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Social Inequalities In Baseball

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There are social inequalities within US baseball. For example, there are issues regarding players’ salaries and how much a player makes versus how much a player should make. With race, white players have always outnumbered players of color and a change is nowhere in sight. Major League Baseball has a strong stance against discrimination based on sexual orientation. They are also extremely inclusive of players who are immigrants to the United States. Although baseball tends to be a middle or upper class world, today’s players reign from 25 different countries and about one-quarter of all big leaguers are citizens of countries besides the US. One social inequality in particular is significantly outstanding compared to any other; it is the fact …show more content…
One could observe a softball or women’s baseball game and see the women field plays with the exact same intensity as in a major-league game. While playing an outfield position, a player must be able to cover ground quickly to run down flyballs. Players also must have good arm strength to throw the ball back to the infield in order to throw out a runner trying to advance on the bases. While playing an infield position, players need to have fast reflexes and reaction speed to field ground balls and line drives. One issue that infield position players face are collisions with the opposing team’s baserunners. This occurs most commonly at second base and home plate. It recently became a rule that the “take-out slide” at second base was no longer a legal play. Although it was uncommon, a runner headed towards second base would slide into the defensive player covering the base. The objective of the runner was to knock down the infielder to prevent him from recording an out. In the effort to prevent injuries, a player could be ejected from a game or suspended from future games. In a statement following the new rule, MLB said that the purpose of the rule was to penalize the offensive team for “deliberate, unwarranted, unsportsmanlike action” by the baserunner. Collisions at home plate have always been legal, but they are frowned upon more recently due to the collective desire to …show more content…
It is easy to assume that whoever hits the furthest homeruns in baseball is the best hitter. After all, a baseball game is won by scoring runs, and the easiest way to score a run is to hit a homerun. However, balance and well-rounded hitting attributes are necessary to be successful in baseball. Those hitters who commonly hit homeruns with ease are known as “power hitters” share a few common traits. These hitters may have an above average body mass and weight, but the way they approach batting is what gives them success. Power hitters use a batting stance that is very comfortable and gives them a clear eyesight at the opposing team’s pitcher. Power hitters are able to shift their weight forward as the pitch approaches, and they have control of their upper body and arms as they swing at the pitch. They have excellent bat speed, which is required to hit a baseball a long distance. This bat speed, and the angle in which the bat is swung gives the baseball a higher chance of going over the outfield fence. The faster the bat speed, the faster exit speed the ball will have. According to Alan M. Nathan of the University of Illinois who has devoted research to the physics of baseball, a high number of homeruns can mostly be accounted for a high exit speed for balls hit in the angular range of 20° - 35°, which he and many others call the "sweet spot" for homeruns. A woman with smaller stature would be

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