As my friend and I were tossing around a baseball this weekend, I got to thinking. Do they play catch in other countries, where there is no cultural throwing/catching game like baseball?
I’d imagine that in cricket playing countries there is some catch, but I’d be surprised to see a game of catch going on in, say, the Netherlands.
As an added question, does this presumed lack of practice make Europeans just generally poorer throwers and catchers? “Toss me my keys,” water balloon fights, and such would seem to be a much less successful idea if there’s no inherent childhood catching/throwing game. I know most Europeans can dribble circles around me with a soccer ball, so I’d assume that the reverse would be true, too.
I have some anecdotal evidence for the lack of throwing skills in non-baseball nations. Aren’t you just thrilled?
When the US sent troops over to Europe for WWI, the French units they hooked up with took to orienting our boys in the fine art of modern warfare. We have films of these activities, though I don’t remember where I saw them – probably on the History Channel. This included lobbing grenades. The French did this in a 4-step fashion:
Step 1: Both hands out in front of you, throwing arm grasping the grenade, off hand grasping pin.
Step 2: Pull pin out of grenade.
Step 3: Rotate your entire throwing arm rearward at the shoulder, as though you have no elbow.
Step 4: Lob grenade towards enemy by reversing step 3 quickly, making sure you let go before your’re done.
The French method worked, more or less. The US troops had their own method though:
Step 1: Just yank the damn pin out of the friggin’ grenade already.
Step 2: Throw said grenade like it was a baseball, toward the enemy.
Step 3: Watch the silly Frogs next to you gape in amazement at the incredible distance you achieve with your throw.
The question assumes that there are countries where kids don’t play throwing/catching games. Are there? The absence of adults playing the game doesn’t tell you much. Consider how much dodgeball and kickball is played in American school gym classes and playgrounds… but when’s the last time you saw a group of adults play either? Similarly, Norwegians have their slåball (a.k.a. brennball), which is a catch-and-throw, ball-and-bat game. Played with a cricket-type bat that is held up near the shoulder baseball-style. Hey, I just live here. Anyway, kids play it, it’s a staple of school gym classes and military physical training. But rarely do civilian adults play anything like it, so visitors don’t often see it.
sheesh of course we throw the old ball. It’s just not a baseball. and we don’t use those ugly mits either. Ever tried trowing a tennisball? just as effective, and you get the added bonus of aiming at the other guy’s head without having to rush to the hospital every time the other guy forgets to duck.
The analogy to “playing catch” in most countries is kicking a soccer ball around. This is what you most often see people do in parks, at picnics, or out with the kid. You do occasionally see people with frisbees.
As to whether this makes Americans better at throwing, my answer would be “mostly”. However, the rest of the world is getting very big into basketball and as you may have noticed in the Olympics, the gap is quite narrow for some countries there. Also very popular in Europe, but pretty much unknown in the USA, is team handball, which involves running and throwing a small ball, about the size of a number 3 soccer ball.
Doubtless you are also aware that, depending on how you define old country, e.g., outside of Europe, there are some pretty good ballplayers that come from places outside of the US (Sosa, Park, Suzuki, etc)
