLB Crusty scribes love to rouse the rabble over the price of going to a baseball game. And, yes, if you're hellbent on eating a seven-course meal at the park and buying every kid within eyeshot a souvenir, then you're going to pay dearly at any sporting event. But when you look at ticket price, baseball is the clear winner. The price of the average NFL ticket last season? $75. The price of the average MLB ticket last season? $26.74.

Heck, last season the average NFL ticket was more expensive than the average Yankees ticket.
Stephen Dunn - Getty Images http://static.foxsports.com/content/fscom/img/2010/03/08/030810-MLB-Dayn-Gallery8-JW_20100308195517_600_400.JPG http://static.foxsports.com/content/fscom/img/2010/03/08/030810-MLB-Dayn-Gallery8-JW_20100308195517_70_70.JPG
MLB 49 43 9 reasons baseball is better than football 11018481 Literature MLB Baseball has Roger Kahn, Leonard Koppett, Roger Angell, David Halberstam, Jules Tygiel, Robert W. Creamer, Bill James, Peter Golenbock, Rob Neyer and Thomas Boswell (among many others) within its literary stable. Accordingly, there's just nothing in the football canon that compares to towering works like The Boys of Summer, Summer of '49, Bums, Baseball's Great Experiment and so many others. It's called the thinking person's sport for a reason.

 Unknown - Special to FOXSports.com http://static.foxsports.com/content/fscom/img/2010/03/08/030810-MLB-Dayn-Gallery5-JW_20100308195504_600_400.JPG http://static.foxsports.com/content/fscom/img/2010/03/08/030810-MLB-Dayn-Gallery5-JW_20100308195504_70_70.JPG
MLB 49 43 9 reasons baseball is better than football 11018566 Albert Pujols MLB This one's simple enough: Baseball has Albert Pujols, and football doesn't.
Dilip Vishwanat - Getty Images http://static.foxsports.com/content/fscom/img/2010/03/08/030810-MLB-Dayn-Gallery2-JW_20100308195503_600_400.JPG http://static.foxsports.com/content/fscom/img/2010/03/08/030810-MLB-Dayn-Gallery2-JW_20100308195503_70_70.JPG
EndCap Fox Sports Video and Photo Gallery
thumbnail galleryTitle shortDescription longDescription blurb galUpdated pageNumber totalPages galleryUrl
http://static.foxsports.com/content/fscom/img/2012/02/08/dodgerstadium_2012020820313888_136_102.JPG Dodger Stadium 50th anniversary Look back on the history of Dodger Stadium as... Look back on the history of Dodger Stadium as it turns 50. Dodger Stadium is turning 50. Look back on its history. Feb 9, 2012 6:54 PM ET 1 41 /mlb/lists/Dodger-Stadium-50th-anniversary-contruction-pictures-020912
http://static.foxsports.com/content/fscom/img/2010/05/06/730_20100506002849_136_102.JPG Baseball's best announcers These announcers' voices and catchphrases are as memorable as the plays they call. Feb 9, 2012 2:14 PM ET 1 41 /mlb/lists/best-announcers-in-baseball-050510
http://static.foxsports.com/content/fscom/img/2012/02/08/020812-NFL-Philadelphia-Eagles-Michael-Vick-PI_20120208155144677_136_102.JPG The most-hated people in sports Tiger Woods, Michael Vick and Alex Rodriguez... Tiger Woods, Michael Vick and Alex Rodriguez have company on the list of the most-hated people in sports. Tiger Woods, Michael Vick and Alex Rodriguez have company on the list of the most-hated people in sports. Feb 9, 2012 2:13 PM ET 1 41 /mlb/lists/The_most_hated_people_in_sports
http://static.foxsports.com/content/fscom/img/2010/08/09/texans-cushing-pi_20100809145051_136_102.JPG Best bad excuses in sports Best bad excuses Best bad excuses Brian Cushing's defense for his positive drug test is just one of many bad athlete excuses. Feb 6, 2012 5:03 PM ET 1 41 /nfl/lists/Best_bad_excuses
Microsoft© 2012 Microsoft