Are baseball players the smartest athletes?

[tenkevcardinal]

I have no way to prove it, but I think baseball players might collectively be the smartest group of athletes. There are so many nuances in the game that are not controlled only by athletic ability that the mental edge is really more important in baseball than any other sport. I think tennis is probably a close second. Just wondering what other people think.

[Fritz Buelow]

Not sure you have to be smart to excel at baseball - from Rube Waddell and Joe Jackson to Rickey Henderson and Armando Beneitz.

[SmedIndy]

I think football offensive linemen have to be smart, as well as centremen in hockey.

Baseball is a simple game, really. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball.

But they don't tolerate lollygaggers!

[sweaver]

We had a thread on this a couple months back, I think. Athletes in general are not particularly bright, just physically gifted. I don't know that baseball has any more smart athletes than any other sport.

I did notice, in college, the offensive linemen tended to be the smartest football players. RBs and DBs were usually the lowest IQs.