Group 6 History

BASEBALL Group 6 History The evolution of baseball from older bat-and-ball games is difficult to trace with precision. A French manuscript from 1344 contains an illustration of clerics playing a game, possibly la soule, with similarities to baseball. Other old French games such as théque, la balle au bâton, and la balle empoisonée also appear to be related. Consensus once held that today's baseball is a North American development from the older game rounders, popular in Great Britain and Ireland. Baseball Before We Knew It: A Search for the Roots of the Game (2005), by David Block, suggests that the game originated in England; recently uncovered historical evidence supports this position. Block argues that rounders and early baseball were actually regional variants of each other, and that the game's most direct antecedents are the English games of stoolball and "tut- ball". It has long been believed that cricket also descended from such games, though evidence uncovered in early 2009 suggests that the sport may have been imported to England from Flanders. Baseball Field Unless otherwise noted, the specifications discussed in this article refer to those described within the Official Baseball Rules, under which Major League Baseball is played. The starting point for much of the action on the field is home plate, which is a five- sided slab of whitened rubber, 17- inches square with two of the corners removed so that one edge is 17 inches long, two adjacent sides are 8½ inches and the remaining two sides are 12 inches and set at an angle to make a point. Adjacent to each of the two parallel 8½-inch sides is a batter's box. The point of home plate where the two 12-inch sides meet at right angles, is at one corner of a ninety-foot square. The other three corners of the square, in counterclockwise order from home plate, are called first base, second base, and third base. Three canvas bags fifteen inches (38 cm) square mark the three bases. These three bags along with home plate form the four bases at the corners of the infield. All the bases, including home plate, lie entirely within fair territory. Thus, any batted ball that touches those bases must necessarily be in fair territory. While the first and third base bags are placed so that they lie inside the 90 foot square formed by the bases, the second base bag is placed so that its center (unlike first, third and home) coincides exactly with the "point" of the ninety-foot infield square. Thus, although the "points" of the bases are 90 feet apart, the physical distance between each successive pair of base markers is closer to 88 feet. This positioning of the second base bag creates an "offset" (of one-half of its bag width) from pure "alignment" with the first and third base bags - an anomaly which does not seem to have affected play over the years and generally goes unnoticed by players and fans. The lines from home plate to first and third bases extend to the nearest fence, stand or other obstruction and are called the foul lines. The portion of the playing field between (and including) the foul lines is fair territory; the rest is foul territory. The area in the vicinity of the square formed by the bases is called the infield; fair territory outside the infield is known as the outfield. Most baseball fields are enclosed with a fence that marks the outer edge of the outfield. The fence is usually set at a distance ranging from 300 to 410 feet (90 to 125 m) from home plate. Most professional and college baseball fields have a right and left foul pole. These poles are at the intersection of the foul lines and the respective ends of the outfield fence and, unless otherwise specified within the ground rules, lie in fair territory. Thus, a batted ball that passes over the outfield wall in flight and touches the foul pole is a fair ball and the batter is awarded a home run. Another common feature of baseball fields is a warning track, a narrow dirt path that follows the outer edge of the outfield at the fence to serve to warn outfielders of their proximity to the wall. How the game is played Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The goal is to score runs by hitting a thrownball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot square, or diamond. Players on one team (the batting team) take turns hitting against the pitcher of the other team (the fielding team), which tries to stop them from scoring runs by getting hitters out in any of several ways. A player on the batting team can stop at any of the bases and later advance via a teammate's hit or other means. The teams switch between batting and fielding whenever the fielding team records three outs. One turn at bat for each team constitutes an inning and nine innings make up a professional game. The team with the most runs at the end of the game wins. Persons in the game PLAYERS Roster, or squad, sizes differ between different leagues and different levels of organized play. Major League Baseball teams maintain twenty-five-player active rosters. A typical twenty-five-man roster in a league without the DH rule, such as MLB's National League, features eight position players—catcher, four infielders, three outfielders—who play on a regular basis five starting pitchers who constitute the team's pitching rotation or starting rotation six relief pitchers, including one specialist closer, who constitute the team's bullpen (named for the off-field area where pitchers warm up) one backup, or substitute, catcher two backup infielders two backup outfielders one specialist pinch hitter, or a second backup catcher, or a seventh reliever The manager, or head coach of a team, oversees the team's major strategic decisions, such as establishing the starting rotation, setting the lineup, or batting order, before each game, and making substitutions during games—in particular, bringing in relief pitchers. Managers are typically assisted by two or more coaches; they may have specialized responsibilities, such as working with players on hitting, fielding, pitching, or strength and conditioning. Any baseball game involves one or more umpires, who make rulings on the outcome of each play. At a minimum, one umpire will stand behind the catcher, to have a good view of the strike zone, and call balls and strikes. Additional umpires may be stationed near the other bases, thus making it easier to judge plays such as attempted force outs and tag outs. In Major League Baseball, four umpires are used for each game, one near each base. In the playoffs, six umpires are used: one at each base and two in the outfield along the foul lines. Rules and regulations The Game A baseball/softball game is played by two teams who alternate between offense and defense. There are nine players on each side. The goal is to score more runs than the opponent, which is achieved by one circuit of four bases that are placed on the diamond. The Equipment The defense wears baseball/softball gloves, a leather contraption that fits on the hand, to catch the ball. A baseball is a white ball roughly three inches in diameter with red stitching. A softball is roughly twice as big, sometimes yellow (but no softer). The offense uses a bat, which is made of wood in the professional ranks, and likely made of aluminum or a metal composite at amateur levels. Almost all softball bats are aluminum or metal. The Field The part of the field closest to the bases is called the infield, and the grassy farther reaches is called the outfield. The bases are 90 feet apart on the diamond, closer in children's leagues and softball. Other fields are variable, and the outfield fences or the amount of “foul territory” - the amount of ground that borders the field between the long white lines that connect first base to home plate and third base to home plate – varies from field to field. Defense: The Positions There's a pitcher in the middle of the mound who initiates the action by throwing the ball toward home plate. The catcher catches the ball if it's not hit. The infielders are the first baseman, second baseman, shortstop (between second and third base) and the third baseman. There are three outfielders: The left fielder, center fielder and right fielder. The Game There are nine innings in professional baseball games (sometimes fewer in lower levels), and each inning is divided in half to the top of the inning (when the visiting team hits and the home team plays defense) and the bottom of the inning (when the home team hits and the visiting team plays defense). Each team gets three outs in each half of the innings. On Offense Each team has nine players in its batting order, and they must stick to that order throughout the game (players may substitute in for other players). A play begins with a batter waiting to hit a pitch from the pitcher. If the batter hits the ball into the field of play, the batter runs to first base and can run to as many bases as he or she deems fit without getting "out." A batter gets three strikes (a swing and a miss or a ball over the plate in what's deemed the “strike zone” by an umpire) or he or she is out.

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