Baseball

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Baseball is a sport played by two teams that each have nine players. In baseball, one team throws a small round ball called a baseball and the other team tries to hit it with a club called a bat. Teams get points by running and touching markers on the ground called "bases". There is another sport called softball that is similar and is often played by women.
Many people in North America, South America, and East Asia play baseball. In the United States, baseball is called the national pastime, because so many people in the United States spend a lot of time playing or watching games. More people go to Major League Baseball games than go to see all the other team sports. But on TV, more people like to watch American football and car racing.

 How to play baseball

A baseball field.

A game of baseball is played by two teams on a baseball field. Each team has nine players. There are also umpires, who watch everything carefully to decide what happened, and make sure everyone follows the rules.
On a baseball field, there are four bases. The bases form a line that goes around the field to the right from the starting base. The starting base is called home plate. Home plate has five sides. First base is 15-inch (38 cm) squares. It is higher than the ground. The sides of the diamond are 90 feet (27.4 metres) long.
In major league games, there are usually four umpires, with one standing near each base. In major games, such as playoffs, two more umpires are usually added, and stand farther down each baseline toward the outfield.
The game is played in innings. Professional and college baseball has nine innings. In an inning, each team has one turn to bat and try to score runs worth one point. When one team bats, the other team plays defense and tries to get three players on the other team out so they can bat. The team that is playing defense always has the ball. This is different from other team sports. When the team on defense gets three players out it is their turn to hit. Then the team that was batting starts playing defense, and the team that was playing defense starts batting. After nine innings, the team that has the most runs is the winner. If the teams have the same number of runs, they play more innings until one team wins. At the start of the game, the home team pitches, while players on the visiting team bat. Only one player can bat at a time.
The baseball field has two main parts, the infield and the outfield. The infield is where the four bases are. The outfield is beyond the bases, from the view of home plate. The lines from home plate to first base and home plate to third base are the foul lines, and the ground outside of these lines is called foul territory. A ball that is hit with a bat and flies between the foul lines is a fair ball. A ball that is outside the foul lines is a foul ball, and if caught in the air by the team on defense, is an "out". If the ball hits the ground in foul territory rather than being caught in the air, the batter continues to bat, and anyone on base must return to their base. If the batter has fewer than two strikes, a foul ball counts as a strike.

A batter swinging at a pitched ball.

The most important part of the game is between the pitcher and the batter. The pitcher throws—pitches—the ball towards home plate. The pitcher normally throws the ball close enough for the batter to hit it. If the pitcher throws the ball over home plate and between the hitter's knee and chest, the pitch is a "strike", unless the batter hits the ball. The pitch is always a strike, regardless of where it is, if the batter swings the bat and misses, so the batter must have good aim with the bat. Three strikes is a "strikeout", and is one way to make an "out". A pitch that the batter does not swing at, and which is not a strike, is a "ball." On the fourth "ball" thrown by a pitcher, the batter "walks" to first base, so it is important to pitch well.
The catcher for the pitcher's team waits behind the batter, and catches any ball that the batter does not hit. The catcher uses signals to tell the pitcher where to throw the ball. If the pitcher does not like what the catcher says, he will shake his head, which signals "no". If he agrees with what the catcher has signaled, he will nod his head, which signals "yes".
There are many ways to get batters out, and runners can also be gotten out. Some common ways to get batters out are catching a batted ball in the air, whether in fair or foul territory, throwing the ball to the defensive player at first base (an out if it gets there before the batter), and a strikeout. Common ways to get a runner out are tagging the runner while the runner is not on a base, and a force out (when a base is touched before a player can get there, with no base for the runner to retreat to). When the fielding team has put out three of the batting team's players, the half-inning is over and the team in the field and the team at bat switch places.
The batting team wants to get runs. In order to get a run, a player must bat, then become a base runner, touch all the bases in order, and then touch home plate. So first, the batter wants to make other players get to home plate, or to run the bases himself. The batter also tries to hit the ball between the foul lines, so that the fielding team cannot get anyone out. After the batter hits the ball, if it lands outside of the foul lines, it will be called a "foul ball".
A base-runner who touches home plate after touching all previous bases in order scores a run.

 Fielding team

The team in the field tries not to let the team at bat get any runs. The fielding team has a pitcher and a catcher. This pair is often called the battery. The remaining seven fielders may stand anywhere in the field. However, there are usually four infielders that stand around the infield close to the bases and three outfielders who stand around the outfield.
The four infielders are the first baseman, second baseman, shortstop, and third baseman. The first baseman and third baseman stand close to first base and third base. The second baseman and the shortstop stand on either side of second base.
The first baseman's job is to make force plays at first base. In a force play, another infielder catches a ball that has touched the ground, and throws it to the first baseman. The first baseman must then touch the batter or the base with the ball before the batter can touch first base. Then the batter is out. First basemen need to have quick feet, stretch well, be quick and know how to catch wild throws. First base is one of the most important positions as 90% of the plays are there.
The second baseman's job is to cover the area to the right of second base and to back the first baseman up. The shortstop's job is to cover the area between second and third bases. This is where right-handed batters usually hit ground balls. The shortstop also covers second or third base and the near part of left field. The shortstop is usually the best fielder on the team. The third baseman needs to have a strong throwing arm. This is because many times the batter will hit a ball toward third base. The third baseman must throw the ball very quickly to the first baseman, to get the runner out. Because the balls that go to third base are usually hit very hard, the third baseman must also be very quick.
The three outfielders are called the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder, because they stand in left field, center field and right field. Left field and right field are on the left and right sides, if you look out from home plate. Center field is straight ahead from home plate. Center field is very big, so the center fielder is usually the fastest. The center fielder usually decides who should catch fly balls.
The team can decide where to put the infielders and outfielders. Players often shift their positioning because of how the game is going. They may change positions at any time.

 Pitching

How the pitcher moves.

Teams can change pitchers during a game. Team chang there pichers often because its hard for a picher to do a full game of nine innings. A picher can sometimes throw a no hitter where no one on the opposite team gets a earned hit. A team can use as many pitchers as it wants to, but it is rare to use more than eight in a game. The ways that a pitcher throws the ball are called pitches. Most pitchers use two or more different pitches. Pitchers change their pitches so that the batter won't know exactly what kind of pitch will be thrown. This makes it more difficult for the batter to hit the ball. Pitchers can make the ball move differently: faster or slower, closer or farther from the batter, higher or lower. Pitches are usually categorized into three categories: fastballs, change-ups ("off speed pitches"), and breaking (balls that curve) balls.
There are many types of break/off-speed pitches, such as the slurve, curve, slider, splitter, sinker, screw, 2-seam cut, 2-seam screw, knuckle, knuckle curve, change-up, circle change-up, palm ball, and others.
When throwing the ball, the pitcher must touch the pitcher's rubber with his foot. The pitcher's rubber is on top of the mound. So the pitcher cannot take more than one step forward when he throws the ball. That makes the pitcher throw the ball slower. Most major-league pitchers can throw the ball up to ninety miles per hour (145 km/h). Throwing a baseball that fast can be bad for the body. Pitchers can end up with a lot of injuries.

 The batting team

The batting team wants to get runs. The batting team sends its players up to home plate in a special order. This order is called the lineup. Each team chooses its lineup at the start of the game. After the game starts, the team cannot change the order. But the team can use a player who was not on the lineup. The new player has to change with an original player. The new player's name is written in the lineup where the original player's name was. After the ninth player has batted, the first player in the lineup starts again. If a runner comes to home plate, he scores a run. Then he is not a base runner. After scoring a run, the player must leave the field until it is his turn again. So a player can only score one run for each time he bats.
Since people began to have more free time, baseball has become the national pastime of America. About 12 million people play baseball in the United States.

 Baseball terms

 The field

See the image above for a diagram of the playing field.

• Base: One of four places on the field the players must go to. The player starts at Home plate and must go to each of the other bases in order and return to Home plate to score a run. The other bases are named First base, Second base and Third base. Home plate is a piece of hard rubber and the other bases are made of cloth. In professional baseball, the bases are 90ft from each other. The bases are on the field in the shape of a diamond.
• Baseline: the line between each of the bases in order. For example, from home plate to first base, from first base to second base, and so on.
• Base path: The area along the baseline where the players run from base to base.
• Ball: A pitch that was thrown outside the strike zone and that the batter did not swing at.
• Strike: A pitch that was thrown inside the strike zone and that the batter did not swing at, or a pitch that the batter swung at and missed, or a ball that the batter hit into foul grounds.