The ability to run, jump and throw is required for both baseball and football, but the similarities do not extend much further. Baseball requires patience and careful strategy whereas football is an extremely physical sport that requires great strength and speed. Baseball and football have different rules and slightly different energy requirements.
Energy
Baseball is an anaerobic sport. Baseball players primarily use phosphagen to provide energy. Oxygen is not as heavily relied upon as it is in aerobic sports. The phosphagen system provides energy for activities up to 30 seconds. Football also uses the phosphagen system. Players who use this energy system include offensive and defensive lineman. However, football players also heavily use the glycolytic energy system that is responsible for moderate to high intensity activity between 30 seconds and two minutes.
Offensive Play
Unlike football, the only time that a team can score in baseball is when it is on offense. Baseball players attempt to reach base and advance the runners home. Baseball players may attempt to bunt or hit a sacrifice fly to move the runners. The maximum number of runs scored on a baseball play is four. A four-run play is most common on a grand slam. Football players can score a maximum of six points on one play. Offensive touchdowns can be scored by running the ball into the end zone or catching the ball inside it. The offensive team keeps possession of the ball as long as it can move the ball at least 10 yards up the field in four attempts. Football teams can also only score once on a possession. There is no limit to the number of runs scored in a baseball inning. Possesion changes in football if the ball is intercepted, a fumble is recovered by the defense or the offense fails to reach first down yardage in four tries. In baseball, the offensive series only ends when three outs are recorded by the defensive team.
Defensive Play
The major difference between defense in football and defense in baseball is that the defense in baseball controls the ball. Baseball has nine positions whereas football has 11. Baseball players must retire three batters by catching the ball, tagging a player with it or touching a base at which a force out is present. The pitcher can register three strikes against the batter to record an out. Offensive players are stopped in football by tackling them to the ground or knocking the ball away. The defense can score points in football by returning an interception or fumble to the end zone. Baseball, with the exception of runner interference, has no defensive fouls. Football has several fouls including pass interference, roughing the passer and offside. Football features hard-hitting physical play on every sequence. The only time a physical collision is permitted in professional baseball is when a baserunner runs into the catcher to force the ball loose in a play at the plate.
Fun Facts
Although the sports are quite different, a handful of athletes have excelled at both sports professionally. Deion Sanders and Bo Jackson both starred in professional baseball and professional football for multiple seasons in the 1980s and 1990s. Sanders won two Super Bowl titles in the NFL and won the 1994 Defensive Player of the Year award playing cornerback for the San Francisco 49ers. He also played for the 1992 National League champion Atlanta Braves and led the MLB in triples that season. Jackson won the Heisman Trophy as a running back for Auburn University and finished the 1989 NFL season with 950 rushing yards for the Los Angeles Raiders. His best season in the MLB also came in 1989. Jackson finished the year with 32 home runs and 105 runs batted in, both career highs, for the Kansay City Royals.
References
- Pro-Football-Reference: Deion Sanders
- The American Sports Medicine Institute: Anaerobic Training
- BaseballTips.com; Training Differences of Baseball Players vs. Other Athletes;
- Physiqology: The Role of Energy Systems in Determining Loading Parameters For Goal-Oriented Exercise
- Baseball-Reference: Bo Jackson
- Pro-Football-Reference: Bo Jackson
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