Which is harder (all around) baseball, soccer, or football.?

Let's split this up into categories and let's use the average Joe as the participant.

Ease of learning the sport.

#1 Baseball - Easy , hit the ball with the bat. (we'll place that skill in another category)

#2 Soccer - Easy - Advance the ball towards the opponent and kick it into the goal

#3 Football - Fair - Advance the ball by way of throwing or running with the ball into the end zone

Strategic complexity.

#1 Football - Similar to chess in that it's about trying to telegraph what the other player is going to do.

#2 Soccer - It's easier to make adjustments while the ball is in play.

#3 Baseball - Little to no strategy

Athletic skill.

#1 Baseball - Trying to hit a baseball is one of the hardest skills in sport.

#2 Football - Throwing a ball 40 yards down the field and hitting a receiver takes precision.

#3 Soccer - Kicking a ball while running is simple. (Doing it at a high level is another story)

Danger.

#1 Football - You're lucky to leave a game with just a sprain , jammed fingers or a concusion.

#2 Soccer - A kick to the shin is no fun.

#3 Baseball - Injuries are rare but they do happen.

Results:

#1 Football - Strategic complexity and danger.

#2 Soccer

#3 Baseball

If anyone thinks of another category , please add it.

First off, let me say that I am British, so I have never played what you call football. But I have played Rugby a lot.

I have played what you call soccer a lot too (obviously, being British I don't call it soccer but I will for your benefit).

I have never played Baseball, but in Britain we have a very similar, almost identical game called 'Rounders', which I have played.

With that said, I'll continue;

Harder for what?

It is clear just from looking that American Football (and Rugby) put a significant emphasis on physical impact, that immediately makes it more taxing on the joints, the muscles and the muscular endurance... The sprinting aspect is also a factor. However there is a lot of recovery time, especially in American football.

Soccer on the other hand, is not an official contact sport, very little contact at all is permitted. With that, the impact on muscles and bones is considerably smaller than American football. However, the amount of running involved is significantly greater. On average, a football (soccer) player will run (depending on position) about 7-8 miles in a match, and depending upon his position, between 1 and 2.5 of those miles will be spent sprinting, with a ball at your feet. American football is not even close in that aspect. Soccer does not require as much strength or muscular endurance (except in the legs). But you are running virtually non-stop for an hour and a half (bar the 15 minute break at half-time)... Running it at high speed, with a ball at your feet and other people trying to take it off you. The agility, reflexes and cardiovascular skill required for that is enormous. In fact, sports scientists agree that only Tennis and Basketball can compare to soccer in this respect. And even then, it's not as much running (on average).

Baseball is a lot lower tempo than the other two. There is impact from the ball hitting the bat, and swinging it, and there is the sprinting aspect of running the bases... I suppose that it's a lot easier to catch a ball 1 foot in size with you arms, or to dribble a 1 foot ball with your feet, than it is to hit a tiny ball with a bat, at very high speed.

So, impact wise - American football.

Physical endurance and agilty - Soccer.

Skill - Baseball.

@ Paul Pierce the wise - "No real game-plan"; Are you actually serious?

And guys, remember, just because you're more likely to get hurt in American football doesn't make it harder to play than the others... You're more likely to get hurt in a car crash but is it harder to drive than play any of the above mentioned sports?

No.

@ Rder 80 - Clearly you have never played Soccer if you think it is A - Easy to learn and B - Easy to run at speed with the ball, and shoot it at the goal.

I've played baseball and soccer and u definetely think soccer is. There's just so much to the game and so much you need to learn. Soccer is the sport out of those two that have to be in the best shape and be able to run for Long durations at a time. Football and baseball don't. Each sport is different but I think soccer is harder mate

football is FAR more dangerous.

baseball and soccer don't have 250-350 players running into each other at full speed,

Soccer players seem to fall down if anyone gets within 5 feet of them.

They all require a lot of talent, and I'm not dissing on any of them,

but football IS far more physical, and injury prone.

So, it depends on what your definition of "harder" is.

Baseball. There is nothing harder to do in professional sports than hit a baseball.

baseball

I'm going to the baseball section to answer this again.

Definetly soccer controlling a round ball is hard and there is no real gameplan so you gotta either be extremely skilled or extremely lucky

football because it is such a physical sport and it takes alot of work.