BASEBALL

1. INTRODUCTION
2. AIM OF THE GAME
3. ORIGINS
4. BASIC RULES
5. BASEBALL SKILLS
6. BASEBALL PITCH
7. BASEBALL TOOLS
8. SCHOOL BASEBALL (SOFTBALL)
9. TERMINOLOGY (USEFUL VOCABULARY)

2. AIM OF THE GAME

-Baseball is a team sport played between two teams of nine.

- The aim is to score runs by hitting a ball and running around.
- Each team alternates between batting and fielding. They switch whenever
the fielding team record three outs.
- One batting turn for each team makes an inning. In a professional game
there are 9 innings.
Therefore, a baseball game could last a few days.

1
 3. Origins

- An early form of baseball was being played in England by the mid-eighteenth

century.

- This game was brought by British and Irish immigrants to North America,
where the modern version of baseball developed.

- In the nineteenth century, baseball was recognized as the national sport of the
United States. During the Second World War baseball became popular because
of the soldiers of the EE.UU.

- Baseball on the professional, amateur, and youth levels is now popular in

North America, parts of Central and South America and the Caribbean, and
parts of East Asia.

- The game is sometimes referred to as hardball, in contrast to the derivative

game of softball.

- In North America, professional Major League Baseball (MLB) teams are

divided into the National League (NL) and American League (AL).

- In 1992, Barcelona, Baseball was official Olympic sport after a long story as an
exhibition sport.

2
4. BASEBALL RULES

• Two teams with nine players which alternate between fielding and
batting.
• The batting team must hit the ball and try to run past all three bases
before the ball gets to the batter or to the base.
• If they do a complete race they score a home run.
• The fielding team must try to get the ball back to the catcher or to a
fielder on one of the bases before the batter or another player has
reached a base.
• The catcher has to put the ball on the home plate to eliminate a batting
player.
• A batter only has three attempts to hit the ball, if they don’t hit the ball
after three attempts they would be eliminated. (Strikes)
• If the batting team scores three consecutive home runs an eliminated
batter would be saved.
• The strikeout: as described above, recorded against a batter who makes
three strikes before putting the ball into play or being awarded a free
advance to first base.

• The fly out: recorded against a batter who hits a ball in the air that is
caught by a fielder before it lands, whether or not the batter has run.
• The ground out: before the batter who has hit the ball in fair territory can
reach first base, a fielder touches the base while holding the ball.
• The tag out: when a fielder touches a runner with the ball or a glove
holding the ball, while the runner is not touching a base.

3
5. BASEBALL SKILLS

Pitching

The pitch is the act of throwing the ball towards the home plate to start play.
Pitchers throw various different types of pitch to confuse the batter and to aid
the defending team in getting the batter out.

To obtain the variety, the pitcher changes his grip on the ball. The different
pitches incluye:

• Fastball
• Sinker
• Curveball
• Slider
• Screwball
• Changeup
• Knuckle Ball

4
Batting

Batting is the act of facing the opposing pitcher by hitting the ball. In general,
batters try to get hits. However, their primary objective is to avoid making an out
and helping their team to score runs.

Batters vary in their behaviour at the plate. Some are aggressive hitters, often
swinging at the first pitch. Others are patient, attempting to work the pitch count
in order to observe all the types of pitches a pitcher will use, as well as trying to
eliminate the pitcher when he is tired.

Different types of hitters include:

• Power hitters
• Slap hitters
• Complete hitters
• Switch hitters
• Designated hitters

5
5. BASEBALL PITCH

Basically, the baseball pitch is like a diamond consisting of three bases and a
home plate. (See picture below). It is also known as the baseball diamond or
the baseball field.

- The game is played on a field whose primary boundaries are called

the foul lines. Inside the foul lines we have the fair territory.

- The pitcher's mound is in the middle of the infield, with a rectangular

rubber plate (the rubber) at its center. This is where the pitcher stands when
throwing the pitch.

- Home plate, formally designated home base in the rules, is the final base
that a player must touch to score.

- The catcher covers home plate when a runner tries to score a run; he must
tag the runner with the ball before the runner touches the home plate.

- The batter box is where the batter stands when ready to receive a pitch from
the pitcher.

- The other three corners of the square, in anticlockwise order from home plate,
are called first base, second base, and third base.

6
 6. Baseball Tools

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

• The baseball is about the size of an adult's fist. It has a rubber center,
and is covered in white cow hide.

• The bat is a hitting tool, traditionally made of a single, solid piece of

wood; other materials are now commonly used for nonprofessional
games.

• The glove or mitt is a fielding tool, made of leather. The glove has
different shapes to meet the specific needs of different fielding positions.

• Protective helmets are also standard equipment for all batters.

7
 7. SOFTBALL (SCHOOL BASEBALL)

- Softball is a team sport commonly played in the United States and other
countries.

- It is a direct descendant of baseball and it is commonly known as girl baseball.

- At the beginning it was invented to be a way to keep playing baseball during

the cold winter, but at the end it became very popular across the whole country.

- Some differences between softball and baseball are:

*Softballs are bigger and softer than baseballs.

* Softballs are pitched underhand.

* Softball is played on a smaller diamond.

* In softball a game last 7 innings

8
8. Vocabulary, terminology and expressions (Look up in a dictionary).

Batter:
Fielder:
Bases:
Homerun:
Strike:
Home plate:
Pitcher:
A slide:
Umpire:
To Pitch:
To score:
Catcher:
Pitcher:
To catch:
Inning:
Mitt:
Fly out:
Tag out:
Switch hitter:
Batter box:
Foul ball:
Wild pitch: a great pitch (very fast)
Swinging for the fences: trying to hit a homerun
Bazooka: a strong throwing arm
Big fly: A long home run
Hit a bullet: hit the ball very hard

9
10