Baseball

Since I have done a review on American Football for the Jitty I thought what the heck lets do one on Baseball another American sport that takes at least 3 hours to finish one game! The idea of Baseball though is much more simple, in fact it is probably one of the most simple sports you can come across.

I think it’s fair to say that many British people say that Baseball is just “Rounders”, although it’s best not to say that in a baseball ground in “The States”. The irony here is that Baseball actually is based on “Rounders” which was a popular game in the United States in the early 19th century.

In 1845, Alexander Joy Cartwright (1820-1892) “invented” the modern baseball field, and by the 1860’s the sport became a “national pastime”

Baseball is played between two teams of nine players, under instruction of one manager. The objective is to score more runs than the other team...see, it sounds simple already doesn’t it? Each team has several "innings" to hit as many home runs as possible. The batting team put their player out in accordance to the batting order much like cricket. The batsman then takes his place in the crease (a square in which he must stand). The pitcher (bowler in England) throws the ball over arm at the batter, the umpire then has to make the decision of calling a foul ball. If the batsman hits the ball and runs on a foul ball he is out. If the batter hits the ball and it is caught he is out also, although to score a home run (one run) the batsman has to hit the ball into the stand or out of the ground (although there is a certain part of the ground where this counts as a strike) a home run is also scored if the batter gets all the way round the over sized rounders pitch without being stumped at each point. 3 strikes and your out is the most common thing you will probably have heard about baseball in the UK and yes there is a rule in which if you fail to hit good balls 3 times you are out (3 strikes) that’s basically it simple isn’t it?