Is Baseball A Contact Sport? (3 Contact Grades Revealed)
The debate of whether baseball is a contact sport has been going on for ages. People are saying that it most definitely isn’t a contact sport and others say that it certainly is. I can understand both viewpoints if one doesn’t know the exact answer because it could be both.
In this article, you will learn whether baseball is a contact sport, the difference between contact and non-contact sport, some examples of both, and more! Before getting ahead of myself, is baseball a contact sport?
Baseball is a limited-contact sport because it involves incidental contact instead of necessary contact. Baseball can be played without any contact; however, contact does happen. A contact sport requires physical contact to play sport.
So no, baseball isn’t a contact sport. You might experience accidental contact in baseball when running bases and touching the opponent. This amount of contact doesn’t make a sport a contact sport because you don’t require touching the opponent when running bases to play baseball.
In fact, it would be best if you didn’t touch the opponent when sliding to base because that can cause injuries for both.
To further understand why baseball isn’t a contact sport, let’s examine some definitions and differences.
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What’s the Difference Between Contact and Non-Contact Sport?
There are approximately 8000 sports globally, most of which are contact or non-contact sports. So if baseball isn’t a contact sport, but there can be occasional contact between players, what’s the difference between a contact & a non-contact sport?
Contact sports are when the participants necessarily come into bodily contact with one another, such as rugby and ice hockey. In contrast, non-contact sports in which the players don’t have any possible means of touching, such as tennis or swimming.
If you can’t play the sport without touching another, it’s a contact sport. If you don’t require any contact and there shouldn’t be any accidental contact, it’s a non-contact sport. Limited contact sports are in the middle, where it doesn’t require contact, but there may be accidental contact.
Examples of Contact, Limited-Contact & Non-Contact Sports
Now that we have all the definitions known let’s look at some contact, limited-contact, and non-contact sports. This site hosts mainly racket sports and some other sports. Thus, the majority of sports found on this site are non-contact sports.
Below you can see ten sports in all three categories.
1. Contact sports
- American football
- Boxing
- Ice hockey
- Judo
- Lacrosse
- Karate
- Cheerleading
- Wrestling
- Futsal
- Quidditch
2. Limited-contact sports
- Baseball
- Softball
- Handball
- Squash
- Floorball
- Volleyball
- Ringette
- Paintball
- Polo
- Jianzi
3. Non-contact sports
- Tennis
- Table tennis
- Badminton
- Swimming
- Bicycle riding
- Darts
- Curling
- Weight lifting
- Running
- Golf
After looking at the example sports above, you should have a very good idea about contact, limited, and non-contact sports.
What Is the Most Contact Sport?
It goes without saying that contact sports are naturally the most dangerous sports, on average. However, some non-contact sports are more dangerous than contact sports. For example, bicycle riding is more dangerous than futsal.
Still, the most dangerous sports are contact sports. This makes you wonder, which is their most contact sport?
Generally, American football or ice hockey is the most contact sport and dangerous at the same. There have been 111 high school football fatalities since 1982. In addition, approximately 15% of high school students playing ice hockey gain serious concussions yearly.
When you think about it, people dive on top of each other in football. In hockey, the people are ice skating behind the puck holder, where they are in a constant position of being tackled on the wall. The contact in these sports is constant and dangerous.
