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Baseball is a team sport in which a small hand-sized ball is thrown and hit with a bat. Scoring involves running and touching markers on the ground called bases, hence the name. The ball itself is also called a baseball. Baseball is sometimes called hardball to differentiate it from the closely related sport of softball and other similar games.
Baseball is popular in the Americas and East Asia. In Japan, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Panama, South Korea, and some other countries, it is the most popular sport by any measurement. In the United States, baseball has often been called the national pastime, and the total attendance for Major League games is more than that of all other American professional team sports combined. Among American television viewers, however, it has been surpassed in popularity by American footballAmerican football known in the United States simply as football is a competitive team sport that rewards players' speed, agility, skill, tactics, and brute strength as they run and throw a ball, and block, tackle, and outrun each other, trying to force th and car racingThis article is about the sport of stock car racing . A stock car is also a type of railroad freight car Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing found mainly in the United States held largely on banked concrete oval tracks of between approximately. Although the three most popular team sports in North America are ballAlternate uses: See Ball (disambiguation A ball is a round object that is used most often in sports and games. Balls are usually hollow and spherical but can be other shapes, such as ovoid (only in a few special cases) or solid (as in billiards) and flat games (baseball, basketballBasketball is a ball sport in which two teams of five players each try to score points by throwing the ball through a basket. Basketball is highly suited to viewing by spectators, as it is primarily an indoor sport, played in a relatively small playing ar and American footballAmerican football known in the United States simply as football is a competitive team sport that rewards players' speed, agility, skill, tactics, and brute strength as they run and throw a ball, and block, tackle, and outrun each other, trying to force th), baseball's popularity was once so great that the word "ballgame" in the United States specifically refers to a game of baseball, and "ballfield" to a baseball fieldA baseball field is a playing field used for baseball. The starting point for much of the action on the field is home plate, which is a white rubber pentagon seventeen inches wide. Next to each of the two parallel sides is a batter's box. The point of the.
Diagram of a baseball fieldA baseball field is a playing field used for baseball. The starting point for much of the action on the field is home plate, which is a white rubber pentagon seventeen inches wide. Next to each of the two parallel sides is a batter's box. The point of the. Baseball is played between two teams of nine players each on a baseball fieldA baseball field is a playing field used for baseball. The starting point for much of the action on the field is home plate, which is a white rubber pentagon seventeen inches wide. Next to each of the two parallel sides is a batter's box. The point of the, usually under the authority of one or more officials, called umpireGary Darling signals that the last pitch was a strike In baseball, the umpire is the person charged with officiating the game, including beginning and ending the game, enforcing the rules of the game and the grounds, making judgment calls on plays, and mes. There are usually four umpires in major league games; up to six may officiate depending on the league and the importance of the game. There are four bases. Numbered counter-clockwise, first, second and third bases are cushions shaped as 15- inch (38 cm) squares which are raised above the ground; together with home plate, the fourth base, they form a square with sides of 90 feet (27.4 meters) called the diamond. Home base is a pentagonal slab known as home plate. The field is divided into two main sections: the infield contains the four bases, and beyond two adjacent sides of the diamond there is an outfield. The other two sides of the diamond form the start of the foul lines, which extend straight, and form the boundary in the outfield as well.
The game is played in nine innings in which each team gets one turn to bat and try to score runs while the other pitches and defends in the field. In baseball, the defense always has the ball -- a fact that differentiates it from most other team sports. The teams switch every time the defending team gets three players of the batting team out. The winner is the team with the most runs after nine innings. In the case of a tie, additional innings are played until one team comes out ahead. At the start of the game, all nine players of the home team play the field, while players on the visiting team come to bat one at a time.
The basic contest is always between the pitcher for the fielding team, and a batter. The pitcher throws— pitches—the ball towards home plate, where the catcher for the fielding team waits to receive it. The batter stands in one of the batter's boxes and tries to hit the ball with a bat. The catcher's job is to catch any ball that the batter misses or does not swing at, and, most importantly, to "call" the game by a series of hand signals to the pitcher what pitch to throw and where. If the pitcher disagrees with the call, he will "shake off" the catcher by shaking his head no; he accepts the sign by nodding. The catcher's role becomes more crucial depending on how the game is going, and how the pitcher responds to a given situation. Each pitch begins a new play, which might consist of nothing more than the pitch itself.
Each inning, the goal of the defending team is to get three members of the other team out. A player who is out must temporarily leave the field and await for his turn to bat to arrive again, thus he cannot produce any more offense until then. There are many ways to get batters and baserunners out; some of the most common are catching a batted ball in the air, tag outs, force outs, and strikeouts. After the fielding team has put out three of the batting team's players, the half-inning is over and the team in the field and the team at bat switch places.
The goal of the team at bat is to score runs; a player may do so only by batting, then becoming a base runner, touching all the bases in order (via one or more plays), and finally touching home plate. To that end, the goal of each batter is to enable baserunners to score or become a baserunner himself. The batter attempts to hit the ball into fair territory—between the foul lines—in such a way that the defending players cannot get him or the baserunners out. In general, the pitcher attempts to prevent this by pitching the ball in such a way that the batter cannot hit it cleanly.
A baserunner who successfully touches home plate after touching all previous bases in order scores a run. In an enclosed field, a fair ball hit over the fence on the fly is normally an automatic home run, which entitles the batter and all runners to touch all the bases and score.
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