About Baseball
Baseball is a team sport played with a bat and a ball between two teams in a diamond-shaped field having four bases. Team has nine players and is played over nine innings during which each team gets their turn to bat or field.
The game is controlled, by four umpires but may go up to six depending upon the importance of the game. The team with most runs after nine innings is declared, as the winner. If a team is ahead after the top of the ninth innings, then the play stops and the team is declared, as the winner.
This game has its root in Britain, but with the migration of British people to North America increased its popularity in Canada. Later this game gained popularity in the United States of America.
The popularity of this game gained momentum and Baseball has become an international sport with many countries having their domestic leagues and is watched over by millions of people worldwide.
This sport and its rules is governed by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC). But it needs to be mentioned that baseball rules governing the national leagues of America, Canada or Japan are slightly modified version of the official rules.
Baseball Olympic 2020 logo : 
History
Baseball can be tracked down to 1749 where the prince of Surrey played as a player in one of the matches in Britain. Later with time, this game became popular amongst British settlers in North America. The first officially recorded Baseball game was played in Ontario, Canada in 4th June 1838.
In mid-1850s America was hit by a craze for this game. It became so popular amongst people and journalists that they started referring to it as their national game.
The national league was formed in 1876, by 1893 all the modern rules governing this sport were in place, later renamed as American National League that governs this sport in America.
With an increase in its popularity, this sport got internationalized. Many countries started playing this game. They evolved their national leagues that cater to organizing this sport.
Baseball was admitted in Olympics in 1992 but dropped from 2012 Olympics game due to the reluctance by the major clubs across the world not allowing their players to participate in any other competition during their playing season. Only men participate in the baseball Olympic event.
Objective
Baseball is played between two teams having nine players each. The objective of this game is to score the maximum number of runs by a team in nine innings, thus beating the opponent team. An innings gets completed when each team completes one turn in field and bat.
The team batting is often called as the offensive team because their objective is to score the maximum number of runs. The fielding team is often called as the defensive team; their goal is to prevent the batting team from scoring runs and make them out with the smallest possible score.
About Baseball Field
The Baseball field has three bases along with the home base. Each base is placed at the corners of a rhombus with an equal dimension of ninety ft. The base at which the batter stands is called as the home base. Other bases are counted counter-clockwise as the first base, second base and the third base.
These bases are made up of rubber that is square and have a dimension of fifteen inches except the home base. The home base is a pentagon-shaped base made of rubber and has a dimension of seventeen inches.
Adjacent to this home plate two parallel boxes either side of the home plate for the batter to stand they are four feet wide and six feet long. In the middle of the square is the pitcher’s circle where the pitcher stands.
The circle also has a rubber plate known as the pitcher’s plate with the dimension of sixty-one cm by fifteen cm. The two lines from the home plate marking the rhombus are extended further to demarcate the foul lines.
The area lying away from these foul-lines is called a foul territory, while the area that falls within the foul-lines is called fair territory. The fence of the Baseball field measures at 420 ft from the home plate.
Equipments
Baseball Bat: The Baseball bat is like a club, made of either wood or metal. They are strong and used to strike the ball thrown by the pitcher. The bat can measure to seven cm in diameter at the thickest part and can measure forty-two inches in length.
Ball: Baseball is made from hard material like cork surrounded by leather that is white with red stitches. They are nine inches in circumference. The ball is thrown to the batter by the pitcher.
Baseball Glove: They are made of leather and padded with a soft material and have webbings. A single glove is used by each player of the fielding team to catch the ball either hit by the batter or thrown towards them by another fielder. They are usually worn at the lesser-used hand by the fielder so that they can quickly grab the ball and make a throw using their frequently used hand.
Helmets and Guards: Helmets are made standard equipment for batters to keep them protected. A face crash guard is worn by the catcher along with the helmet as well as the home umpire to prevent injuries to their face from the ball. Fielders also wear baseball caps with the team’s logo. Batters may wear elbow guard to protect their elbow.
Fielding Positions
There are nine players in a baseball team and assigned to fixed designated positions based on their expertise.
Pitcher: The role of the pitcher is to throw the ball across the strike area located between the knees and mid-point of their torso. The pitcher tries to fool the batter with the speed of the ball or the throwing angle so that the batter misses the strike.
Catcher: The catcher is crouched behind the back of the batter collecting the balls that were missed by the batter. The catcher is also the one who guards the home base in case of a run. The catcher also directs the pitcher with various hand signals where to pitch the ball to avoid a strike.
Infielders: There are three infielders each guarding their respective bases. A short-stopper fielder positioned between the second and the third bases. This is an important fielding position and only agile fielder is positioned there.
Outfielders: There are three outfielders on the left, right and centre. They guard the boundaries and collect and return the balls to the bases that go into the outfield. They are also good catchers of a high ball and play an important part in making the batsman out.
Batting Team
- The goal of the batting team is to score more points in an innings.
- If the batter hits the ball high in the air, then it is called a fly ball, if the fielding team player catches the ball before falling on the ground the batter is out.
- The batter always drops the bat before running to the first base. If the batter hits the ball and the ball touches the bat it is called a dead ball.
- When the ball falls between the infielders and outfielders then it is called a blooper.
- When the ball touches the batters clothes, then the umpire declares hit by a pitch, after deciding whether the ball was in the striking zone, in that case, the batter is awarded a run and he walks to the next base.
- When the batter misses three balls that are within the strike area it is declared as out if the catcher catches all of them.
- When the catcher drops the third strike, the batter is permitted to attempt to advance to first base if there are two outs in the inning or if it is unoccupied. The catcher can try to get the batter out by tagging him with the ball or throwing the ball to first base to put him out.
- When the batter hits the ball outside the foul line then it is called a fouled ball. If a batter had already missed two-strike balls, he cannot be declared out after playing a ball to the foul area.
- When the ball is unhittable or outside the strike area it is called a ball by the umpire. If the pitcher throws four such balls to the batter, he can advance for a free walk to the next base.
- Batter and all the base runners need to reach the next base and touch the base pad before the ball reaches the fielder guarding the bases.
- Two runners may not occupy a base, but if, while the ball is alive, two runners are touching a base, and the following runner shall be out when tagged. The preceding runner is entitled to the base.
- When the runner is touched by a fair ball in fair territory before the ball has touched or passed an infielder. The ball is dead and no runner may score, nor runners advance.
Fielding Team
- The goal of the fielding team is to restrict the batting team to score as many runs and also to make the batter out.
- Making three batters out of the batting team ends an innings for the batting team and the fielding team bats.
- Batter is not able to hit three strike balls that are caught by the catcher.
- After hitting the ball the batter is tagged by the fielder. Tagging is the situation when the fielder in the base firmly holds the ball and touches the base pad before the runner reaches the base or touches the runner with ball in one of his hands before the runner reaches his base.
- During running or sliding for home base, player fails to touch home base and makes no attempt to return to the base, when a fielder holds the ball in his hand, while touching home base, and can appeal to the umpire for the decision.
- The pitcher should touch the pitcher pad with one foot and should only throw the ball to the batter when the batter faces the pitcher.
Scoring
- When the batter hits the ball within the fair territory and away from a fielder he takes off to take a run. He throws his bat and tries to reach the first base; the player in the first base tries to run to the second base and so on. On successful completion, a point is scored by the batting team.
- When a batter hit the ball far enough from the fielder he can run to the second base after touching the first base rubber. Thus gaining two points, likewise, if the batter reaches the third base before the ball if fielded and returned by the fielder three points get scored.
- If the batter reaches back to the home base before the ball being returned by the fielding team then four points are scored and called the home run.
- When the batter hits the ball outside the stadium between the fair territories amongst the crowds, then also four points are awarded to the batting team and constitutes a home run.
- When the pitcher throws four balls in a row that are un-hittable and called a ball by the umpire. The batter gets a free run to the second base.
- The pitcher should touch the pitcher pad with one foot and should only throw the ball to the batter when the batter faces the pitcher.
- When the ball from the pitcher touches the batters clothes, outside the strike area, a run is awarded to the batter to the next base.
Terms Used
Terms used in Baseball can be easily by the fielding positions of the fielders. Pitcher(1), Catcher(2), Base guards (3) for the first base, (4) for the second base and (5) for the third base, short Stop(6), left field (7), centre field (8) and right field (9).
1-2-3: The pitcher only faces three batters and none of them returns to their bases. It is also called “Three up and three down”
1-2-3 double play: This is the situation where the pitcher fields a batted ball and throws back the ball to the catcher; the catcher touches the home pad first before the player from the third base reaches the home base. Then catcher throws the ball to the first base and making the batter running to the first base out.
1-6-3 double play: The batted ball is fielded by the pitcher and thrown to the shortstop to force the batter out at the first base.
2-2-2: Two balls, two strikes, two out.
Likewise, 3-6, 3-6-1, 3-4-3, 3-6-3 double play means the respective played at the mentioned position has made two batters out.
World Rankings
- World rankings based on teams standings
- Japan
- USA
- Korea
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