Editing Baseball (section)

=== Individual focus ===
[[File:Babe Ruth2.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Babe Ruth]] in 1920, the year he joined the [[New York Yankees]]]]
Although baseball is a team sport, individual players are often placed under scrutiny and pressure. While rewarding, it has sometimes been described as "ruthless" due to the pressure on the individual player.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/sports/sporting-scene/ways-to-stay-sane-in-baseball|title = Ways to Stay Sane in Baseball|magazine = [[The New Yorker]]|date = April 4, 2015}}</ref> In 1915, a baseball instructional manual pointed out that every single pitch, of which there are often more than two hundred in a game, involves an individual, one-on-one contest: "the pitcher and the batter in a battle of wits".<ref>Clarke and Dawson (1915), p. 48.</ref> Pitcher, batter, and fielder all act essentially independent of each other. While coaching staffs can signal pitcher or batter to pursue certain tactics, the execution of the play itself is a series of solitary acts. If the batter hits a line drive, the outfielder is solely responsible for deciding to try to catch it or play it on the bounce and for succeeding or failing. The [[baseball statistics|statistical precision of baseball]] is both facilitated by this isolation and reinforces it.

Cricket is more similar to baseball than many other team sports in this regard: while the individual focus in cricket is mitigated by the importance of the [[partnership (cricket)|batting partnership]] and the practicalities of tandem running, it is enhanced by the fact that a batsman may occupy the [[wicket]] for an hour or much more.<ref>{{Cite web|title=10 Cricketers who batted on all five days of a Test match|url=https://cricket.yahoo.net/news/10-cricketers-batted-five-days-184512717|access-date=September 6, 2020|website=cricket.yahoo.net}}</ref> There is no statistical equivalent in cricket for the fielding error and thus less emphasis on personal responsibility in this area of play.<ref>Morton, Richard, "Baseball in England", ''Badminton Magazine'', August 1896, pp. 157–158: "The scoring is one of the most interesting features in this new importation from America [baseball]. Every detail of play is recorded, and a man's mistakes are tabulated as well as his successes... A line in a cricket score may read, 'Lockwood, ''caught'' Stoddart, ''bowled'' J. T. Hearne; 30.'...&nbsp;[T]here is so much that is left out! There is no mention of the fact that O'Brien missed Lockwood before he had scored, and that somebody else failed to take a chance when his score was ten. These are items that go to make cricket history; but there is no record of them in the analysis... The man who catches a ball is thought worthy of mention, but the man who muffs one does not suffer by publicity."</ref>