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Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight
your players don't go to the physical extremes that professional athletes go to.
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This is true, but they are not nearly as skilled. Less skill in a sport equates to a greater chance of injury. HS players do not have the medical attention or personal trainers that the pros do (with exception - we have a kid being recruited by many DI schools and he works with professional trainers). Also, skills levels vary from player to player far more at the highschool level than at the professional level, and that variance contributes to possible injury as well.
Baseball isn't that physically demanding. This is why they can play 162 games (or whatever it is) in six months. Football players play 16 in four months. This is because of the physical demands of the sport. Basketball you get 82 in 5 months. Playing 3 nights in a row is considered very extreme in professional basketball. Baseball teams go 9 or 10 in a row between days off? And in terms of starting and stopping - I'd say football is more extreme than any other sport. Dead stop to full speed in a few steps (for skill positions), often times coming to a dead stop instantly when running into a 300 lb lineman or a 260 lb linebacker.
Also, changes of direction at speed put far more stress on the muscles, joints, and bones than starting or stopping. There are not a lot of requirements for changes of direction in baseball at a high speed, but in football, basketball, and hockey, they happen all the time.
Now, the coordination and reflexes required in baseball are amazing - more so than any other sport with the exception of perhaps tennis. But the physical demands? I don't buy it.