Baseball

Vocabulary | Knowledge Quiz | Vocabulary Quiz

For hundreds of years people in many parts of the world have played "bat and
ball" games. In these games, a player on one team throws a ball and a player on
the other team tries to hit the ball with a bat and score runs. Today, the two most
popular bat and ball games are cricket and baseball. While cricket is popular in
England, Australia, India, Pakistan, South Africa, and many other Commonwealth
countries, baseball is popular in the U.S.A., Canada, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and many Central
American countries. Baseball is becoming more and more popular in many other countries as well,
especially in China where it's being actively promoted by the American leagues as they try to make it the
world's number one bat and ball game.

History

In the eighteenth century, many people from Great Britain and Europe travelled to the new colonies in
North America to settle and build new lives. These settlers took along traditional games that their
families had been playing for generations, including several bat and ball games such as Ireland's
"rounders" and Germany's "schlagball". During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, new variations
like "town ball", "goal ball" and "round ball" appeared. Each form of the game had its followers, but
none really dominated until the 1840's when New York fireman Alexander Joy Cartwright helped
develop a new variation of "town ball" called "baseball". In 1845, he formed the Knickerbocker Baseball
Club with his friends at the Knickerbocker Fire Engine Company, and they then wrote out a set of rules
which became the basis of modern baseball. Cartwright umpired the first officially recorded game on
June 19, 1846 in New Jersey, between the Knickerbockers and the New York Nine, and today he is seen
as one of the most important pioneers of the game.

In 1857 the National Association of Baseball Players was established, and in 1871 the first attempt at
forming a "major league" was made when the short-lived National Association was set up. Several other
attempts were made to set up professional baseball leagues, but most of them failed. The two leagues
that did survive were the National League, founded in 1876, and the American League, founded in 1901.
These two leagues competed for top players, commercial sponsorship and popular support. Both
leagues claimed to have the best players and teams, so in 1903 the "World Series" competition was
established in which the top teams from each league competed for the honor of being known as "world
champions".

The World Series is still baseball's biggest prize, and the U.S.A. and Canada still have the strongest teams
in the world, with top managers and players earning millions of dollars a year. Professional leagues have
also been established in many other countries as well, including Cuba, the Netherlands, Australia, Japan,
Puerto Rico, Italy, Venezuela, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Korea, Taiwan and China, and the game
seems sure to become even more popular around the world in the future.
Baseball has traditionally been played by men and boys far more than by women and girls. However,
leagues for women and girls now exist in several countries, and international competitions have been
held since 2001.

How The Game Works

Baseball is played between two teams of nine players on a specially-built baseball field, with up to
four umpires in charge of a game. The teams take turns throwing the ball, or pitching, and batting.
The pitcher throws the ball from the pitcher's mound (see diagram at right), aiming to throw it over a
pentagonal rubber slab known as the home plate. The batter stands to one side of this plate, and tries to
hit the ball when it is pitched. If the batter doesn't hit a pitch that is in the strike zone, meaning it's over
the plate and not too high or too low, the umpire calls a strike. If three strikes are called, the batter is
out. If the batter hits a pitch and the ball is caught by one of the fielders, the batter is also out. But if the
batter hits a pitch into fair territory and it isn't caught, he drops his bat and runs towards first base (see
diagram). If a fielder gets the ball and touches the batter with it, or tags him, before he gets to first base,
he is out. But if he gets there without being tagged, he is safe. He can either stop at first base, or if he
thinks he can get to second base safely, or even further, he can keep going. Once he stops at a base, the
next batter comes in. If the next batter hits a pitch, the first batter can run to the next base, and so on. If
he can run all the bases and get back to the home plate without being tagged, he scores a run for the
team. His team will keep sending out new players to bat until three of them have been given out by the
umpires and the team's turn at batting is over. The opposing team then has a chance to bat and score
some runs. When both teams have had a turn to bat, an inning is over. In professional baseball, the
team with the most runs after nine innings have been played is the winner.

The main contest in a game of baseball is between a pitcher and a batter. The pitcher tries to win the
contest by striking the batter out, or by making him hit the ball into the air so a fielder can catch him
out. The batter tries to win the contest by hitting the ball and helping his team to score runs. The pitcher
works closely with his catcher, who is the player standing behind home plate who catches the ball
whenever it isn't hit by the batter. The catcher often decides which type of pitch the pitcher should
throw, and uses secret hand signals to communicate with him. Pitchers use a range of pitches, including
fast balls, curve balls, sliders and change ups, with one of the arts of pitching being to disguise the type
of ball one is pitching in order to confuse the batter. But if the batter hits a pitch, he could hit a fly ball
high into the air, a pop fly almost straight up and down, a line drive fast and low to the outfield, or he
could hit a gentle bunt into the infield. If the batter hits a pitch high and far and "out of the park", he
scores a home run. If he does this when the bases are loaded, meaning there are base runners already
waiting on all three bases, all of the runners will score a run on the same play. This is called a grand
slam, and it's the highest-scoring play in baseball. The dream of every major league player, and the
fantasy of every young baseball fan, is to come out to bat in the final inning of a World Series, on a grand
slam play with the bases loaded, and to win the series by hitting a home run. Nothing in baseball could
be finer than this.

Most Famous Player

Babe Ruth

"Babe Ruth" is without doubt baseball's most famous player. He changed

the game forever in the 1920's from a low-scoring, defensive contest into
an exciting spectacle of huge home-run hits, and the game became far
more popular as a result. George Herman Ruth, Jr. was born in Baltimore,
Maryland, in 1895, into a poor family of German immigrants. They could
barely afford to raise young George, so he was sent to a Roman Catholic
missionary school where he lived for twelve years, rarely seeing his family.
He learned to play baseball while there, and before long it was clear to
everyone that he was a very talented player. In 1914, one of his teachers
introduced Ruth to Jack Dunn, owner and manager of the Baltimore
Orioles, who signed him on as a pitcher and dubbed him "Babe". Dunn
then sold him to the Boston Red Sox, where he played for the next five
years. In 1920, he was sold to the New York Yankees, for whom many believe he played his best baseball
over the next fourteen years. By this time, Babe Ruth was far more famous for his power hitting than for
his pitching, and he was setting many batting records, some of which stood for decades after he retired
from the game in 1935. Ruth died in 1948 after a long battle with cancer, but the legend of the great
Babe Ruth will live on forever.

Baseball Vocabulary

Word Example sentence Meaning

ball I walked to first base after the pitcher a pitch thrown outside the strike zone
threw four balls.

base If the ball gets to the baseman before one of four "safe havens" to be reached
you do, you'll be out. in turn by a runner

base hit He had a good game, getting five base a play in which the batter hits the ball
hits altogether. into fair territory and gets at least to
first base

bases loaded I was very nervous because our bases situation in which a runner is waiting on
were loaded and we'd get 4 runs and each of three bases
win if I hit a home run.

bat He hit the ball so hard that his bat was instrument made of aluminium or wood
 broken. that is used to hit the ball while batting

batter The batters wait in the dugout until it's player whose job is to hit the ball with a
time to bat. bat

batter's box The umpire makes sure the batter is an area around home plate marked by
standing in the batter's box. white lines in which a batter must stand

bunt He hit a bunt and the ball rolled slowly light hit made by letting the ball hit the
along the ground while he ran quickly to bat without swinging it
first base.

catcher Our catcher spends a lot of time player who squats behind home plate
practising hand signals with our and catches pitches the batter doesn't
pitchers. hit

change up One of his best pitches is his change up a slow pitch thrown with the same arm
as most batters can't spot it and they action as a fastball, intended to deceive
have trouble hitting it. the batter

curve ball His curve ball is hard to hit and he a pitch that moves unexpectedly in the
strikes out lots of weaker batters with air because of spin put on the ball by
it. the pitcher

double I hit the ball deep into the outfield and a hit from which the batter reaches
ran to second base for a double. second base

double play We got two of their runners out on a a defensive play in which two base
double play and the inning was over. runners are out from two quick throws

dugout The manager sat in the dugout chewing area beside the field in which a team's
gum and shouting to his players. players and coaches can sit

fair territory He hit the ball over the fence, but it area of the field from home base out to
wasn't over fair territory so it wasn't a the bottom of the home run fence and
home run. between the foul lines
fastball Pitchers with good fastballs can throw a pitch that is thrown as fast as possible
them over 100 mph (162 km/h).

fly ball He hit a fly ball into the outfield and a batted ball that goes high in the air
fielder caught it, so he was out.

foul ball The hit went just outside the foul line, batted ball that goes outside the foul
so it was called a foul ball. lines

foul line If a ball lands on a foul line, it is in fair lines extending from home plate
territory. through 1st and 3rd bases to the
outfield fence

foul territory Umpires decide whether a hit is into fair all parts of the playing field outside the
or foul territory. foul lines

grand slam My son was so happy after hitting a a home run hit with a runner on every
home run on a grand slam play that he base, by which 4 runs are scored
couldn't stop smiling.

ground ball I knew I couldn't hit it far enough for a a batted ball that rolls or bounces in the
home run, so I hit a ground ball so it infield
wouldn't be caught.

home plate A pitcher usually tries to pitch the ball the fourth base to which a runner runs,
over the home plate. over which a pitcher pitches and a
batter bats

home run Babe Ruth held nearly all the home run a ball hit out of the playing field in fair
records for many years. territory, scoring a run for the batter
and any base runners

infield A bunt is a gentle shot played into the area inside the square formed by the
infield. four bases

infielder The infielders have to have speed and player who fields in the infield,
very good reflexes. including first, second and third
 basemen and shortstop

inning In professional baseball, a game usually a period of play in which each team bats
lasts for nine innings. until 3 batters are out

line drive Good batters can hit line drives a ball hit hard and low in the air
between fielders so they don't get
caught.

out I hit the ball a long way, but a fielder to be dismissed, or to have one's turn
caught it and I was out. ended

outfield How many fielders are usually placed in area between the infield and the home
the outfield? run fence

outfielder Outfielders must be able to throw the a player who fields in the outfield
ball a long way.

pitcher's mound Our relief pitcher walked slowly out to a raised section in the middle of the
the pitcher's mound. diamond on which pitchers stand when
pitching

play They threw the ball quickly and got both a move or manoeuvre in a sport or
runners out on the same play. game

run We got three runs in the first innings, a score earned when a base runner
but didn't get any more until the eighth. safely gets to home plate

shortstop The shortstop is near the batter and fielder whose position is between
must be brave enough to catch or stop second and third bases
hard hits.

slider Our best pitcher has four good pitches; a pitch that acts like a fastball until it
his fastball, his curve ball, his change up breaks suddenly as it reaches the plate
and his slider.
steal A pitcher has to keep an eye on the to run a base between pitches without
runners in case one tries to steal a base. the batter hitting the ball

strike I was nervous because I'd already had a strike is called if a batter swings at a
two strikes called and if another one pitch and misses, or if the pitch passes
was called I'd be out. through the strike zone without being
hit

strike out Joe's pitches are difficult to hit, so he to be out for having three strikes called
strikes out a lot of batters.

strike zone Different umpires have different ideas the area over home plate and between
on how big the strike zone should be. the batter's armpits and knees as he
stands ready to bat

tag The fielder got the ball and tagged me to get a runner out by touching them
out just before I got to the base. with the ball or with the glove holding
the ball

triple I hit it way into the outfield and a hit from which the batter reaches
managed to run to third base for a third base
triple.

triple play Fielders must throw fast and accurately a defensive play in which three base
to make a triple play. runners are tagged out with three quick
throws

walk Their pitcher was replaced after walking free pass to first base given to a batter
three batters in a row. after a pitcher throws four balls outside
the strike zone