Baseball Rules for Dummies. Everything You Need to Know

Baseball is a team kind of sport with the ball and the bat. Competitions are held between two teams with nine or ten players in each. It is an extremely popular kind of sport in various world countries.

Field

The baseball field (also known as baseball diamond thanks to its shape) covers the area of about 1 hectare. The marking is based on four bases limiting the square that is also known as the infield. The square should be covered with grass excluding the corridors between bases, the pitcher’s mound, and a small area behind the home plate for a catcher (a defensive player who is to catch pitcher’s balls).

The pitcher’s mound is located in the center of the square and is 45 cm high above the general field level. There is a pitcher’s rubber on the top of the mound. A pitcher must touch it with at least one foot while throwing the ball.

Home plate is a pentagonal piece of rubber with two its sides creating a super acute angle. This rubber piece is placed in a such a manner that its acute angle points at the catcher, while its bigger side faces the pitcher. Starting from the home plate against the clock, there are 1st, 2nd, and 3rd bases that are white squares made of a soft material. These bases are attached to the ground with the help of metal sticks.

The game filed is bordered with two long lines drawn with powder chalk. These lines scatter from the home plate to the 1st and 3rd bases and further to the end of the field. They are known as foul lines, and the foul territory is the space behind them. For official competitions, these foul lines should be 75-100 meters long. With this, the distance to the central field should be longer than the foul lines. The area outside the infield which is bordered by the foul lines and the fence is called outfield.

To sum it up, the baseball field is divided into three parts:

• Infield;
• Outfield;
• Foul territory.

Gameplay

Every game is divided into periods – innings. In each of them, each team player both in defense and attack. Every time when three players of a single time are sent out, the teams switch their roles. That is why each inning comprises six outs – three for each team. A usual game consists of nine innings. It there is a tie after the last regular inning, additional ones should be played. The fact here is that baseball matches cannot end in a draw.

The main aim of the sport is to score more points that are called runs than opponents. A run is scored when an attacking player runs through all the bases. Of course, the aim is simple, but there are a lot of peculiarities that should be obviously kept in mind.

So, a home team usually begins with defense. Thus, nine defensive players go on the field to prevent their opponents from scoring points. An attacking team, in its turn, begins with attack and tries to score points. In order to score points, each attacking player starting from the home plate tries to get the right to run against the clock through all the bases and reach the home plate. This scenario is worth a point.

Before an attacking player is granted the right to run, the pitcher, a defensive player, takes his place on the pitcher’s mound. The other 8 defensive players are also on the field, each in a corresponding place.

The attacking batter takes the place near the home plate. The batter waits for the pitcher to throw the ball. Once the ball is released, the batter tries to bat it. If he manages to hit the ball and send it in the field, he should throw the bat and start running towards the 1st base.

When the batter starts running, he is said to be the batter-runner. Once he reaches the 1st base, he is considered to be safe and is just the runner. Otherwise, the referee declares out. If a player is said to be in out, he should leave the field and take the place on the bench. The given situation is described as the dugout.

There are a few ways how the defensive team can send the attacking player in out. Below are the most popular variants:

1. Strikeout – the batter fails to gain the right to run to the 1st base because the pitcher has made three strikes.
2. Force out – the batter sends the ball back in the field but a defensive player manages to pick it up and throw the ball to the partner at the 1st base before the batter touches it.
3. Fly out – a defensive player catches the ball before it touches the ground.
4. Tag out – a defensive player touches with the ball the attacking batter when the latter was between the bases.

Pitching and Batting

Every batting appearance consists of a series of pitches. The pitcher sends the ball towards the home plate trying to forward the ball into the strike zone – the space above the home plate between the batter’s knee and chest. Meeting the requirement is supervised by the umpire standing behind the catcher. The batter must hit those balls only that crosses the strike zone. With this, he has the right to ignore the ball that fails to reach the strike zone, but the right is canceled once his bat starts moving. Either the pitcher or the batter can obtain some penalty points according to the following scenarios:

• the pitcher gets a ball if he fails to forward the ball to cross the strike zone and the batter exercises the right to ignore it;
• the batter gets a strike when he ignores a correct ball;
• the batter also gets a strike if he strikes the bat and fails to hit the ball despite the fact whether the ball was going to cross the strike zone or not.

That is why baseball is all about the pitcher-batter battle. The pitcher’s task is to service the ball that would be difficult for the batter predict and bat. At the same time, the pitcher should not make a mistake and send the ball outside the strike zone. On the other hand, the batter has only a split second to estimate the ball and the necessity to bat it. If the ball is going to cross the strike zone, the batter should hit the ball and forward it further in the field.

Baseball is an extremely dynamic kind of sport. Here, even if the pitcher makes a mistake and sends the “incorrect” ball, it is not always that he gets a penalty score. If the batter also makes a mistake and misses the ball, the penalty score is awarded to him. Thus, the baseball players should have perfect physical and mental skills.

Additional difficulties arise for the pitcher because he should consider that the ball should not be batted by the batter but caught by the catcher. Otherwise, the attacking players can steal a base when the catcher is trying to pick up the ball. With this in mind, professional teams usually have a special system of signals that are used to inform the catcher about the ongoing type of a pitch.

If the batter hits the ball but it crosses the foul lines and lands on the field but rolls out of it between the home plate and either the 1st or the 3rd base, the foul ball is recorded. With this, all the attacking players should take their bases where they were before batting.

Provided the batter get three strikes (strike out), he is sent off. The batter automatically goes to the 1st base after four balls. This situation is known as the walk. If the 1st base is already occupied by another player, this player should move to the 2nd base and so on. Also, the batter automatically goes to the 1st base if he is hit by pitch. With this, the referee can send off the pitcher if the latter is thought to intentionally hit the batter. Usually, it happens after a few cases, when the batter is hit by pitch.

Baserunning

Once the batter gets the right to run, he is said to be the runner. Each runner occupies a base and tries to reach the following one. Each base should be occupied by only one attacking player. That is why only four attacking players can by on the field simultaneously – a batter and three base holders. A player touching a base cannot be sent out. Also, it is not allowed to send the batter-runner in out if he touches the first base and immediately occupies it. In such a manner, the attacking players try to be ahead of the defense in reaching the following base. The players can start running at any moment. Should the ball touch the ground after batting, an attacking player must run towards the following base if he is forced by his partner.

If the batter manages to forward the ball outside the field, the home run is recorded. In this case, the scores are earned by the batter and all the runners.

Base holders can start running before pitching – this is known as stealing the base. Here, however, there is a risk to be fooled either by the pitcher who can throw the ball to his partner on the base to be stolen or the catcher who catches the ball and also throws it to the base to be stolen by the opponents.

If the batted ball is caught before it lands on the ground, the runners should move back to their bases and touch them. After it, they can run to the following base provided they are sure they can reach it.

Equipment

Baseball is a team kind of sport where a single team should act as a single organism. That is why its smaller parts, players, should perform different tasks. Thus, different players can have a bit different kinds of equipment.

Thus, it is the batter solely who is allowed to take a bat. This item can be either wooden or made of various alloys. The weight and diameter of the bats vary according to its purposes.

Also, every baseball player has his own glove to catch the ball during the play. There are gloves of different kinds and shapes, and the choice of a particular variant depends on a player position.

The catcher is said to be equipped in the most interesting manner. He should have knee-pads, chest pad, helmet, and a special thick glove. Such equipment is necessary to protect him from getting injured. In fact, it is the most dangerous position in baseball because the pitchers throw the ball at a 150 km/h speed.

Finally, the ball is the universal piece of equipment that is necessary for all the baseball players. It consists of several parts – a small elastic balloon is wrapped around with felted cotton soaked in glue. This piece is wrapped in leather. As a result, we have a firm ball of 150 g. Its diameter is 7 cm.

Referees

To guarantee the game is fair and equal, all the baseball events are served by referees or umpires. As for the given kind of sport, umpires have the possibility to consult one another before making a challenged decision. After the decision is made, no one has the right to dispute it. In most cases, all the disputes result in a player being sent off. The umpire has the right to send off both players and any person on the field including managers.

A single match is served by four umpires, each of which is responsible for a limited area. Thus, one umpire supervises the home plate, and the others stay near each base. To make it possible for opposing teams, coaches, and spectators to understand what the umpires decide, there were developed special gestures. Each of them denotes particular consequences, and it is of key importance for the baseball players to understand them.

History

Baseball appeared in the USA in the early 19th century. English game “rounders” is said to be the basis to create the given sport. New York saw the first official match in 1820, while 1845 witnessed the first professional club appear. The sport is quite popular in the USA, Canada, Mexico, Latin America, the Caribbean, Australia, Japan, and others. In general, people in more than 120 countries of the world regularly play baseball. It was in 1938 when the first World Championships took place.

The USA, Japan, and the Czech Republic pay great attention to softball. This is a simplified variation of baseball that can be placed indoor and in small fields.

Baseball used to be an Olympic sport but it lost its status in 2005. It happened both because the sport was not very popular in all the IOC member-states and because of the disputes between the IOC and the Baseball League in the USA that had refused to postpone its championship for the Olympic time. Thus, the Beijing Olympics was the last event to witness baseball competitions.