Baseball is an immensely popular American game, known as the “national pastime,” played between two teams of nine players each. The basic implements used in the game are a leather-covered ball, wooden bats for hitting the ball, and gloves for catching it. Baseball is played on a large scale in Latin America, Japan, and other places besides the United States, but it is in the United States that it thrives most both as a participant’s and spectator’s sport. It is played at its highest level in the United States and two Canadian cities, where 26 teams make up the American and National Leagues (each with two divisions, East and West).
Combined, these leagues are called major-league (professional) baseball. Most players who reach the major leagues have worked their way up through Little League, scholastic, college, and minor-league (professional) ball. The vast majority of major-league players are American-reared, although since the 1960s the sport has seen an influx of Latin American players. Following a regular season of 162 games, the division winners vie for each league’s pennant; the American and National League champions then compete in the World Series. Both rounds of competition employ best-of-seven series of games. Baseball’s popularity is in part a result of the fact that almost every American boy plays the game at one time or another, and the lore of the game is intertwined with American life. Baseball has supplied the American culture with a wide range of legendary heroes, as well as books, magazines, movies, and songs. The game has contributed hundreds of words and phrases to the American language. The History of Baseball The popular myth that Abner DOUBLEDAY invented baseball in Cooperstown, N.Y., in 1839, is without foundation. Actually, baseball evolved from cricket and rounders, with town ball and the New York game, popular in the eastern United States by the 1820s, as intermediaries.
The Essay on My First Major League Baseball Game
My First Major League Baseball Game It was my first major league baseball game. This game is memorable because it is the first memory I have of my Dad, who is deceased. No wonder that all events of the game are stamped on my memory, as this is the very first memory I have of my father and I together The game took place in Atlanta at Fulton County Stadium, the year 1993, at night around 7:00 p.m. ...
On June 19, 1846, a New York team defeated the Knickerbocker Baseball Club of New York, which had drafted (1845) rules establishing the nine-player team and the four-base diamond. The score at Elysian Fields in Hoboken, N.J., that day was 23-1 in four innings. In 1857 a convention of baseball clubs established the length of a game as nine innings instead of 21 runs. One year later the first organized league, the National Association of Base Ball Players, was formed. The first professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, won 91 and tied 1 of their first 92 games in 1869-70. Their success helped spread professionalism, and the National Association of Professional Base-Ball Players operated a loose league for five years (1871-75) until the owners formed the National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs in 1876 and made baseball a business. The independent American Association (1882-91) prospered by allowing Sunday games and the sale of beer in the stadium. Both leagues survived the rival Union Association’s challenge in 1884, but in 1890 the athletes formed the Players League, which financially pressed the National League and mortally wounded the American Association. In 1892 the eight-team National League absorbed four American Association teams, but it reverted to eight teams after 1899. In 1901 the American League declared itself a major league, invaded National League cities, and raided the older league for players. The result of the eventual truce was the World Series, which has been played every year since 1903–except 1904, when the New York Giants refused to meet the American League champions (Boston).
The major leagues successfully met the challenge of the Federal League (1914-15).
But further problems arose with the revelation that eight members of the Chicago White Sox had conspired to throw the 1919 World Series to Cincinnati. Only the appointment of Judge Kenesaw Mountain LANDIS as commissioner and the introduction of a livelier ball saved the game. Landis enforced strict regulations regarding integrity of players, and the livelier ball significantly increased the number of crowd-pleasing home runs. Star players, reared in a minor-league system that comprised 59 leagues in 1949, increased baseball’s popularity and caused it to be called America’s pastime. The annual All-Star Game between teams composed of the best players in each league was begun in 1933. The introduction of night baseball (1935) and the entry to the majors of black players (1947), previously consigned to all-black leagues, changed the style of play and expanded the potential talent pool. Then, during the 1950s, dramatic organizational changes occurred. In 1950 a $6-million World Series television contract made baseball the financial giant among sports, but baseball thereby became inordinately dependent on television. In 1953 the National League Boston Braves moved to Milwaukee, and one year later the American League St.
The Term Paper on Minor League Baseball Boom Or Bust To Communities
Minor League Baseball: Boom or Bust to Communities? Despite the occasional disappointment, minor league baseball provides many communities with economic development and an improved quality of life. Communities as small as Elizabethtown, Tennessee or as large as Phoenix, Arizona have shared the common bond of being the homes of major league farm teams. Thesis referred to as the National Association ...
Louis Browns became the Baltimore Orioles, breaking up a roster of cities that had remained constant for 50 years. In 1958 the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles and the New York Giants moved to San Francisco, making big-league baseball a truly national game. The American League added two cities in 1961, and the National League did the same in 1962. In 1969 another expansion by both leagues necessitated divisional play, the winners in each division within each league meeting in a best 3-out-of-5 (now 4-out-of-7) championship play-off to determine the World Series contestants. Finally, the American League added two teams for the 1977 season. The following teams are currently active: National League East–Chicago Cubs, Montreal Expos, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, and St. Louis Cardinals. National League West–Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, and San Francisco Giants. American League East–Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers, New York Yankees, and Toronto Blue Jays. American League West–California Angels, Chicago White Sox, Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins, Oakland Athletics, Texas Rangers, and Seattle Mariners.
The Essay on Baseball When I Tried Out For Baseball Ball Team Swim
I could have been on the guys swim team as a diver in high school, butI decided not to because to me the swim team seemed very homosexual. I have nothing against gay people at all, but I just fear being around those who act gay in large groups. While no one except the swim team knows every detail about what they did, they do brag about many odd activities on and off the pool grounds. Some members ...
Baseball’s popularity diminished somewhat in the 1960s and early ’70s, particularly with the rise of professional football. But despite its heavy television coverage–and its heavy schedule of night games, which precluded the attendance of many children–baseball’s popularity as a family spectator sport was on the rise again in the late 1970s and the mid-1980’s. During the 1981 season–from June 12 to August 10–the baseball players went on strike in order to maintain relatively unencumbered free agency in the major leagues. When the 1981 season ended, more than 30% of all major-league games had gone unplayed, the settlement had not provided a clear victory for either players or owners, the makeshift playoff system designed to accommodate the “split season” was considered less than adequate, and baseball attendance and television ratings had dropped off, although not precipitously. Fan interest was again strong in the mid-1980s, however. Playing the Game Baseball is played on an area divided into an infield of standard proportions and an outfield of varied dimensions. The infield is square, with 90 ft (27.4 m) on each side. The corner farthest from the outfield fence is home plate, and the other bases–first, second, and third–run counterclockwise. The pitcher’s mound, an 18-ft (5.5-m) circle inclining upward toward a small rectangular rubber slab in the center, lies inside the square 60 ft 6 in. (18 m) from home plate. The outfield ends at an outer fence, the distance of which from home plate varies with the shape of the field. It is usually about 76 to 137 m (250 to over 450 ft).
The teams play nine innings, alternating in the field and at bat, with the home team batting last. The infielders–first baseman, second baseman, shortstop, and third baseman–usually position themselves along the two sides of the square between first and second and second and third bases. The outfielders–left fielder, center fielder, and right fielder–cover the respective portions of the outfield. The pitcher stands on the rubber, and the catcher crouches behind the batter. The American League decided in 1973 to allow a 10th player, a designated hitter, to bat for the pitcher. U.S. colleges also adopted the rule. The team at bat sends its nine men to the plate in a specified sequence. Each batter attempts to hit the pitcher’s deliveries, which the latter tries to vary in speed and in placement within the strike zone (the area over home plate and between the batter’s knees and armpits).
The Essay on Baseball History Teams League Game
A Brief History of Baseball: Part I: Origins of the Game Unlike professional basketball and football, interest in baseball has not been sweeping the globe. Declining participation at the amateur level and protracted labor problems at the professional level have thrust 'America's Pastime' into an era of uncertainty. Despite this current adversity, baseball will always occupy an important place in ...
Substitutions are allowed throughout the game but preclude a player’s return. The defending players wear a leather glove on one hand. The catcher’s glove, the largest (up to 38 in/96.5 cm in circumference and 15.5 in/39.4 cm from top to bottom), is round and heavily padded. The first baseman’s mitt is more flexible and has one compartment for the thumb and another for the other fingers. The remaining players use gloves with separate compartments for each finger and a webbing between the thumb and index finger. The bat, up to 2.75 in (7 cm) thick and 42 in (106.7 cm) long, is round and wooden (in amateur games, aluminum is allowed).
The ball consists of three layers: a cork-and-rubber sphere forms the central core; woolen yarn is then tightly wound around the core; and a leather casing is stitched together around the whole. A regulation baseball is 9-9.25 in (22.9-23.5 cm) in circumference and weighs 5-5.25 oz (141.7-148.8 g).
Each team’s half-inning consists of three outs. An out occurs most commonly when a ball is caught before bouncing (a fly ball), when a ground ball is caught and thrown to first base before the batter arrives, when a base runner is not touching a base and is tagged by a fielder holding the ball, when a fielder who has the ball touches a base other than first when there is a runner approaching that base and each previous base, when a player has left a base and is unable to get back before a caught fly ball is thrown to the base, and when the pitcher gets three strikes on a batter. A strike is any pitch at which the batter swings and misses, any pitch that travels through the strike zone, and any batted ball that lands outside the straight lines running from home plate through first base and from home plate through third base to the outfield fence (called a foul).
The Essay on Baseball Baseball Ball Game Bases
... games reached England, they became classified as 'stool ball.' The 'pitcher' attempted to hit an upturned stool with a ball before a 'batter' ... Posts called 'goals' or 'bases' were driven into the ground. The game was called 'goal ball' or 'base ball' as early as 1700. The ... The Birth of Baseball Baseball. The American Pastime. A true love of mine and of many Americans. The game's objective is to ...
If the batter already has two strikes, a foul is not considered a strike unless it is a foul bunt or a tipped foul caught by the catcher before it bounces. The team at bat tries to get players on base and advance them until they round all four bases to score runs. The team with more runs after nine innings wins. If the score is tied at the end of nine innings, the teams play extra innings until one team scores more than the other and both teams have had an equal number of turns at bat. A batter reaches base if hit by a pitch, if he or she receives a walk by taking four pitches (called balls) outside the strike zone, if a defensive player misplays the ball for an error, if the catcher interferes with a swing, and if the catcher fails to catch the pitcher’s throw on a third strike and does not throw the ball to first base before the batter reaches the base. But the most common way of reaching base is with a hit. Hits come in many forms: deliberately gentle bunts to unreachable parts of the infield, hard-hit ground balls that travel between infielders, bloopers popped in an arc beyond the infield but out of the outfielders’ reach, line drives in front of or between the outfielders, and clouts smashed over the fence.
Both the batter and runners may advance as far as possible on any hit. A one-base hit is a single, a two-base hit a double, a three-base hit a triple, and a four-base hit a home run. The most common kind of home run is a fair ball over the fence on a fly, but a batter may also run around all the bases before the fielders can retrieve a ball hit inside the park and throw it to the plate. Runners may also advance by stealing a base, on a balk (improper procedure by a pitcher), on a sacrifice (a bunt intended to move the runner even though the batter will be out), or on a sacrifice fly (a fly ball caught by an outfielder but not returned to the proper base before the runner reaches it–provided the runner does not leave his or her original base before the ball is caught).
The Essay on Baseball I Chose Ball Game League
... 1840 s the first baseball game was recorded. According to the New England rules, if a batter was hit by a ball thrown at him ... batter would hit the ball as far as he could. Most people believe this story to be true. Around the 1850 s amateur baseball ... or third baseman step on the base if they had the ball in their hand. Although baseball has changed a lot, many things ...
Four umpires, one near each base, regulate the game, enforce the rules, and call balls and strikes, foul and fair balls, and safe or out. The umpires may also eject players from the game for improper behavior and call a forfeit for serious infractions. Some amateur games have only one or two umpires; the Championship Series between the American and National leagues, and the World Series have six. Baseball has two basic styles of play. Inside baseball, prevalent until the 1920s, emphasizes speed, defense, and good pitching. The second style emphasizes power hitting. The New York Yankees dominated baseball with the latter, winning 29 pennants and 20 World Series between 1921 and 1964. The use of relief pitchers and artificial turf has returned inside baseball to favor, but power hitting remains an appealing factor in the game. Reviewed by Jim Benagh
Bibliography:
Alexander, Charles C., Our Game: An American Baseball History (1991); Angell, Roger, Once More around the Park (1991); Allen, Ethan N., Baseball Play and Strategy, 3d ed. (1983); Appel, Martin, and Goldblatt, Burt, Baseball’s Best: The Hall of Fame Gallery, rev. ed. (1980); Baseball Encyclopedia, 6th rev. ed. (1985); Honig, Donald, Baseball: When the Grass Was Real (1975); James, Bill, The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, rev. ed. (1988) and The Baseball Book 1990 (1990); Kahn, Roger, Good Enough to Dream (1985); Laird, A. W., Ranking Baseball’s Elite: An Analysis Derived from Player Statistics, 1893-1987 (1990); Levine, Peter A. G., Spalding and the Rise of Baseball: The Promise of American Sport (1985); Mullarkey, Karen, Baseball in America (1991); Peterson, Robert, Only the Ball Was White (1970; repr. 1985); Reichler, Joseph L., The Baseball Encyclopedia, 6th ed. (1985); Ritter, Lawrence, The Glory of Their Times, enl. ed. (1984); Seymour, Harold, Baseball: The Early Years (1960), Baseball: The Golden Age (1971), and Baseball: The People’s Game (1990); Sporting News, Official Baseball
