wikibassball.pdf

A baseball game at Nationals Park in Washington,D.C.

Highestgoverning body

World Baseball SoftballConfederation

First played Mid-18th century or prior,England or Flanders (earlyform)June 4, 1838, Beachville,Ontario[1] (first recorded gamewith codified rules)

Characteristics

Team members 9

Type Bat-and-ball

Equipment BaseballBaseball batBaseball gloveBases

Presence

Olympic Demonstrated in 1912, 1936,1952, 1956, 1964, 1984, and1988 Summer OlympicsIn Summer Olympic program,19922008

Baseball

BaseballFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Baseball is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams ofnine players each who take turns batting and fielding.

The offense attempts to score runs by hitting a ball that isthrown by the pitcher with a bat swung by the batter, thenrunning counter-clockwise around a series of four bases:first, second, third, and home plate. A run is scored when aplayer advances around the bases and returns to home plate.

Players on the batting team take turns hitting against thepitcher of the fielding team, which tries to prevent runs bygetting hitters out in any of several ways. A player on thebatting team who reaches a base safely can later attempt toadvance to subsequent bases during teammates' turns batting,such as on a hit or by other means. The teams switchbetween batting and fielding whenever the fielding teamrecords three outs. One turn batting for both teams,beginning with the visiting team, constitutes an inning. Agame comprises nine innings, and the team with the greaternumber of runs at the end of the game wins. Baseball is theonly major team sport in America with no game clock,although almost all games end in the ninth inning.

Evolving from older bat-and-ball games, an early form ofbaseball was being played in England by the mid-18thcentury. This game was brought by immigrants to NorthAmerica, where the modern version developed. By the late19th century, baseball was widely recognized as the nationalsport of the United States. Baseball is now popular in NorthAmerica and parts of Central and South America, theCaribbean, and East Asia.

In the United States and Canada, professional Major LeagueBaseball (MLB) teams are divided into the National League(NL) and American League (AL), each with three divisions:East, West, and Central. The major league champion isdetermined by playoffs that culminate in the World Series.The top level of play is similarly split in Japan between theCentral League and Pacific Leagues and in Cuba between theWest League and East League.

Contents

Baseball - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball

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Part of the Baseball series on

History of baseball

Origins of baseball

Early years

First league

Knickerbocker Rules

Massachusetts rules

Alexander Cartwright

Doubleday origin myth

First pro team

First pro league

1 History1.1 Origins of baseball1.2 History of baseball in the United States

1.2.1 The game turns professional1.2.2 Rise of Ruth and racial integration1.2.3 Attendance records and the age of steroids

1.3 Baseball around the world2 Rules and gameplay3 Personnel

3.1 Player rosters3.2 Other personnel

4 Strategy and tactics4.1 Pitching and fielding tactics4.2 Batting and baserunning tactics

5 Distinctive elements5.1 No clock to kill5.2 Individual focus5.3 Uniqueness of each baseball park

6 Statistics6.1 Sabermetrics

7 Popularity and cultural impact7.1 Baseball in popular culture

8 See also9 References10 Sources11 Further reading12 External links

History

Origins of baseball

The evolution of baseball from older bat-and-ball games is difficult to trace withprecision. A French manuscript from 1344 contains an illustration of clericsplaying a game, possibly la soule, with similarities to baseball.[2] Other oldFrench games such as thque, la balle au bton, and la balle empoisonne alsoappear to be related.[3] Consensus once held that today's baseball is a NorthAmerican development from the older game rounders, popular in Great Britainand 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; recentlyuncovered historical evidence supports this position. Block argues that roundersand early baseball were actually regional variants of each other, and that thegame's most direct antecedents are the English games of stoolball and"tut-ball".[4] It has long been believed that cricket also descended from suchgames, though evidence uncovered in early 2009 suggests that cricket may havebeen imported to England from Flanders.[5]


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Close relations:

Stoolball

Rounders

Old Cat

Town ball

Softball

History of baseball in:

Worldwide

Australia

Canada

Cuba

Greece

Ireland

Japan

South Korea

Netherlands

Nicaragua

Palau

Philippines

Spain

United States

United Kingdom

Venezuela

Negro league baseball Women in baseball Minor League Baseball Cricket comparison Baseball (Ken Burns documentary) Baseball Hall of Fame Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) Baseball year-by-year

MLB season-by-season

Baseball Portal

Alexander Cartwright,father of modern baseball

The earliest known reference to baseball is in a 1744 British publication, A LittlePretty Pocket-Book, by John Newbery. It contains a rhymed description of"base-ball" and a woodcut that shows a field set-up somewhat similar to themodern gamethough in a triangular rather than diamond configuration, andwith posts instead of ground-level bases.[6] David Block discovered that the firstrecorded game of "Bass-Ball" took place in 1749 in Surrey, and featured thePrince of Wales as a player.[7] William Bray, an English lawyer, recorded a gameof baseball on Easter Monday 1755 in Guildford, Surrey.[8] This early form of thegame was apparently brought to North America by English immigrants. Rounderswas also brought to the continent by both British and Irish immigrants. The firstknown American reference to baseball appears in a 1791 Pittsfield,Massachusetts, town bylaw prohibiting the playing of the game near the town'snew meeting house.[9] By 1796, a version of the game was well-known enough toearn a mention in a German scholar's book on popular pastimes. As described byJohann Gutsmuths, "englische Base-ball" involved a contest between two teams,in which "the batter has three attempts to hit the ball while at the home plate."Only one out was required to retire a side.[10]

By the early 1830s, there were reports of a variety ofuncodified bat-and-ball games recognizable as earlyforms of baseball being played around NorthAmerica. These games were often referred to locallyas "town ball", though other names such as"round-ball" and "base-ball" were also used.[11]Among the earliest examples to receive a detaileddescriptionalbeit five decades after the fact, in aletter from an attendee to Sporting Lifemagazinetook place in Beachville, Ontario, in1838. There were many similarities to modernbaseball, and some crucial differences: five bases (orbyes); first bye just 18 feet (5.5 m) from the homebye; batter out if a hit ball was caught after the firstbounce.[12] The once widely accepted story that

Abner Doubleday invented baseball in Cooperstown, New York, in 1839 has beenconclusively debunked by sports historians.[13]

In 1845, Alexander Cartwright, a member of New York City's KnickerbockerClub, led the codification of the so-called Knickerbocker Rules.[14] The practice,common to bat-and-ball games of the day, of "soaking" or "plugging"effectinga putout by hitting a runner with a thrown ballwas barred. The rules thusfacilitated the use of a smaller, harder ball than had been common. Several otherrules also brought the Knickerbockers' game close to the modern one, though a ball caught on the first bouncewas, again, an out and only underhand pitching was allowed.[15] While there are reports that the New YorkKnickerbockers played games in 1845, the contest now recognized as the first officially recorded baseball gamein U.S. history took place on June 19, 1846, in Hoboken, New Jersey: the "New York Nine" defeated theKnickerbockers, 231, in four innings.[16] With the Knickerbocker code as the basis, the rules of modernbaseball continued to evolve over the next half-century.[17]


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The New York Giants baseball team,1913. Fred Merkle, sixth in line,committed a baserunning gaffe in acrucial 1908 game that becamefamous as Merkle's Boner.

History of baseball in the United States

The game turns professional

In the mid-1850s, a baseball craze hit the New York metropolitan area.[18] By 1856, local journals were referringto baseball as the "national pastime" or "national game".[19] A year later, sixteen area clubs formed the sport'sfirst governing body, the National Association of Base Ball Players. In 1858 in Corona, Queens New York, at theFashion Race Course, the first games of baseball to charge admission took place. The games, which took placebetween the all stars of Brooklyn, including players from the Brooklyn Atlantics, Excelsior of Brooklyn,Putnams and Eckford of Brooklyn, and the All Stars of New York (Manhattan), including players from the NewYork Knickerbockers, Gothams (predecessors of the San Francisco Giants), Eagles and Empire, are commonlybelieved to be the first all-star baseball games.[20][21][22] In 1863, the organization disallowed putouts made bycatching a fair ball on the first bounce. Four years later, it barred participation by African Americans.[23] Thegame's commercial potential was developing: in 1869 the first fully professional baseball club, the CincinnatiRed Stockings, was formed and went undefeated against a schedule of semipro and amateur teams.[24] The firstprofessional league, the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, lasted from 1871 to 1875;scholars dispute its status as a major league.[25]

The more formally structured National League was founded in 1876. As the oldest surviving major league, theNational League is sometimes referred to as the "senior circuit".[26] Several other major leagues formed andfailed. In 1884, African American Moses Walker (and, briefly, his brother Welday) played in one of these, theAmerican Association.[27] An injury ended Walker's major league career, and by the early 1890s, a gentlemen'sagreement in the form of the baseball color line effectively barred black players from the white-ownedprofessional leagues, major and minor.[28] Professional Negro leagues formed, but quickly folded. Severalindependent African American teams succeeded as barnstormers.[29] Also in 1884, overhand pitching waslegalized.[30] In 1887, softball, under the name of indoor baseball or indoor-outdoor, was invented as a winterversion of the parent game.[31] Virtually all of the modern baseball rules were in place by 1893; the last majorchangecounting foul balls as strikeswas instituted in 1901.[30] The National League's first successfulcounterpart, the American League, which evolved from the minor Western League, was established that year.[32]The two leagues, each with eight teams, were rivals that fought for the best players, often disregarding eachother's contracts and engaging in bitter legal disputes.[33]

A modicum of peace was eventually established, leading to the NationalAgreement of 1903. The pact formalized relations both between the twomajor leagues and between them and the National Association ofProfessional Base Ball Leagues, representing most of the country's minorprofessional leagues.[34] The World Series, pitting the two major leaguechampions against each other, was inaugurated that fall, albeit withoutexpress major league sanction: The Boston Americans of the AmericanLeague defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League.[35] Thenext year, the series was not held, as the National League champion NewYork Giants, under manager John McGraw, refused to recognize themajor league status of the American League and its champion.[36] In1905, the Giants were National League champions again and teammanagement relented, leading to the establishment of the World Series asthe major leagues' annual championship event.[37]


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Babe Ruth in 1920, the yearhe joined the New YorkYankees

As professional baseball became increasingly profitable, players frequently raised grievances against ownersover issues of control and equitable income distribution. During the major leagues' early decades, players onvarious teams occasionally attempted strikes, which routinely failed when their jobs were sufficiently threatened.In general, the strict rules of baseball contracts and the reserve clause, which bound players to their teams evenwhen their contracts had ended, tended to keep the players in check.[38] Motivated by dislike for particularlystingy owner Charles Comiskey and gamblers' payoffs, real and promised, members of the Chicago White Soxconspired to throw the 1919 World Series. The Black Sox Scandal led to the formation of a new NationalCommission of baseball that drew the two major leagues closer together.[39] The first major league baseballcommissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, was elected in 1920. That year also saw the founding of the NegroNational League; the first significant Negro league, it would operate until 1931. For part of the 1920s, it wasjoined by the Eastern Colored League.[40]

Rise of Ruth and racial integration

Compared with the present, professional baseball in the early 20th century waslower-scoring and pitchers, the likes of Walter Johnson and Christy Mathewson,were more dominant. The "inside game", which demanded that players "scratchfor runs", was played much more aggressively than it is today: the brilliant andoften violent Ty Cobb epitomized this style.[41] The so-called dead-ball eraended in the early 1920s with several changes in rule and circumstance that wereadvantageous to hitters. Strict new regulations governing the ball's size, shapeand composition along with a new rule officially banning the spitball, along withother pitches that depended on the ball being treated or roughed-up with foreignsubstances after the death of Ray Chapman who was hit by a pitch in August1920, coupled with superior materials available after World War I, resulted in aball that traveled farther when hit. The construction of additional seating toaccommodate the rising popularity of the game often had the effect of bringingthe outfield fences closer in, making home runs more common.[42] The rise ofthe legendary player Babe Ruth, the first great power hitter of the new era,helped permanently alter the nature of the game. The club with which Ruth setmost of his slugging records, the New York Yankees, built a reputation as themajors' premier team.[43] In the late 1920s and early 1930s, St. Louis Cardinals general manager Branch Rickeyinvested in several minor league clubs and developed the first modern "farm system".[44] A new Negro NationalLeague was organized in 1933; four years later, it was joined by the Negro American League. The first electionsto the Baseball Hall of Fame took place in 1936. In 1939 Little League Baseball was founded in Pennsylvania.By the late 1940s, it was the organizing body for children's baseball leagues across the United States.

With America's entry into World War II, many professional players had left to serve in the armed forces. A largenumber of minor league teams disbanded as a result and the major league game seemed under threat as well.Chicago Cubs owner Philip K. Wrigley led the formation of a new professional league with women players tohelp keep the game in the public eye the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League existed from 1943to 1954.[45] The inaugural College World Series was held in 1947, and the Babe Ruth League youth programwas founded. This program soon became another important organizing body for children's baseball. The firstcrack in the unwritten agreement barring blacks from white-controlled professional ball occurred the previousyear: Jackie Robinson was signed by the National League's Brooklyn Dodgerswhere Branch Rickey hadbecome general managerand began playing for their minor league team in Montreal.[46] In 1947, Robinsonbroke the major leagues' color barrier when he debuted with the Dodgers. Larry Doby debuted with theAmerican League's Cleveland Indians the same year.[47] Latin American players, largely overlooked before, also


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Jackie Robinson in1945, with the era'sKansas City Royals, abarnstorming squadassociated with theNegro AmericanLeague's Kansas CityMonarchs

started entering the majors in greater numbers. In 1951, two Chicago White Sox,Venezuelan-born Chico Carrasquel and black Cuban-born Minnie Mioso, becamethe first Hispanic All-Stars.[48][49]

Facing competition as varied as television and football, baseball attendance at alllevels declined. While the majors rebounded by the mid-1950s, the minor leagueswere gutted and hundreds of semipro and amateur teams dissolved.[50][51] Integrationproceeded slowly: by 1953, only six of the 16 major league teams had a black playeron the roster.[48] That year, the Major League Baseball Players Association wasfounded. It was the first professional baseball union to survive more than briefly, butit remained largely ineffective for years.[52] No major league team had been locatedwest of St. Louis until 1958, when the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giantsrelocated to Los Angeles and San Francisco, respectively.[53] The majors' finalall-white bastion, the Boston Red Sox, added a black player in 1959.[48] With theintegration of the majors drying up the available pool of players, the last Negroleague folded the following year.[54] In 1961, the American League reached the WestCoast with the Los Angeles Angels expansion team, and the major league season wasextended from 154 games to 162. This coincidentally helped Roger Maris break BabeRuth's long-standing single-season home run record, one of the most celebratedmarks in baseball.[55] Along with the Angels, three other new franchises werelaunched during 196162. With this, the first major league expansion in 60 years,each league now had ten teams.

Attendance records and the age of steroids

The players' union became bolder under the leadership of former United Steelworkers chief economist andnegotiator Marvin Miller, who was elected executive director in 1966.[56] On the playing field, major leaguepitchers were becoming increasingly dominant again. After the 1968 season, in an effort to restore balance, thestrike zone was reduced and the height of the pitcher's mound was lowered from 15 to 10 inches. In 1969, boththe National and American leagues added two more expansion teams, the leagues were reorganized into twodivisions each, and a post-season playoff system leading to the World Series was instituted. Also that same year,Curt Flood of the St. Louis Cardinals made the first serious legal challenge to the reserve clause. The majorleagues' first general players' strike took place in 1972.[57] In another effort to add more offense to the game, theAmerican League adopted the designated hitter rule the following year.[58] In 1975, the union's powerandplayers' salariesbegan to increase greatly when the reserve clause was effectively struck down, leading to thefree agency system.[59] In 1977, two more expansion teams joined the American League. Significant workstoppages occurred again in 1981 and 1994, the latter forcing the cancellation of the World Series for the firsttime in 90 years.[60] Attendance had been growing steadily since the mid-1970s and in 1994, before thestoppage, the majors were setting their all-time record for per-game attendance.[51][61]

The addition of two more expansion teams after the 1993 season had facilitated another restructuring of themajor leagues, this time into three divisions each. Offensive productionthe number of home runs inparticularhad surged that year, and again in the abbreviated 1994 season.[62] After play resumed in 1995, thistrend continued and non-division-winning wild card teams became a permanent fixture of the post-season.Regular-season interleague play was introduced in 1997 and the second-highest attendance mark for a fullseason was set.[63] The next year, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa both surpassed Maris's decades-old singleseason home run record and two more expansion franchises were added. In 2000, the National and American


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In May 2010, the PhiladelphiaPhillies' Roy Halladay pitched the20th major league perfect game. ThatOctober, he pitched only the secondno-hitter in MLB postseason history.

leagues were dissolved as legal entities. While their identities weremaintained for scheduling purposes (and the designated hitterdistinction), the regulations and other functionssuch as playerdiscipline and umpire supervisionthey had administered separatelywere consolidated under the rubric of Major League Baseball (MLB).[64]

In 2001, Barry Bonds established the current record of 73 home runs in asingle season. There had long been suspicions that the dramatic increasein power hitting was fueled in large part by the abuse of illegal steroids(as well as by the dilution of pitching talent due to expansion), but theissue only began attracting significant media attention in 2002 and therewas no penalty for the use of performance-enhancing drugs before2004.[65] In 2007, Bonds became MLB's all-time home run leader,surpassing Hank Aaron, as total major league and minor leagueattendance both reached all-time highs.[66][67] Even though McGwire,Sosa, and Bondsas well as many other players, including storiedpitcher Roger Clemenshave been implicated in the steroid abusescandal, their feats and those of other sluggers had become the major leagues' defining attraction.[68] In contrastto the professional game's resurgence in popularity after the 1994 interruption, Little League enrollment was indecline: after peaking in 1996, it dropped 1 percent a year over the following decade.[69] With more rigoroustesting and penalties for performance-enhancing drug use a possible factor, the balance between bat and ballswung markedly in 2010, which became known as the "Year of the Pitcher".[70] Runs per game fell to theirlowest level in 18 years, and the strikeout rate was higher than it had been in half a century.[71]

Before the start of the 2012 season, MLB altered its rules to double the number of wild card teams admitted intothe playoffs to two per league.[72] The playoff expansion resulted in the addition of annual one-game playoffsbetween the wild card teams in each league.[73]

Baseball around the world

Baseball, widely known as America's pastime, is well established in several other countries as well. The historyof baseball in Canada has remained closely linked with that of the sport in the United States. As early as 1877, aprofessional league, the International Association, featured teams from both countries.[74] While baseball iswidely played in Canada and many minor league teams have been based in the country, the American majorleagues did not include a Canadian club until 1969, when the Montreal Expos joined the National League as anexpansion team. In 1977, the expansion Toronto Blue Jays joined the American League. The Blue Jays won theWorld Series in 1992 and 1993, the first and still the only club from outside the United States to do so. After the2004 season, Major League Baseball relocated the Expos to Washington, D.C., where the team is now known asthe Nationals.

In 1847, American soldiers played what may have been the first baseball game in Mexico at Parque Los Berrosin Xalapa, Veracruz. A few days after the Battle of Cerro Gordo, they used the "wooden leg captured (by theFourth Illinois regiment) from General Santa Anna".[75] The first formal baseball league outside of the UnitedStates and Canada was founded in 1878 in Cuba, which maintains a rich baseball tradition and whose nationalteam has been one of the world's strongest since international play began in the late 1930s (all organizedbaseball in the country has officially been amateur since the Cuban Revolution). The Dominican Republic heldits first islandwide championship tournament in 1912.[76] Professional baseball tournaments and leagues beganto form in other countries between the world wars, including the Netherlands (formed in 1922), Australia


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Sadaharu Oh managing the Japannational team in the 2006 WorldBaseball Classic. Playing for theCentral League's Yomiuri Giants(195980), Oh set the professionalworld record for home runs.

(1934), Japan (1936), Mexico (1937), and Puerto Rico (1938).[77] TheJapanese major leaguesthe Central League and Pacific Leaguehavelong been considered the highest quality professional circuits outside ofthe United States.[78] Japan has a professional minor league system aswell, though it is much smaller than the American versioneach team hasonly one farm club in contrast to MLB teams' four or five.[79]

After World War II, professional leagues were founded in many LatinAmerican nations, most prominently Venezuela (1946) and the DominicanRepublic (1955).[80] Since the early 1970s, the annual Caribbean Serieshas matched the championship clubs from the four leading Latin Americanwinter leagues: the Dominican Professional Baseball League, MexicanPacific League, Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League, andVenezuelan Professional Baseball League. In Asia, South Korea (1982),Taiwan (1990), and China (2003) all have professional leagues.[81]

Many European countries have professional leagues as well, the mostsuccessful, other than the Dutch league, being the Italian league founded in1948.[82] Compared to those in Asia and Latin America, the variousEuropean leagues and the one in Australia historically have had no morethan niche appeal. In 2004, Australia won a surprise silver medal at theOlympic Games. The Israel Baseball League, launched in 2007, foldedafter one season.[83] The Confdration Europene de Baseball (EuropeanBaseball Confederation), founded in 1953, organizes a number ofcompetitions between clubs from different countries, as well as national

squads. Other competitions between national teams, such as the Baseball World Cup and the Olympic baseballtournament, were administered by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) from its formation in 1938 untilits 2013 merger with the International Softball Federation to create the current joint governing body for bothsports, the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC). By 2009, the IBAF had 117 member countries.[84]Women's baseball is played on an organized amateur basis in many of the countries where it is a leading men'ssport. Since 2004, the IBAF and now WBSC have sanctioned the Women's Baseball World Cup, featuringnational teams.

After being admitted to the Olympics as a medal sport beginning with the 1992 Games, baseball was droppedfrom the 2012 Summer Olympic Games at the 2005 International Olympic Committee meeting. It remained partof the 2008 Games. The elimination of baseball, along with softball, from the 2012 Olympic program enabledthe IOC to consider adding two different sports, but none received the votes required for inclusion.[85] While thesport's lack of a following in much of the world was a factor, more important was Major League Baseball'sreluctance to have a break during the Games to allow its players to participate, as the National Hockey Leaguenow does during the Winter Olympic Games. Such a break is more difficult for MLB to accommodate because itwould force the playoffs deeper into cold weather.[86] Seeking reinstatement for the 2016 Summer Olympics, theIBAF proposed an abbreviated competition designed to facilitate the participation of top players, but the effortfailed.[87] Major League Baseball initiated the World Baseball Classic, scheduled to precede the major leagueseason, partly as a replacement, high-profile international tournament. The inaugural Classic, held in March2006, was the first tournament involving national teams to feature a significant number of MLB participants.[88]The Baseball World Cup was discontinued after its 2011 edition in favor of an expanded World BaseballClassic.[89]


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Diagram of a baseball field (the term diamond may be usedto refer to the square area defined by the four bases or to theentire playing field). The dimensions given are forprofessional and professional-style games. Children oftenplay on smaller fields.

Rules and gameplay

A game is played between two teams, each comprising nine players, that take turns playing offense (batting andbaserunning) and defense (pitching and fielding). A pair of turns, one at bat and one in the field, by each teamconstitutes an inning. A game consists of nine innings (seven innings at the high school level and indoubleheaders in college and minor leagues). One teamcustomarily the visiting teambats in the top, or firsthalf, of every inning. The other teamcustomarily the home teambats in the bottom, or second half, of everyinning. The goal of the game is to score more points (runs) than the other team. The players on the team at batattempt to score runs by circling or completing a tour of the four bases set at the corners of the square-shapedbaseball diamond. A player bats at home plate and must proceed counterclockwise to first base, second base,third base, and back home in order to score a run. The team in the field attempts both to prevent runs fromscoring and to record outs, which remove opposing players from offensive action until their turn in their team'sbatting order comes up again. When three outs are recorded, the teams switch roles for the next half-inning. Ifthe score of the game is tied after nine innings, extra innings are played to resolve the contest. Many amateurgames, particularly unorganized ones, involve different numbers of players and innings.[90]

The game is played on a field whose primaryboundaries, the foul lines, extend forward from homeplate at 45-degree angles. The 90-degree area withinthe foul lines is referred to as fair territory; the270-degree area outside them is foul territory. Thepart of the field enclosed by the bases and severalyards beyond them is the infield; the area fartherbeyond the infield is the outfield. In the middle ofthe infield is a raised pitcher's mound, with arectangular rubber plate (the rubber) at its center.The outer boundary of the outfield is typicallydemarcated by a raised fence, which may be of anymaterial and height (many amateur games are playedon unfenced fields). Fair territory between homeplate and the outfield boundary is baseball's field ofplay, though significant events can take place in foulterritory, as well.[91]

There are three basic tools of baseball: the ball, thebat, and the glove or mitt:

The baseball is about the size of an adult's fist,around 9 inches (23 centimeters) in circumference. It has a rubber or cork center, wound in yarn andcovered in white cowhide, with red stitching.[92]The bat is a hitting tool, traditionally made of a single, solid piece of wood. Other materials are nowcommonly used for nonprofessional games. It is a hard round stick, about 2.5 inches (6.4 centimeters) indiameter at the hitting end, tapering to a narrower handle and culminating in a knob. Bats used by adultsare typically around 34 inches (86 centimeters) long, and not longer than 42 inches (106 centimeters).[93]The glove or mitt is a fielding tool, made of padded leather with webbing between the fingers. As an aid incatching and holding onto the ball, it takes various shapes to meet the specific needs of different fieldingpositions.[94]

Protective helmets are also standard equipment for all batters.[95]


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Awaiting a pitch: batter, catcher, andumpire

At the beginning of each half-inning, the nine players on the fielding team arrange themselves around the field.One of them, the pitcher, stands on the pitcher's mound. The pitcher begins the pitching delivery with one footon the rubber, pushing off it to gain velocity when throwing toward home plate. Another player, the catcher,squats on the far side of home plate, facing the pitcher. The rest of the team faces home plate, typically arrangedas four infielderswho set up along or within a few yards outside the imaginary lines between first, second, andthird baseand three outfielders. In the standard arrangement, there is a first baseman positioned several stepsto the left of first base, a second baseman to the right of second base, a shortstop to the left of second base, and athird baseman to the right of third base. The basic outfield positions are left fielder, center fielder, and rightfielder. A neutral umpire sets up behind the catcher.[96] Other umpires will be distributed around the field aswell, though the number will vary depending on the level of play, amateur or children's games may only have anumpire behind the plate, while as many as six umpires can be used for important Major League Baseball games.

Play starts with a batter standing at home plate, holding a bat.[97] Thebatter waits for the pitcher to throw a pitch (the ball) toward home plate,and attempts to hit the ball[98] with the bat.[97] The catcher catchespitches that the batter does not hitas a result of either electing not toswing or failing to connectand returns them to the pitcher. A batterwho hits the ball into the field of play must drop the bat and beginrunning toward first base, at which point the player is referred to as arunner (or, until the play is over, a batter-runner). A batter-runner whoreaches first base without being put out (see below) is said to be safe andis now on base. A batter-runner may choose to remain at first base orattempt to advance to second base or even beyondhowever far theplayer believes can be reached safely. A player who reaches base despite

proper play by the fielders has recorded a hit. A player who reaches first base safely on a hit is credited with asingle. If a player makes it to second base safely as a direct result of a hit, it is a double; third base, a triple. If theball is hit in the air within the foul lines over the entire outfield (and outfield fence, if there is one), it is a homerun: the batter and any runners on base may all freely circle the bases, each scoring a run. This is the mostdesirable result for the batter. A player who reaches base due to a fielding mistake is not credited with ahitinstead, the responsible fielder is charged with an error.[97]

Any runners already on base may attempt to advance on batted balls that land, or contact the ground, in fairterritory, before or after the ball lands. A runner on first base must attempt to advance if a ball lands in play. If aball hit into play rolls foul before passing through the infield, it becomes dead and any runners must return to thebase they were at when the play began. If the ball is hit in the air and caught before it lands, the batter has fliedout and any runners on base may attempt to advance only if they tag up or touch the base they were at when theplay began, as or after the ball is caught. Runners may also attempt to advance to the next base while the pitcheris in the process of delivering the ball to home platea successful effort is a stolen base.[99]

A pitch that is not hit into the field of play is called either a strike or a ball. A batter against whom three strikesare recorded strikes out. A batter against whom four balls are recorded is awarded a base on balls or walk, a freeadvance to first base. (A batter may also freely advance to first base if the batter's body or uniform is struck by apitch outside the strike zone, provided the batter does not swing and attempts to avoid being hit.)[100] Crucial todetermining balls and strikes is the umpire's judgment as to whether a pitch has passed through the strike zone, aconceptual area above home plate extending from the midpoint between the batter's shoulders and belt down tothe hollow of the knee.[101]

A strike is called when one of the following happens:

The batter lets a well-pitched ball (one within the strike zone) go through to the catcher.


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A shortstop tries to tag out a runnerwho is sliding headfirst, attempting toreach second base.

The batter swings at any ball (even one outside the strike zone) and misses, or foul tips it directly into thecatcher's hands.The batter hits a foul ballone that either initially lands in foul territory or initially lands within thediamond but moves into foul territory before passing first or third base. If there are already two strikes onthe batter, a foul ball is not counted as a third strike; thus, a foul ball cannot result in the immediatestrikeout of the batter. (There is an exception to this exception: a two-strike foul bunt is recorded as a thirdstrike.)

A ball is called when the pitcher throws a pitch that is outside the strike zone, provided the batter has not swungat it.[101][102]

While the team at bat is trying to score runs, the team in the field isattempting to record outs. Among the various ways a member of thebatting team may be put out, five are most common:

The strikeout: as described above, recorded against a batter whomakes three strikes before putting the ball into play or beingawarded a free advance to first base (see also uncaught thirdstrike).The flyout: as described above, recorded against a batter who hits aball in the air that is caught by a fielder, whether in fair territory orfoul territory, before it lands, whether or not the batter has run.The ground out: recorded against a batter (in this case, batter-runner) who hits a ball that lands in fair territory which, before thebatter-runner can reach first base, is retrieved by a fielder who touches first base while holding the ball orrelays it to another fielder who touches first base while holding the ball.The force out: recorded against a runner who is required to attempt to advanceeither because the runneris on first base and a batted ball lands in fair territory, or because the runner immediately behind on thebasepath is thus required to attempt to advancebut fails to reach the next base before a fielder touchesthe base while holding the ball. The ground out is technically a special case of the force out.The tag out: recorded against a runner who is touched by a fielder with the ball or a glove holding the ball,while the runner is not touching a base.

It is possible to record two outs in the course of the same playa double play. Even threea triple playispossible, though this is very rare. Players put out or retired must leave the field, returning to their team's dugoutor bench. A runner may be stranded on base when a third out is recorded against another player on the team.Stranded runners do not benefit the team in its next turn at batevery half-inning begins with the bases emptyof runners.[103]

An individual player's turn batting or plate appearance is complete when the player reaches base, hits a homerun, makes an out, or hits a ball that results in the team's third out, even if it is recorded against a teammate. Onrare occasions, a batter may be at the plate when, without the batter's hitting the ball, a third out is recordedagainst a teammatefor instance, a runner getting caught stealing (tagged out attempting to steal a base). Abatter with this sort of incomplete plate appearance starts off the team's next turn batting; any balls or strikesrecorded against the batter the previous inning are erased. A runner may circle the bases only once per plateappearance and thus can score at most a single run per batting turn. Once a player has completed a plateappearance, that player may not bat again until the eight other members of the player's team have all taken theirturn at bat. The batting order is set before the game begins, and may not be altered except for substitutions. Oncea player has been removed for a substitute, that player may not reenter the game. Children's games often have


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Defensive positions on a baseball field, withabbreviations and scorekeeper's position numbers(not uniform numbers).

more liberal substitution rules.[104]

If the designated hitter (DH) rule is in effect, each team has a tenth player whose sole responsibility is to bat(and run). The DH takes the place of another playeralmost invariably the pitcherin the batting order, butdoes not field. Thus, even with the DH, each team still has a batting order of nine players and a fieldingarrangement of nine players.[105]

Personnel

Player rosters

Roster, or squad, sizes differ between different leagues anddifferent levels of organized play. Major League Baseballteams maintain 25-player active rosters. A typical 25-manroster in a league without the DH rule, such as MLB'sNational League, features:[106]

eight position playerscatcher, four infielders, threeoutfielderswho play on a regular basisfive starting pitchers who constitute the team'spitching rotation or starting rotationsix relief pitchers, including one specialist closer, whoconstitute the team's bullpen (named for the off-fieldarea where pitchers warm up)one backup, or substitute, catchertwo backup infielderstwo backup outfieldersone specialist pinch hitter, or a second backup catcher,or a seventh reliever

Other personnel

The manager, or head coach of a team, oversees the team's major strategic decisions, such as establishing thestarting rotation, setting the lineup, or batting order, before each game, and making substitutions duringgamesin particular, bringing in relief pitchers. Managers are typically assisted by two or more coaches; theymay have specialized responsibilities, such as working with players on hitting, fielding, pitching, or strength andconditioning. At most levels of organized play, two coaches are stationed on the field when the team is at bat:the first base coach and third base coach, occupying designated coaches' boxes just outside the foul lines, assistin the direction of baserunners when the ball is in play, and relay tactical signals from the manager to batters andrunners during pauses in play.[107] In contrast to many other team sports, baseball managers and coachesgenerally wear their team's uniforms; coaches must be in uniform in order to be allowed on the playing fieldduring a game.[108]

Any baseball game involves one or more umpires, who make rulings on the outcome of each play. At aminimum, one umpire will stand behind the catcher, to have a good view of the strike zone, and call balls andstrikes. Additional umpires may be stationed near the other bases, thus making it easier to judge plays such asattempted force outs and tag outs. In Major League Baseball, four umpires are used for each game, one neareach base. In the playoffs, six umpires are used: one at each base and two in the outfield along the foul lines.[109]


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Relief pitchers warming up, overseenby a bullpen coach. A manager willoften have both a right-handed and aleft-handed reliever warm up tomaximize strategic options.

Matthew Dipasupil Summer 2014Baseball Video

A first baseman receives a pickoffthrow, as the runner dives back tofirst base.

Strategy and tactics

Many of the pre-game andin-game strategic decisions inbaseball revolve around afundamental fact: in general,right-handed batters tend to bemore successful againstleft-handed pitchers and, to aneven greater degree, left-handedbatters tend to be more successfulagainst right-handed pitchers.[110]A manager with severalleft-handed batters in the regular lineup who knows the team will befacing a left-handed starting pitcher may respond by starting one or moreof the right-handed backups on the team's roster. During the late inningsof a game, as relief pitchers and pinch hitters are brought in, the opposingmanagers will often go back and forth trying to create favorablematchups with their substitutions: the manager of the fielding team tryingto arrange same-handed pitcher-batter matchups, the manager of thebatting team trying to arrange opposite-handed matchups. With a teamthat has the lead in the late innings, a manager may remove a starting

position playerespecially one whose turn at bat is not likely to come up againfor a more skillful fielder.[111]

Pitching and fielding tactics

The tactical decision that precedes almost every play in a baseball gameinvolves pitch selection. By gripping and then releasing the baseball in acertain manner, and by throwing it at a certain speed, pitchers can causethe baseball to break to either side, or downward, as it approaches thebatter.[112] Among the resulting wide variety of pitches that may bethrown, the four basic types are the fastball, the changeup (or off-speedpitch), and two breaking ballsthe curveball and the slider.[113] Pitchershave different repertoires of pitches they are skillful at throwing.Conventionally, before each pitch, the catcher signals the pitcher whattype of pitch to throw, as well as its general vertical and/or horizontallocation.[114] If there is disagreement on the selection, the pitcher mayshake off the sign and the catcher will call for a different pitch. With arunner on base and taking a lead, the pitcher may attempt a pickoff, a quick throw to a fielder covering the baseto keep the runner's lead in check or, optimally, effect a tag out. Pickoff attempts, however, are subject to rulesthat severely restrict the pitcher's movements before and during the pickoff attempt. Violation of any one ofthese rules could result in the umpire calling a balk against the pitcher, with the result being runners on base, ifany, advance one base with impunity.[112] If an attempted stolen base is anticipated, the catcher may call for apitchout, a ball thrown deliberately off the plate, allowing the catcher to catch it while standing and throwquickly to a base.[115] Facing a batter with a strong tendency to hit to one side of the field, the fielding team mayemploy a shift, with most or all of the fielders moving to the left or right of their usual positions. With a runneron third base, the infielders may play in, moving closer to home plate to improve the odds of throwing out therunner on a ground ball, though a sharply hit grounder is more likely to carry through a drawn-in infield.[116]


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A batter squares to bunt, moving hishands up the barrel of the bat toincrease his control and deaden theball on impact.

A well-worn baseball

Batting and baserunning tactics

Several basic offensive tactics come into play with a runner on first base,including the fundamental choice of whether to attempt a steal of secondbase. The hit and run is sometimes employed with a skillful contacthitter: the runner takes off with the pitch drawing the shortstop or secondbaseman over to second base, creating a gap in the infield for the batterto poke the ball through.[117] The sacrifice bunt calls for the batter tofocus on making contact with the ball so that it rolls a short distance intothe infield, allowing the runner to advance into scoring position even atthe expense of the batter being thrown out at firsta batter who succeedsis credited with a sacrifice. (A batter, particularly one who is a fastrunner, may also attempt to bunt for a hit.) A sacrifice bunt employedwith a runner on third base, aimed at bringing that runner home, isknown as a squeeze play.[118] With a runner on third and fewer than twoouts, a batter may instead concentrate on hitting a fly ball that, even if itis caught, will be deep enough to allow the runner to tag up and scorea successful batter in this case gets creditfor a sacrifice fly.[116] The manager will sometimes signal a batter who is ahead in the count (i.e., has more ballsthan strikes) to take, or not swing at, the next pitch.[119]

Distinctive elements

Baseball has certain attributes that set it apart from the other popular team sports in the countries where it has afollowing, including but not limited to American and Canadian football, basketball, ice hockey, and soccer. Allof these sports use a clock; in all of them, play is less individual and more collective; and in none of them is thevariation between playing fields nearly as substantial or important. The comparison between cricket and baseballdemonstrates that many of baseball's distinctive elements are shared in various ways with its cousin sports.

No clock to kill

In clock-limited sports, games often end with a team that holds the leadkilling the clock rather than competing aggressively against the opposingteam. In contrast, baseball has no clock; a team cannot win withoutgetting the last batter out and rallies are not constrained by time. Atalmost any turn in any baseball game, the most advantageous strategy issome form of aggressive strategy.[120] In contrast, again, the clock comesinto play even in the case of multi-day Test and first-class cricket: thepossibility of a draw often encourages a team that is batting last and wellbehind to bat defensively, giving up any faint chance at a win to avoid aloss.[121] Baseball offers no such reward for conservative batting.

While nine innings has been the standard since the beginning ofprofessional baseball, the duration of the average major league game has

increased steadily through the years. At the turn of the 20th century, games typically took an hour and a half toplay. In the 1920s, they averaged just less than two hours, which eventually ballooned to 2:38 in 1960.[122] By1997, the average American League game lasted 2:57 (National League games were about 10 minutes shorterpitchers at the plate making for quicker outs than designated hitters).[123] In 2004, Major League Baseballdeclared that its goal was an average game of merely 2:45.[122] By 2014, though, the average MLB game took


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over three hours to complete.[124] The lengthening of games is attributed to longer breaks between half-inningsfor television commercials, increased offense, more pitching changes, and a slower pace of play with pitcherstaking more time between each delivery, and batters stepping out of the box more frequently.[122][123] Otherleagues have experienced similar issues. In 2008, Nippon Professional Baseball took steps aimed at shorteninggames by 12 minutes from the preceding decade's average of 3:18.[125]

Individual focus

Although baseball is a team sport, individual players are often placed under scrutiny and pressure. In 1915, abaseball instructional manual pointed out that every single pitch, of which there are often more than two hundredin a game, involves an individual, one-on-one contest: "the pitcher and the batter in a battle of wits".[126]Contrasting the game with both football and basketball, scholar Michael Mandelbaum argues that "baseball isthe one closest in evolutionary descent to the older individual sports".[127] Pitcher, batter, and fielder all actessentially independent of each other. While coaching staffs can signal pitcher or batter to pursue certain tactics,the execution of the play itself is a series of solitary acts. If the batter hits a line drive, the outfielder is solelyresponsible for deciding to try to catch it or play it on the bounce and for succeeding or failing. The statisticalprecision of baseball is both facilitated by this isolation and reinforces it. As described by Mandelbaum,

It is impossible to isolate and objectively assess the contribution each [football] team membermakes to the outcome of the play ... [E]very basketball player is interacting with all of histeammates all the time. In baseball, by contrast, every player is more or less on his own ... Baseballis therefore a realm of complete transparency and total responsibility. A baseball player lives in aglass house, and in a stark moral universe ... Everything that every player does is accounted for andeverything accounted for is either good or bad, right or wrong.[128]

Cricket is more similar to baseball than many other team sports in this regard: while the individual focus incricket is mitigated by the importance of the batting partnership and the practicalities of tandem running, it isenhanced by the fact that a batsman may occupy the wicket for an hour or much more. There is no statisticalequivalent in cricket for the fielding error and thus less emphasis on personal responsibility in this area ofplay.[129]

Uniqueness of each baseball park

Unlike those of most sports, baseball playing fields can vary significantly in size and shape. While thedimensions of the infield are specifically regulated, the only constraint on outfield size and shape forprofessional teams following the rules of Major League and Minor League Baseball is that fields built orremodeled since June 1, 1958, must have a minimum distance of 325 feet (99 m) from home plate to the fencesin left and right field and 400 feet (122 m) to center.[130] Major league teams often skirt even this rule. Forexample, at Minute Maid Park, which became the home of the Houston Astros in 2000, the Crawford Boxes inleft field are only 315 feet (96 m) from home plate.[131] There are no rules at all that address the height of fencesor other structures at the edge of the outfield. The most famously idiosyncratic outfield boundary is the left-fieldwall at Boston's Fenway Park, in use since 1912: the Green Monster is 310 feet (94 m) from home plate downthe line and 37 feet (11 m) tall.[132]

Similarly, there are no regulations at all concerning the dimensions of foul territory. Thus a foul fly ball may beentirely out of play in a park with little space between the foul lines and the stands, but a foulout in a park withmore expansive foul ground.[133] A fence in foul territory that is close to the outfield line will tend to direct balls


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Fenway Park, home of the BostonRed Sox. The Green Monster isvisible beyond the playing field onthe left.

that strike it back toward the fielders, while one that is farther away mayactually prompt more collisions, as outfielders run full speed to fieldballs deep in the corner. These variations can make the differencebetween a double and a triple or inside-the-park home run.[134] Thesurface of the field is also unregulated. While the image to the left showsa traditional field surfacing arrangement (and the one used by virtuallyall MLB teams with naturally surfaced fields), teams are free to decidewhat areas will be grassed or bare.[135] Some fieldsincluding several inMLBuse an artificial surface, such as AstroTurf. Surface variations canhave a significant effect on how ground balls behave and are fielded aswell as on baserunning. Similarly, the presence of a roof (seven majorleague teams play in stadiums with permanent or retractable roofs) cangreatly affect how fly balls are played.[136] While football and soccerplayers deal with similar variations of field surface and stadium covering,

the size and shape of their fields are much more standardized. The area out-of-bounds on a football or soccerfield does not affect play the way foul territory in baseball does, so variations in that regard are largelyinsignificant.[137]

These physical variations create a distinctive set of playing conditions at each ballpark. Other local factors, suchas altitude and climate, can also significantly affect play. A given stadium may acquire a reputation as a pitcher'spark or a hitter's park, if one or the other discipline notably benefits from its unique mix of elements. The mostexceptional park in this regard is Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies. Its high altitude5,282 feet(1,610 m) above sea levelis responsible for giving it the strongest hitter's park effect in the major leagues.[138]Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, is known for its fickle disposition: a hitter's park when the strongwinds off Lake Michigan are blowing out, it becomes more of a pitcher's park when they are blowing in.[139]The absence of a standardized field affects not only how particular games play out, but the nature of team rostersand players' statistical records. For example, hitting a fly ball 330 feet (100 m) into right field might result in aneasy catch on the warning track at one park, and a home run at another. A team that plays in a park with arelatively short right field, such as the New York Yankees, will tend to stock its roster with left-handed pullhitters, who can best exploit it. On the individual level, a player who spends most of his career with a team thatplays in a hitter's park will gain an advantage in batting statistics over timeeven more so if his talents areespecially suited to the park.[140]

Statistics

Organized baseball lends itself to statistics to a greater degree than many other sports. Each play is discrete andhas a relatively small number of possible outcomes. In the late 19th century, a former cricket player,English-born Henry Chadwick of Brooklyn, New York, was responsible for the "development of the box score,tabular standings, the annual baseball guide, the batting average, and most of the common statistics and tablesused to describe baseball."[141] The statistical record is so central to the game's "historical essence" thatChadwick came to be known as Father Baseball.[141] In the 1920s, American newspapers began devoting moreand more attention to baseball statistics, initiating what journalist and historian Alan Schwarz describes as a"tectonic shift in sports, as intrigue that once focused mostly on teams began to go to individual players and theirstatistics lines."[142]

The Official Baseball Rules administered by Major League Baseball require the official scorer to categorize eachbaseball play unambiguously. The rules provide detailed criteria to promote consistency. The score report is theofficial basis for both the box score of the game and the relevant statistical records.[143] General managers,


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Rickey Hendersonthe majorleagues' all-time leader in runs andstolen basesstealing third base in a1988 game.

Cy Youngthe holder of many majorleague career marks, including winsand innings pitched, as well aslossesin 1908. MLB's annualawards for the best pitcher in eachleague are named for Young.

managers, and baseball scouts use statistics to evaluate players and make strategic decisions.

Certain traditional statistics are familiar to most baseball fans. The basicbatting statistics include:[144]

At bats: plate appearances, excluding walks and hit by pitcheswhere the batter's ability is not fully testedand sacrifices andsacrifice flieswhere the batter intentionally makes an out inorder to advance one or more baserunnersHits: times reached base because of a batted, fair ball withoutfielding error or fielder's choiceRuns: times circling the bases and reaching home safelyRuns batted in (RBIs): number of runners who scored due to abatter's action (including the batter, in the case of a home run),except when batter grounded into double play or reached on anerrorHome runs: hits on which the batter successfully touched all four bases, without the contribution of afielding errorBatting average: hits divided by at batsthe traditional measure of batting ability

The basic baserunning statistics include:[145]

Stolen bases: times advancing to the next base entirely due to the runner's own efforts, generally while thepitcher is preparing to deliver or delivering the ballCaught stealing: times tagged out while attempting to steal a base

The basic pitching statistics include:[146]

Wins: credited to pitcher on winning team who last pitched beforethe team took a lead that it never relinquished (a starting pitchermust pitch at least five innings to qualify for a win)Losses: charged to pitcher on losing team who was pitching whenthe opposing team took a lead that it never relinquishedSaves: games where the pitcher enters a game led by the pitcher'steam, finishes the game without surrendering the lead, is not thewinning pitcher, and either (a) the lead was three runs or less whenthe pitcher entered the game; (b) the potential tying run was onbase, at bat, or on deck; or (c) the pitcher pitched three or moreinningsInnings pitched: outs recorded while pitching divided by threeStrikeouts: times pitching three strikes to a batterWinning percentage: wins divided by decisions (wins plus losses)Earned run average (ERA): runs allowed, excluding those resultingfrom fielding errors, per nine innings pitched

The basic fielding statistics include:[147]

Putouts: times the fielder catches a fly ball, tags or forces out a runner, or otherwise directly effects an outAssists: times a putout by another fielder was recorded following the fielder touching the ball


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Errors: times the fielder fails to make a play that should have been made with common effort, and thebatting team benefits as a resultTotal chances: putouts plus assists plus errorsFielding average: successful chances (putouts plus assists) divided by total chances

Among the many other statistics that are kept are those collectively known as situational statistics. For example,statistics can indicate which specific pitchers a certain batter performs best against. If a given situationstatistically favors a certain batter, the manager of the fielding team may be more likely to change pitchers orhave the pitcher intentionally walk the batter in order to face one who is less likely to succeed.[148]

Sabermetrics

Sabermetrics refers to the field of baseball statistical study and the development of new statistics and analyticaltools. The term is also used to refer directly to new statistics themselves. The term was coined around 1980 byone of the field's leading proponents, Bill James, and derives from the Society for American Baseball Research(SABR).[149]

The growing popularity of sabermetrics since the early 1980s has brought more attention to two batting statisticsthat sabermetricians argue are much better gauges of a batter's skill than batting average:[150]

On-base percentage measures a batter's ability to get on base. It is calculated by taking the sum of thebatter's successes in getting on base (hits plus walks plus hit by pitches) and dividing that by the batter'stotal plate appearances (at bats plus walks plus hit by pitches plus sacrifice flies), except for sacrificebunts.[151]Slugging percentage measures a batter's ability to hit for power. It is calculated by taking the batter's totalbases (one per each single, two per double, three per triple, and four per home run) and dividing that bythe batter's at bats.[152]

Some of the new statistics devised by sabermetricians have gained wide use:

On-base plus slugging (OPS) measures a batter's overall ability. It is calculated by adding the batter'son-base percentage and slugging percentage.[153]Walks plus hits per inning pitched (WHIP) measures a pitcher's ability at preventing hitters from reachingbase. It is calculated exactly as its name suggests.[154]

Popularity and cultural impact

Writing in 1919, philosopher Morris Raphael Cohen described baseball as America's national religion.[155] Inthe words of sports columnist Jayson Stark, baseball has long been "a unique paragon of American culture"astatus he sees as devastated by the steroid abuse scandal.[156] Baseball has an important place in other nationalcultures as well: Scholar Peter Bjarkman describes "how deeply the sport is ingrained in the history and cultureof a nation such as Cuba, [and] how thoroughly it was radically reshaped and nativized in Japan."[157] Since theearly 1980s, the Dominican Republic, in particular the city of San Pedro de Macors, has been the major leagues'primary source of foreign talent.[158] Hall-of-Famer Roberto Clemente remains one of the greatest nationalheroes in Puerto Rico's history.[159] While baseball has long been the island's primary athletic pastime, its oncewell-attended professional winter league has declined in popularity since 1990, when young Puerto Ricanplayers began to be included in the major leagues' annual first-year player draft.[160] In the Western Hemisphere,


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Two players on the baseballteam of Tokyo, Japan'sWaseda University in 1921

An Afghan girl playingbaseball in August 2002.

Opening Day of 1961 Baseball Season.President John F. Kennedy throws outfirst ball.

baseball is also one of the leading sports inCanada, Colombia, Mexico, the NetherlandsAntilles, Nicaragua, Panama, and Venezuela. InAsia, it is among the most popular sports inJapan, South Korea and Taiwan.

The major league game in the United States wasoriginally targeted toward a middle-class, white-collar audience: relative to other spectatorpastimes, the National League's set ticket price of50 cents in 1876 was high, while the location ofplaying fields outside the inner city and theworkweek daytime scheduling of games werealso obstacles to a blue-collar audience.[161] Acentury later, the situation was very different.With the rise in popularity of other team sportswith much higher average ticket pricesfootball,

basketball, and hockeyprofessional baseball had become among the mostblue-collar-oriented of leading American spectator sports.[162]

In the late 1900s and early 2000s, baseball's position compared to football in the United States moved incontradictory directions. In 2008, Major League Baseball set a revenue record of $6.5 billion, matching theNFL's revenue for the first time in decades.[163] A new MLB revenue record of $6.6 billion was set in 2009.[164]On the other hand, the percentage of American sports fans polled who named baseball as their favorite sport was16%, compared to pro football at 31%. In 1985, the respective figures were pro football 24%, baseball 23%.[165]Because there are so many more major league baseball games played, there is no comparison in overallattendance. In 2008, total attendance at major league games was the second-highest in history: 78.6 million,0.7% off the record set the previous year.[66] The following year, amid the U.S. recession, attendance fell by6.6% to 73.4 million.[164] Attendance at games held under the Minor League Baseball umbrella also set a recordin 2007, with 42.8 million;[67] this figure does not include attendance at games of the several independent minorleagues.

In Japan, where baseball is inarguably the leading spectator teamsport, combined revenue for the twelve teams in Nippon ProfessionalBaseball (NPB), the body that oversees both the Central and Pacificleagues, was estimated at $1 billion in 2007. Total NPB attendance forthe year was approximately 20 million. While in the preceding twodecades, MLB attendance grew by 50 percent and revenue nearlytripled, the comparable NPB figures were stagnant. There areconcerns that MLB's growing interest in acquiring star Japaneseplayers will hurt the game in their home country.[79] In Cuba, wherebaseball is by every reckoning the national sport,[166] the nationalteam overshadows the city and provincial teams that play in thetop-level domestic leagues.[167] Revenue figures are not released forthe country's amateur system. Similarly, according to one officialpronouncement, the sport's governing authority "has never taken intoaccount attendance ... because its greatest interest has always been thedevelopment of athletes".[168]


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As of 2007, Little League Baseball oversees more than 7,000 children's baseball leagues with more than 2.2million participants2.1 million in the United States and 123,000 in other countries.[169] Babe Ruth Leagueteams have over 1 million participants.[170] According to the president of the International Baseball Federation,between 300,000 and 500,000 women and girls play baseball around the world, including Little League and theintroductory game of Tee Ball.[171]

A varsity baseball team is an established part of physical education departments at most high schools andcolleges in the United States. In 2008, nearly half a million high schoolers and over 35,000 collegians played ontheir schools' baseball teams.[169] The number of Americans participating in baseball has declined since the late1980s, falling well behind the number of soccer participants.[172] By early in the 20th century, intercollegiatebaseball was Japan's leading sport. Today, high school baseball in particular is immensely popular there.[173] Thefinal rounds of the two annual tournamentsthe National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament in thespring, and the even more important National High School Baseball Championship in the summerarebroadcast around the country. The tournaments are known, respectively, as Spring Koshien and SummerKoshien after the 55,000-capacity stadium where they are played.[174] In Cuba, baseball is a mandatory part ofthe state system of physical education, which begins at age six. Talented children as young as seven are sent tospecial district schools for more intensive trainingthe first step on a ladder whose acme is the national baseballteam.[167]

Baseball in popular culture

Baseball has had a broad impact on popular culture, both in the United States and elsewhere. Dozens of English-language idioms have been derived from baseball; in particular, the game is the source of a number of widelyused sexual euphemisms.[176] The first networked radio broadcasts in North America were of the 1922 WorldSeries: famed sportswriter Grantland Rice announced play-by-play from New York City's Polo Grounds onWJZNewark, New Jersey, which was connected by wire to WGYSchenectady, New York, andWBZSpringfield, Massachusetts.[177] The baseball cap has become a ubiquitous fashion item not only in theUnited States and Japan, but also in countries where the sport itself is not particularly popular, such as theUnited Kingdom.[178]

Baseball has inspired many works of art and entertainment. One of the first major examples, Ernest Thayer'spoem "Casey at the Bat", appeared in 1888. A wry description of the failure of a star player in what would nowbe called a "clutch situation", the poem became the source of vaudeville and other staged performances, audiorecordings, film adaptations, and an opera, as well as a host of sequels and parodies in various media. Therehave been many baseball movies, including the Academy Awardwinning The Pride of the Yankees (1942) andthe Oscar nominees The Natural (1984) and Field of Dreams (1989). The American Film Institute's selection ofthe ten best sports movies includes The Pride of the Yankees at number 3 and Bull Durham (1988) at number5.[179] Baseball has provided thematic material for hits on both stagethe AdlerRoss musical DamnYankeesand recordGeorge J. Gaskin's "Slide, Kelly, Slide", Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson", andJohn Fogerty's "Centerfield".[180] The baseball-founded comedic sketch "Who's on First", popularized by Abbottand Costello in 1938, quickly became famous. Six decades later, Time named it the best comedy routine of the20th century.[181] Baseball is also featured in various video games including MLB: The Show, Wii Sports, KinectSports: Season 2 and Mario Baseball.

Literary works connected to the game include the short fiction of Ring Lardner and novels such as BernardMalamud's The Natural (the source for the movie), Robert Coover's The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J.Henry Waugh, Prop., and W. P. Kinsella's Shoeless Joe (the source for Field of Dreams). Baseball's literarycanon also includes the beat reportage of Damon Runyon; the columns of Grantland Rice, Red Smith, Dick


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The American Tobacco Company'sline of baseball cards featuredshortstop Honus Wagner of thePittsburgh Pirates from 1909 to 1911.In 2007, the card shown here sold for$2.8 million.[175]

A New York Yankees batter and aBoston Red Sox catcher

Young, and Peter Gammons; and the essays of Roger Angell. Among thecelebrated nonfiction books in the field are Lawrence S. Ritter's TheGlory of Their Times, Roger Kahn's The Boys of Summer, and MichaelLewis's Moneyball. The 1970 publication of major league pitcher JimBouton's tell-all chronicle Ball Four is considered a turning point in thereporting of professional sports.[182]

Baseball has also inspired the creation of new cultural forms. Baseballcards were introduced in the late 19th century as trade cards. A typicalexample would feature an image of a baseball player on one side andadvertising for a business on the other. In the early 1900s they wereproduced widely as promotional items by tobacco and confectionerycompanies. The 1930s saw the popularization of the modern style ofbaseball card, with a player photograph accompanied on the rear bystatistics and biographical data. Baseball cardsmany of which are nowprized collectiblesare the source of the much broader trading cardindustry, involving similar products for different sports and non-sports-related fields.[183]

Modern fantasy sports began in 1980 with the invention of RotisserieLeague Baseball by New York writer Daniel Okrent and several friends.Participants in a Rotisserie league draft notional teams from the list ofactive Major League Baseball players and play out an entire imaginaryseason with game outcomes based on the players' latest real-worldstatistics. Rotisserie-style play quickly became a phenomenon. Nowknown more generically as fantasy baseball, it has inspired similar gamesbased on an array of different sports.[184] The field boomed withincreasing Internet access and new fantasy sportsrelated websites. By2008, 29.9 million people in the United States and Canada were playingfantasy sports, spending $800 million on the hobby.[185] The burgeoning popularity of fantasy baseball is alsocredited with the increasing attention paid to sabermetricsfirst among fans, only later among baseballprofessionals.[186]

See also

Baseball awardsBaseball clothing and equipmentList of organized baseball leaguesList of Major League Baseball single-game recordsOutline of baseball

Related sports

Brnnboll (Scandinavian bat-and-ball game)British baseballLapta (game) (Russian bat-and-ball game)Oin (Romanian bat-and-ball game)Pespallo ("Finnish baseball")Stickball


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Stoop ballWiffleball

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