The Basics about Baseball

The game of baseball is quite similar to cricket and is a pure bat-and-ball game. The game usually includes two teams, each of which has nine players. The manner in which points are scored in the game is by hitting the ball and then the challenge is to be able to touch a series of four bases which are arranged in the form of a diamond at the corner points of a ninety-foot square.




The teams playing the game operated under two broad categories – the batting team and the fielding team. Players of the batting team try to hit against the pitchers of the fielding team and the teammates of the fielding team try their level best to prevent the batting team from scoring runs. A player while he is playing for the batting team can stop at one of the bases and can resume play after the teammate has made a hit.



The teams alternate between batting and fielding and this happens when the fielding team manages to take three outs. An inning is marked when a team gets to bat and in professional games is completed with nine innings and the team which attempts to score the maximum during the game is declared as the winner.



The oldest version of baseball was played in the United Kingdom in the middle of the eighteenth century and later on Irish and British immigrants brought the game to North America and from then on the contemporary version of the game begun. Baseball began to be regarded as the National Sport of the United States and the game is played on the youth, amateur and professional levels.



The teams involved in a game of baseball alternate between taking offense and defense and a pair of turns which is inclusive of one attempt at batting and another one at fielding together constitutes an innings. Mostly it is the visiting team which bats first and the home team takes up the second turn. If both the teams earn the same score, then extra innings are allowed for both the teams so as to find the winner of the game.



Protective helmets and gloves or mitts are the fielding tools used for the game. Pitch selection is one of the very important tactical decisions involved in a game of baseball. One of the crucial facts of the game is that the right-hand batters are generally said to be successful in opposite to left-handed pitchers and the vice versa also holds true that left-handed batters fair well against right-handed pitchers.



One of the important aspects of this game is that the baseball fields can vary drastically in their shape and sizes. Various writers have referred to baseball as America’s national religion and are also becoming highly popular in several countries around the world.



The game is in turn is a kind of inspiration in the art and entertainment industry and has also helped to formulate renewed cultural forms. Baseball continues to grow as a major sport and bestows sheer joy and happiness to players and the spectators.