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See Also: Baseball vs. Other Sports

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March 17, 2004

CLASS OF THE FIELDS

If you gather a hundred sports fans, you could get a hundred different opinions on which sport is the best. Though we've contrasted baseball with other sports, we make no effort to decide which is best (and because you're reading Baseball America, we suspect we already know your opinion anyway). But we did think it would be interesting to decide which sports do different aspects of the sports business best. We came up with 30 different aspects of the sporting life, and these are our calls on who does each the best. We recognize our baseball bias, but we tried our best to be objective.

AFFORDABILITY: Baseball

Part of it is the availability of so many more games, but between minor and major league baseball you can have a night out without a second mortgage.

ALL-STAR GAME: Baseball

The only all-star game where the players appear to care and replicate the actual sport they play, it counted even before the contrived home-field chit.

BEST TO PLAY: Baseball

Not from a "how much fun" perspective, but looking at it as a career: Baseball has the least impact on your body, pays well and you can play it for years.

BOOKS AND MOVIES: Baseball

Something about baseball lends itself to storytelling, and no other sport is even close, "The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh" notwithstanding.

CHAMPIONSHIP: Football

It's not always the best for drama or competition, but the Super Bowl is the only sporting event that has become a happening for the entire nation, fan or not.

COMMISSIONER: Basketball

With respect to Paul Tagilabue, David Stern is the Pete Rozelle of the NBA and took the sport from a scandal-ridden cesspool to a true national sport.

COMPETITIVE BALANCE: Football

You can argue whether it's too much of a good thing, but you can't argue that football isn't doing all it can to give every team a chance.

DRAFT: Football

The NFL draft has become almost as overhyped as the Super Bowl, but just imagine what baseball could do with a similar effort.

FAMILY APPEAL: Baseball

In addition to being the most affordable night out for the family, summer nights out and being in ballparks lend themselves more to families than other sports.

FANTASY: Baseball

Football is more popular now and is a close second, but baseball stats and the addition of new stats every day make it a more compelling competition.

FEEDER SYSTEM: Football

Not only does the NFL get players who are immediately ready to play, but college football means many of the players are household names already.

FREE AGENCY: Basketball

The Larry Bird rule that gives NBA teams the right to match deals in order to keep their stars gives basketball the advantage.

GAMBLING: Football

Not talked about very often, but clearly one of the main reasons for football's growth; it's almost perfectly suited to weekly wagering.

INTERNATIONAL GROWTH: Hockey

No league has done a better job of integrating players from so many different nations, and Olympic and World Cup appearances have also helped.

LABOR RELATIONS: Football

From an ownership perspective, any industry would like to have its labor union be as much of a lapdog. Its players need the best advocacy and get the worst.

LABOR UNION: Baseball

From its very genesis, the MLB Players Association has won huge gains for its members and has unparalleled power and influence in its sport.

LEADERSHIP: Football

The NFL always acts as a single entity and rarely makes a misstep, from the way teams share everything to the way it acts on issues before they blow up.

MARKETING STARS: Basketball

The NBA probably went too far in its glorification of the individual during the Michael Jordan era, but who can blame them?

OFFICIATING: Baseball

Officials in any sport get criticized by the very nature of their jobs, but baseball umpires do the best job of not interfering in the progression of the game.

PARTICIPATION: Basketball

All you need is a flat spot of ground, a hoop and a ball. You can even play by yourself in a pinch.

RADIO: Baseball

Summer nights are perfectly suited to the sounds and pace of the game, and in the hands of a skillful announcer it's simply a beautiful thing.

SPONSORSHIP: Racing

From the corporate-name races to the string of products that drivers spit out on command, no other sport integrates its sponsors like NASCAR.

SUBSTANCE-ABUSE POLICY: Football

Every sport has dealt with outbreaks of drug scandal, but football has done the best job of stomping them out.

TELEVISION: Football

The medium and the game have benefited each other, and football is the only sport still viewed as a surefire ratings winner by advertisers.

TRADES: Baseball

Even with unbalanced veterans-for-prospects deals, baseball trades are the most interesting and the subject of more speculation and analysis.

VENUES: Baseball

Nothing else comes close to the individual appeal of a ballpark. Each one has a different feel, while in every other sport they all start to look alike.

VERNACULAR: Baseball

From "making a pitch" to a potential customer to "getting to second base" with your girlfriend, baseball is inextricably woven into our culture.

VIDEO GAMES: Hockey

Again, football is the biggest but not the best. No other sport lends itself better to fun right out of the box and fast-paced, up and down action.

WOMEN APPEAL: Basketball

Thanks to major marketing pushes for both the WNBA and women's college hoops, the sport has added fans and participants.

YOUTH APPEAL: Basketball

Basketball does the best job of marketing individual, young stars, and it's also the easiest sport for kids to put together a neighborhood pickup game.