Once considered almost exclusively America's game, baseball has become a worldwide sport.

Terms to Know

Throughout this entry, terms will be used consistently. Anything in boldface indicates a rudimentary baseball term that is essential for understanding the game. Anything in 'single quotes' is either more specific than absolutely necessary or is a baseball cliche one might hear, say on a radio or television broadcast.

Equipment

The most basic equipment consists of a bat, a ball and four bases. Each player should also have a glove, and it's nice if the catcher has some padding.

Bats are turned sticks of wood, traditionally ash or willow, or are cast aluminum. They have a wide end known as the 'barrel' and a thinner handle usually with some sort of knob at the end for grip. In professional baseball, only wooden bats are used; they can be no bigger across than 2 and 3/4 inches and no longer than 42 inches.

The baseball¹ is made of yarn wound around a cork or rubber center enclosed in two strips of cow or horsehide. These strips are sewn together with red threads with roughly the same oblong shapes as on a tennis ball. The ball weighs between 5 and 5.25 ounces and has a circumference between 9 and 9.25 inches.

Each fielder carries a glove to make catching easier and to protect his hand against hard throws. The glove is made of leather with a pad over the palm and a webbing or panel between the thumb and forefinger. The idea is to catch the ball in the webbing so the impact doesn't sting the hand. First basemen and catchers use bigger mitts with more padding as their teammates tend to make throws extremely hard in their direction.

Catchers, in addition to the bigger mitt, wear the 'tools of ignorance' or catching gear. This gear consists of shin-guards, a chest pad, and a helmet with full-face mask and neck-guard. All of this armor allows them to get in front of pitches and stop them from getting by. Many of these pitches travel at over 80 mph, so the protection is a good idea.

The Playing Area

Picture a quarter slice-of-pie on a plate. Now picture it being 400 feet from point to crust (i.e. the radius) with an even cover of green mold for the outer 300 feet. This is a baseball field, albeit a smelly one. The plate represents the stadium, the mold is outfield grass, the crust is the outfield wall, and the unmoldy part is the dirt infield.

More precisely, there should be two toothpicks sticking out of the crust at its outer edges; these are foul-poles. Lines drawn from these poles back to the point are foul-lines. The bases, homeplate, first, second and third, go anti-clockwise from the point 90 feet up the side to form a square. Also, 60.5 feet from homeplate towards second is a 15 inch high hill of dirt known as the pitcher's mound.

Player Introductions

Specific terms will come later, but play basically proceeds as such: ten players and four umpires take their place on the field. For the defensive team, three fielders designated left field, center field, and right field take their places, clockwise in each third of the outfield. Four fielders known as the the third baseman, shortstop, second baseman and first baseman divide the infield similarly. A pitcher stands on the mound
(specifically on a strip of rubber known simply as 'the rubber'), and a catcher, clad in chest-protector, face-mask, and shin-guards, squats behind the plate.

The tenth player is a member of the offence and stands next to homeplate. He is the batter. Most batters stand facing homeplate, more or less, and hold the bat out in front of them with the barrel over their back shoulder (i.e. the one not towards the pitcher).

Three of the four umpires stand near the bases out of the way of the fielders, but with a good view of any plays that come their way. The fourth umpire crouches behind the catcher and looks out over homeplate. These are the officials who judge the plays. They are not to be messed with, and any player who so much as gives them a dirty look can be suspended from play for the rest of the game.

Other people not directly in play are the on-deck man, who will bat next for the offensive team; managers, who make all the decisions regarding each team; and various coaches, who advise the managers and players in matters such as hitting, pitching, and running.

Understanding Stats

Required History