The Baseball Club Of Seattle, Lp Business Information, Profile, and History

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A team game played on a wedge-shaped field, with a diamond-shaped infield (the diamond), by two sides of players with a bat and ball. One team, on offence or at bat, tries to score the most runs by having their players circle the bases before they are put out by the other team which is in the field. An out is made when the batter fails to hit a legally pitched ball on three successive occasions (a strikeout, see below), or when the fielding team catches a batted ball before it touches the ground, tags a member of the offensive team between the bases, or touches a base before an offensive player reaches that base. The defensive team is aided in stopping the offensive team by fielding batted balls with an oversized glove or mitt. Each game is made up of nine innings unless the score is tied, in which case the game is extended into extra innings until one team outscores the other in a particular inning. Each inning is divided into two parts - the top and bottom. The visiting team always bats first (the top) and the home team always bats last (the bottom). Each team at bat is allowed three outs in its half inning.

The major confrontation of the game centres on the pitcher and batter. The pitcher hurls the ball (at upwards of 145 kph/90 mph) towards the batter, who stands alongside the home plate poised to strike the ball. If the batter swings at the ball and fails to hit it, or if the pitcher throws the ball into a designated strike zone without the batter swinging at the ball, a strike is called. Three strikes causes a batter to be declared out. Conversely, if the pitcher fails to throw the ball into the strike zone and the batter does not swing, a ball is called. Four balls allow the batter to take first base. The home plate umpire, who stands behind the catcher, determines if the ball is within the strike zone (which comprises the area over home plate extending from the midway point between the top of the batter's shoulders to the top of his pants, down to the top of his knees). If the batter slices the ball outside the foul lines, the umpire call a ‘ball’. If the batter strikes the ball beyond the playing area's limits (within the foul lines), or if he circles the bases before being put out, he has hit a home run (or homer).

Baseball is called the national pastime in the USA. Professional teams usually consist of 25 players. The Major League of North America is divided into the American League and National League, each consisting of an Eastern, Western, and (since 1994) Central division. In the National League 9 players can participate at one time for each team, while in the American League 10 take part because that league employs the designated hitter rule allowing a team to replace the pitcher in its batting order with a player who bats but does not play the field. The culmination of the season, which runs from April through October, is a best-of-seven game World Series between the champions of each league.

The origins of the game are unclear. The person most widely cited as the game's inventor is a West Point cadet, Abner Doubleday, who in 1839 laid out a diamond at Cooperstown, NY, where the modern day Baseball Hall of Fame stands. However, there is evidence that the game was played much earlier, and gradually evolved into its present form. The first formal set of baseball rules were drawn up by Alexander Cartwright in 1845. Baseball is becoming increasingly popular in Japan and Latin America, and in 1992 a Canadian team (the Toronto Blue Jays) won the World Series for the first time.

Baseball is a team sport popular in North America, parts of Latin America, the Caribbean, and East Asia. The modern game was developed in the United States from an early bat-and-ball game called rounders (at least this is the most popular explanation for its origins), and it has become the national sport of the United States. It is a bat-and-ball game in which a pitcher throws (pitches) a hard, fist-sized ball past the hitting area of a batter. The batter attempts to hit the baseball with a tapered, smooth, cylindrical bat made of wood (as required in professional baseball) or metal. A team scores only when batting, by advancing counter-clockwise past a series of four markers called bases arranged at the corners of a diamond.
Baseball is sometimes called hardball to differentiate it from similar games such as softball. However, it is mainly agreed that modern baseball is a North American development from the earlier game rounders.

The earliest known mention of the sport is in a 1744 British publication, A Little Pretty Pocket-Book by John Newbery. The city statute proclaimed that the playing of baseball was prohibited within 80 yards of the new meeting house in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

The English novelist Jane Austen made a reference to children playing "base-ball" on a village green in her book Northanger Abbey, which was written between 1798 and 1803 (though not published till 1818).

The first full documentation of a baseball game in North America was that made by Dr. Adam Ford describing a baseball game that took place on June 4th, 1838 in Beechville, Ontario, Canada. Baseball grew quickly on both sides of the US-Canada border with strong players and teams in both countries.

Alexander Cartwright had a hand in compiling and publishing an early list of rules in 1845 (the so-called Knickerbocker Rules) to meet the demands of the already popular sport, and today's
have evolved from them. He tackles one stubborn misconception after another, debunking the enduring belief that baseball descended from the game of rounders and revealing a surprising new explanation for the most notorious myth of all?the Abner Doubleday?Cooperstown story." In short, the debate on the game's origins may never be settled to everyone's satisfaction.

Another early mention of the game can be found in an 1886 edition of Sporting Life magazine, in a letter from Dr. Matthew Harris of Boston, Massachusetts, formerly of St. Marys, Ontario, who details a base ball game played in Beachville, Ontario, on June 4, 1838 -- Militia Muster Day.

Professional baseball started in the United States in the 1860's, and began in earnest in 1869, when the first fully professional baseball club, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, was formed and went undefeated against a schedule of semipro and amatuer teams, as there were no other fully professional baseball teams that year. The first "major league" was the National Association which lasted from 1871 to 1875. The National League (which still exists today) was founded in 1876. Several other major leagues formed and failed, but the American League, established in 1901 as a major league and originating from the minor Western League (1893), did succeed. While the two leagues were rivals who actively fought for the best players, often disregarding one another's contracts and engaging in bitter legal disputes, a modicum of peace was established in 1903, and they began playing a World Series that year. Ty Cobb said of his era especially, "Baseball is something like a war!" This period, which has since become known as the "dead-ball era", ended in the 1920s with several rule changes that gave advantages to hitters and the rise of the legendary baseball player Babe Ruth, who showed the world what power hitting could produce and thus changed the nature of the game.

During the first half of the 20th century, a "gentlemen's agreement" in the form of the baseball color line effectively barred African-American players from the major leagues (though not Native Americans, oddly enough), resulting in the formation of several Negro Leagues. Finally in 1947, Major League Baseball's color barrier was broken when Jackie Robinson was signed by the National League's Brooklyn Dodgers . Although it was not instantaneous, baseball has since become fully integrated.

Major league baseball finally made it to the West Coast of the United States in 1958, when the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants relocated to Los Angeles and San Francisco respectively. The first American League team on the West Coast was the Los Angeles Angels, who were founded as an expansion team in 1961.

Pitchers dominated the game in the 1960s and early 1970s. In the early 1970s the designated hitter (DH) rule was proposed. The American League adopted this rule in 1973, though pitchers still bat for themselves in the National League to this day. The throwing of the 1919 World Series, the "Black Sox scandal", was in some sense a "strike" or at least a rebellion by the ballplayers against a perceived stingy owner. But the strict rules of baseball contracts tended to keep the players "in line" in general.

This began to change in the 1960s when former United Steelworkers president Marvin Miller became the Baseball Players Union president. A series of strikes and lockouts began in baseball, affecting portions of the 1972 and 1981 seasons and culminating in the infamous 1994 baseball strike that led to the cancellation of the World Series and carried over into 1995 before it was finally settled.

The players typically got what they demanded, but the popularity of baseball diminished greatly as a result of the strike, and fans were slow to return. 1998 between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa really turned things around, captivating fans all summer. As with other times when adversity threatened the game, positive on-field events triggered a renewed surge in baseball's popularity in America.

Professional baseball leagues began to form in countries outside of America in the 1920s and 1930s, including the Netherlands (formed in 1922), Japan (1936), and Australia (1934). Today, Venezuela (1945), the whole of Europe (1953), Italy (1948), Korea (1982), Taiwan (1990), and mainland China (2003) all have professional leagues as well (however, the leagues in Australia, Italy and the United Kingdom have generally had a niche appeal compared to the leagues in Asia and Venezuela and only now is the sport beginning to broaden in scope in those nations, most notably in Australia, who won a surprise silver medal in the 2004 Olympic Games). Israel is trying to form a professional baseball league with the help of American emigres. Canada has a franchise in Major League Baseball as well. Competition between national teams, such as in the World Cup of Baseball and the Olympic baseball tournament, has been administered by the International Baseball Federation since its formation in 1938. As of 2004, this organization has 112 member countries. The new World Baseball Classic, first held in March 2006, seems likely to have a much higher profile than previous tournaments, owing to the participation for the first time of a significant number of players from the United States Major Leagues.

The 117th meeting of the International Olympic Committee, held in Singapore in July 2005, voted not to hold baseball and softball tournaments at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, but they will remain Olympic sports during the 2008 Summer Olympic Games and will be put to vote again for each succeeding Summer Olympics. While baseball's lack of major appeal in a significant portion of the world was a factor, a more important factor was the unwillingness of Major League Baseball to have a break during the Games so that its players could participate, something that the National Hockey League now does during the Winter Olympic Games.

Gameplay

A simplified version of the rules of baseball is at simplified baseball rules. The complete Official Rules can be found at www.mlb.com, the official web site of Major League Baseball in the United States.

General structure

Baseball is played between two teams of nine players each on a baseball field, under the authority of one or more officials, called umpires. Numbered counter-clockwise, first, second and third bases are cushions (sometimes informally referred to as bags) shaped as 15 in (38 cm) squares which are raised a short distance above the ground; together with home plate, the fourth "base," they form a square with sides of 90 ft (27.4 m) called the diamond. The area between the foul lines, including the foul lines (the foul lines are in fair territory), is fair territory, and the area outside the foul lines is foul territory.

The game is played in nine innings (although it can be played with fewer, such as it is in little league) in which each team gets one turn to bat and try to score runs while the other pitches and defends in the field. The batter stands in one of the batter's boxes and tries to hit the ball with a bat. The catcher's job is to receive any pitches that the batter does not hit and to "call" the game by a series of hand movements that signal to the pitcher what pitch to throw and where. A player who is out must leave the field and wait for his next turn at bat. some of the most common are catching a batted ball in the air, tag outs, force outs, and strikeouts. After the fielding team has put out three players from the opposing team, that half of the inning is over and the team in the field and the team at bat switch places; a player may do so only by batting, then becoming a base runner, touching all the bases in order (via one or more plays), and finally touching home plate. To that end, the goal of each batter is to enable baserunners to score or to become a baserunner himself. The batter attempts to hit the ball into fair territory?between the baselines?in such a way that the defending players cannot get them or the baserunners out. In general, the pitcher attempts to prevent this by pitching the ball in such a way that the batter cannot hit it cleanly or, ideally, at all.

A baserunner who successfully touches home plate after touching all previous bases in order scores a run. In an enclosed field, a fair ball hit over the fence on the fly is normally an automatic home run, which entitles the batter and all runners to touch all the bases and score. These fielders often shift their positioning in response to specific batters or game situations, and they may exchange positions with one another at any time. This convention was established by Henry Chadwick. These are the two fielders who always deal directly with the batter on every pitch, hence the term "battery", coined by Henry Chadwick and later reinforced by the implied comparison to artillery fire.

The pitcher's main role is to pitch the ball toward home plate with the goal of getting the batter out. Pitchers also play defense by fielding batted balls, covering bases (for a potential tag out or force out on an approaching runner), or backing up throws. As the game evolved, the fielding positions changed to the now-familiar "umbrella", with the first and third baseman generally positioned a short distance toward second base from their bases, the second baseman to the right side of second base standing farther away from the base than any other infielder, and the shortstop playing to the left of second base, as seen from the batter's perspective, filling in the gaps.

The first baseman's job consists largely of making force plays at first base on ground balls hit to the other infielders. When an infielder picks up a ball from the ground hit by the batter, he must throw it to the first baseman who must catch the ball and maintain contact with the base before the batter gets to it for the batter to be out. The first baseman must be able to catch the ball very well and usually wears a specially designed mitt. The second baseman covers the area to the first-base side of second base and provides backup for the first baseman in bunt situations. He also is a cut-off for the outfield. The shortstop fills the critical gap between second and third bases?where right-handed batters generally hit ground balls?and also covers second or third base and the near part of left field.

The outfielders

The three outfielders, left fielder, center fielder, and right fielder, are so named from the catcher's perspective looking out onto the field. The right fielder generally has the strongest arm of all the outfielders due to the need to make throws on runners attempting to take third base. The center fielder has more territory to cover than the corner outfielders, so this player must be quick and agile with a strong arm to throw balls in to the infield; as with the shortstop, teams tend to emphasize defense at this position. Also, the center fielder is considered the outfield leader, and left- and right-fielders often cede to his direction when fielding fly balls. The left fielder still requires good fielding and catching skills, and tends to receive more balls than the right fielder due to the fact that right-handed hitters, who are much more common, tend to "pull" the ball into left field. The left fielder also backs up third base on pick-off attempts from the catcher. With new advances in medical research and thus a better understanding of how the human body functions and tires out, starting pitchers tend more often to throw fractions of a game (typically 6 or 7 innings depending on their performance) about every five days (though a few complete games do still occur each year).

Multiple pitchers are often needed in a single game, including the starting pitcher and relief pitcher(s). In the 2005 ALCS, all four of the Chicago White Sox victories were complete games by the starters, a highly noteworthy event in the modern game.

Although a pitcher can only take one step backward and one forward while delivering the ball, the pitcher has a great arsenal at his disposal in the variation of location, velocity, movement, and arm location (see types of pitches). Common pitches include a fastball, which is the ball thrown at high speed; a curveball, which is made to curve by rotation imparted by the pitcher; and a change-up, which seeks to mimic the delivery of a fastball but arrives at significantly lower velocity.

To illustrate pitching strategy, consider the "fastball/change-up" combination: The average major-league pitcher can throw a fastball around 90 miles per hour (145 km/h), and a few pitchers have even exceeded 100 miles per hour (161 km/h). Since the batter's timing is critical to hitting a pitch, a batter swinging to hit what looks like a fastball, would be terribly fooled (swing and miss, hopefully) when the pitch turns out to be a much slower change-up.

Some pitchers choose to throw using the 'submarine style,' a very efficient sidearm or near-underhand motion. Walter Johnson, who threw one of the fastest fastballs in the history of the game, threw sidearm (though not submarine) rather than a normal overhand. Common defensive strategies include: playing for the bunt, trying to prevent a stolen base, moving to a shallow position to throw out a runner at home, playing at "double play depth", and moving fielders to locations where hitters are most likely to hit the ball. See Substitutions below.)

A batter's turn at the plate is called a plate appearance or an ". When a ball is hit outside the foul line, it is a foul ball, requiring the batter and all runners to return to their respective bases.

Once the batter and any existing runners have all stopped at a base or been put out, the ball is returned to the pitcher, and the next batter comes to the plate. After the opposing team bats in its own order and three more outs are recorded, the first team's batting order will continue again from where it left off.

When a runner reaches home plate, he scores a run and is no longer a base runner.

Batting

Each plate appearance consists of a series of pitches, in which the pitcher throws the ball towards home plate while a batter is standing in the batter's box. In addition to swinging at the ball, a batter who wishes to put the ball in play may hold his bat over home plate and attempt to tap a pitch lightly; this is called a bunt. If the batter does not swing, the home plate umpire judges whether or not the ball passed through the strike zone. The number of balls and strikes thrown to the current batter is known as the count; the count is always given balls first (except in Japan, where it is reversed), then strikes (such as 3-2 or "three and two", also known as a "full count," which would be 3 balls and 2 strikes).

If the batter swings and makes contact with the ball, but does not put it in play in fair territory?a foul ball?he is charged with an additional strike, except when there are already two strikes. (However, a noted exception to this rule is that a ball bunted foul with two strikes always counts as a strike.) If a pitch is batted foul or fair and a member of the defensive team is able to catch it, before the ball strikes the ground, the batter is declared out. In the event that a bat contacts the ball, but the ball continues sharply and directly to the catcher's mitt and is caught by the catcher, it is a foul tip, which is same as an ordinary strike.

When three strikes occur on a batter, it is a strikeout and the batter is automatically out unless the pitch is not caught by the catcher or if the pitch bounces before it is caught. It is then ruled a dropped third strike. (This is a violation of the third strike ruleThe "third strike rule", which has been on the books since at least the time of the Knickerbocker Rules, is that the batter can try to advance to first base on the third strike, if the third strike is not caught. The underlying concept is the same as the "Infield Fly Rule", to curb defensive shenanigans. Statistically, such a play still counts as a strikeout for the pitcher, plus either a passed ball charged to the catcher or a wild pitch charged to the pitcher, so if the batter advances safely to first on such a play, it is possible for a pitcher to record 4 (or more) strikeouts in one inning. (See Doug Eddings/2005 ALCS and Mickey Owen/1941 World Series for famous examples of dropped third strikes that dramatically altered the course of post-season series'.)

On the fourth ball the batter becomes a runner, and is entitled to advance to first base without risk of being put out, called a base on balls or a walk (abbreviated BB). If a pitch touches the batter, the umpire declares a hit by pitch (abbreviated HBP) and the batter is awarded first base, unless the umpire determines that the ball was in the strike zone when it hit the batter, or that the batter did not attempt to avoid being hit. If the catcher's mitt, catcher's mask, or any part of the catcher comes in contact with the batter and/or the batter's bat as the batter is attempting to hit a pitch, the batter is awarded first base, ruled "catcher's interference." Runners may attempt to advance from base to base at any time (except when the ball is dead), but must attempt to advance when forced--when all previous bases are occupied and the batter becomes a runner. When a ball is hit in the air, a fly ball, and caught by the defending team, runners must return and touch the base they occupied at the time of the pitch?called tagging up?after the ball is first touched. if two runners are touching a base at once, the trailing runner is in jeopardy and will be out if tagged, unless he was forced--in which case the lead runner is out when tagged for failing to reach his force base. When three runners are on base, this is called bases loaded.

Baserunners may attempt to advance, or steal a base, while the pitcher is throwing a pitch. An illegal attempt by the pitcher to deceive a runner, among other pitching violations, is called a balk, allowing the runners to advance one base without risk of being put out.

Another fundamental tenet of the rules of baseball is that a runner originally ruled out can subsequently be ruled safe, but once a runner is ruled safe he cannot be called out on the same play.

Batting and base running strategy

The goal of each batter is to become a base runner himself (by a base hit, a base on balls, being hit by the pitch, a fielding error, or fielder's choice) or to help move other base runners along (by sacrifice bunt, sacrifice fly, or hit and run).

Batters attempt to "read" pitchers through pre-game preparation by studying the tendencies of pitchers and by talking to other batters that previously faced the pitcher. a curve, slider or splitter), but that is also harder to hit. Two strike hitting, the strategy is changed where the batter will protect the plate by fouling off pitches until the batter is able to find a pitch to hit. This is critical if the batting team is facing a very skilled pitcher who if allowed to will take over the game with his ability to get batters to do what he wants them to do with the pitches that he makes.

In general, base running is a tactical part of the game requiring good judgment by runners (and their coaches) to assess the risk in attempting to advance. During tag plays, a good slide can affect the outcome of the play. Managers will sometimes simultaneously send a runner and require the batter to swing (a hit-and-run play) in an attempt to advance runners. Often, on a hit-and-run play the batter will try to "hit behind the runner" by hitting the ball to right field which makes it more likely that the runner will be able to make it to third base, thus taking an extra base.

A batter can also attempt to move a baserunner forward by "sacrificing" his at-bat. This can be done by bunting the ball, hitting a fly ball far enough in the air that a baserunner can advance after the catch, or simply making contact with the ball on a hit-and-run play.

During the course of play many offensive and defensive players run close to each other, and during tag plays, the defensive player must touch the offensive player. Although baseball is considered a non-contact sport, a runner may be allowed to make potentially dangerous contact with a fielder as part of an attempt to reach base, unless that fielder is fielding a batted ball. (Noted exceptions to the dangerous contact rule are found throughout amateur competitions, including youth leagues, high school, and college baseball.) A good slide is often more advantageous than such contact, and "malicious" contact by runners is typically prohibited as offensive interference. A standard game lasts nine innings, although some leagues (such as high school baseball and Little League) play fewer. however, if the last batter hits a home run to win the game, he and any runners on base are all permitted to score.

If both teams have scored the same number of runs at the end of a regular-length game, a tie is avoided by the addition of extra innings. In Major League Baseball the longest game played was a 26-inning affair between the Brooklyn Robins and Boston Braves on May 1, 1920. Two minor-league teams, the Pawtucket Red Sox and Rochester Red Wings, played a 33-inning game in 1981.

In Major League Baseball, games end with tie scores only because conditions have made it impossible to continue play. Previously, curfews and the absence of adequate lighting caused more ties and shortened games. also, a delay usually does not occur anymore until the rain is moderate-heavy and/or there is standing water on some part of the playing field.

In Japanese baseball, if the score remains tied after nine innings, up to three extra innings may be played before the game is called a tie. Some youth or amateur leagues will end a game early if one team is ahead by ten or more runs, a practice known as the "mercy rule" or "slaughter rule". Rarely, a game can also be won or lost by forfeit.

There is a short break between each half-inning during which the new defensive team takes the field and the pitcher warms up. Traditionally, the break between the top half and the bottom half of the seventh inning is known as the seventh-inning stretch. During the "stretch," fans in the United States often sing the chorus of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game;" since the September 11, 2001 attacks, "God Bless America" has often been added to it. the replaced player may not return to the game.

It is common for a pitcher to pitch for several innings and then be removed in favor of a relief pitcher. This pinch hitter is typically then replaced by a relief pitcher when the team returns to the field on defense, but more complicated substitutions are possible, most notably the double switch.

Many amateur leagues allow a starting player who was removed to return to the game in the same position in the batting order under a re-entry rule. Youth leagues often allow free and open substitution to encourage player participation.

Most leagues, notably Major League Baseball's American League, allow a designated hitter, a player whose sole purpose is to hit when it would normally be the pitcher's turn.

Rosters

During the course of a game, each baseball team has players that are an active part of the game, called in the game, and players that are not, called on the bench. When the designated hitter is in effect, one of these players will usually be used in this role.

Other personnel

Each team is run by a manager, whose primary responsibility during the game is to assign players to fielding positions, determine the lineup, deciding how to substitute players, and, most importantly, choosing the course of strategy throughout the game. Managers are also assisted by coaches in helping players to develop their skills. Baseball is unique in that the manager and coaches all wear numbered uniforms similar to those of the players.

Any baseball game involves one or more umpires, who make rulings on the outcome of each play. In Major League Baseball, four umpires are used for each game, one near each base. In the all-star game and playoffs, six umpires are used: one at each base and two in the outfield along either foul line.

Another notable role in baseball is that of the official scorer. The results of baseball games are summarized in tables called box scores. The philosopher Morris Raphael Cohen described baseball as a national religion. Yogi Berra (a Hall of Fame baseball player) once said, "Baseball is 90% mental?the other half is physical." Although these elements all contribute to baseball's appeal in American culture, they are also shared by its cousin game cricket. In many Commonwealth nations, cricket and the culture surrounding it hold a similar place and affection to baseball's role in American culture.

The lure of baseball is in its subtleties: situational defense, pitch location, pitch sequence, statistics, ball parks, history, and player personalities. It's been noted that the game itself has no time limit, and its playing surface, rather than rigidly rectangular and standardized, extends theoretically to eternity from a single point (home plate) to beyond its own fences (if only a batter could hit a ball hard enough to break the escape velocity of Earth).

Time element

Basketball, ice hockey, American football, and soccer all use a clock, and games often end by a team killing the clock rather than competing directly against the opposing team. a team cannot win without getting the last batter out and rallies are not constrained by time.

In recent decades, observers have criticized professional baseball for the length of its games, with some justification as the time required to play a baseball game has increased steadily through the years. This is due to longer breaks between half-innings for television commercials, increased offense, more pitching changes, and a slower pace of play.

In response, Major League Baseball has instructed umpires to be stricter in enforcing speed-up rules and the size of the strike zone.

Individual and team

Baseball is fundamentally a team sport?even two or three Hall of Fame-caliber players are no guarantee of a pennant?yet it places individual players under great pressure and scrutiny. With the exception of the strict rules on the dimensions of the infield, discussed above, the official rules simply state that fields built after June 1, 1958 must have a minimum distance of 325 feet (99 m) from home plate to the fences in left and right field and 400 (121 m) feet to center. This rule (a footnote to official rule 1.04) was passed specifically in response to the fence at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which was not originally designed for baseball, and thus was only 251 feet (77 m) to the left field pole (1 foot (0.3 m) over the bare minimum required by the rules). For example, Minute Maid Park's left field is only 315 feet (96 m), and with a fence much lower than the famous "Green Monster" at Fenway Park. Chicago's Wrigley Field, strangely enough, can be either, depending on the wind direction at any given time.

Statistics

As with many sports, and perhaps even more so, statistics are very important to baseball. General managers, baseball scouts, managers, and players alike study player statistics to help them choose various strategies to best help their team.

Traditionally, statistics like batting average for batters?the number of hits divided by the number of at bats?and earned run average?approximately the number of runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings?have governed the statistical world of baseball. However, the advent of sabermetrics has brought an onslaught of new statistics that perhaps better gauge a player's performance and contributions to his team from year to year.

Some sabermetrics have entered the mainstream baseball statistic world. On-base plus slugging (OPS) is a somewhat complicated formula that some say gauges a hitter's performance better than batting average. It combines the hitter's on base percentage?hits plus walks plus hit by pitches divided by at bats plus bases on balls plus hit by pitches plus sacrifice flies?with their slugging percentage?total bases divided by at bats. Walks plus hits per inning pitched (or WHIP) gives a good representation of a pitcher's abilities; Some hitters hit better with runners in scoring position, so an opposing manager, knowing this statistic, might elect to intentionally walk him in order to face a poorer hitter.

Popularity

Baseball is most popular in East Asia and the Americas, although in South America its popularity is mainly limited to the northern portion of the continent. In Japan, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Panama, Venezuela, Nicaragua, South Korea, and Taiwan, it is one of the most popular sports. The United States is the birthplace of baseball, and there it has long been regarded as more than just a "major sport" - it has been considered, for decades, the national pastime and Major League Baseball has been given a unique monopoly status by the United States Congress. Although three of the four most popular sports in North America are ball games — baseball, basketball and American football — baseball's popularity grew so great that the word "ballgame" in the United States almost always refers to a game of baseball, and "ballpark" to a baseball field (except in the South, where "ballgame" is also used in association with football).

Baseball has often been a barometer of the fabled American "melting pot", as immigrants from different regions have tried to "make good" in various areas including sports. In the 21st century, East Asians have been appearing in increasing numbers.

While baseball is perhaps the most popular sport in the United States and is certainly one of the two most popular along with football, it is difficult to determine which is more popular because of the wide discrepancy in number of games per season. However, among adults that follow at least one sport, 46% name either college or pro football as their favorite sport, as opposed to baseball at just under 15% www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=622. www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1152654614304&call_pageid=968867503640&col=970081593064

Organized leagues

Baseball is played at a number of levels, by amateur and professionals, and by the young and the old. Youth programs use modified versions of adult and professional baseball rules, which may include a smaller field, easier pitching (from a coach, a tee, or a machine), less contact, base running restrictions, limitations on innings a pitcher can throw, liberal balk rules, and run limitations, among others. Since rules vary from location-to-location and among the organizations, coverage of the nuances in those rules is beyond this article.

Following is a list of organized leagues:

• Youth Leagues
  
  • Little League, a youth program, headquartered in Williamsport, Pennsylvania (USA).
    

• High School
  
  • In the USA, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) and each state association governs the play of baseball at the high school level.
    
• Collegiate Level
  
  • NCAA, including NCAA Division I and the College World Series
    
  • NAIA, including the NAIA Baseball World Series
    
  • List of Collegiate Summer Baseball Leagues
    
  • National Club Baseball Association (NCBA)
    
• International Competition
  
  • Many international baseball events are coordinated by the International Baseball Federation, including The World Cup and The World Baseball Classic.
    
  • As an Olympic sport, see earlier section on the status of baseball in the Olympic games, and the article "Baseball at the Summer Olympics."
    
• Semi-professional baseball
  

• Professional baseball
  
  • Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada;
    
  • Minor League baseball in the United States and Canada;
    

• • Negro League baseball, defunct since 1958, in the United States.
    
  • All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
    
  • Greek Baseball
    
  • British Baseball Federation
    

• • Mexican Baseball
    
  • Japanese Baseball
    
  • Taiwan professional baseball
    
  • Korean Baseball Organization (KBO)
    
  • Australian Baseball
    
  • There are also smaller professional leagues in China, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, and many others.
    

See also

• Finnish baseball
  
• Russian baseball
  
• Baseball in the UK
  
• Comparison between cricket and baseball
  
• National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
  
• Baseball awards
  
• Simplified baseball rules
  
• Major League Baseball transactions
  
• Vintage base ball
  

Culture

(col-begin)
(col-break)

• English language idioms derived from baseball
  
• Ceremonial first pitch
  
• List of baseball jargon
  
• "Casey at the Bat"
  
• "Curse of the Bambino"
  
• "Curse of the billy goat"
  

(col-break)

• "Who's on First?"
  
• Rawlings (company)
  
• Baseball superstition
  
• Baseball card
  
• Baseball movie
  
• Fantasy baseball
  
• Cuban Baseball
  
• Baseball Metaphor
  

(col-end)

General Information

• Baseball fielding positions
  
• Baseball scorekeeping
  
• List of baseball jargon (terms used in the game)
  
• Baseball slang (slang also used outside the scope of baseball)
  
• List of rare baseball events (occurring within a single game)
  
• Baseball terminology
  
• Sports league attendances
  

Footnotes

References

• Joe Brinkman and Charlie Euchner, The Umpire's Handbook, rev. (1987)
  
• Bill James and John Dewan, Bill James Presents the Great American Baseball Stat Book, ed. (1987)
  
• Bill James, The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, (ISBN 0-7432-2722-0)
  
• Robert Peterson, Only the Ball Was White (1970, reprinted 1984)
  
• Joseph L. (1984)
  
• David Quentin Voigt, Baseball, an Illustrated History (1987)
  
• Charles Euchner, The Last Nine Innings: Inside the Real Game Fans Never See (2006)
  
• Jeff MacGregor, The New Electoral Sex Symbol: Nascar Dad, The New York Times (January 18 2004)
  
• Michael Mandelbaum, The Meaning of Sports, (PublicAffairs, ISBN 1-58648-252-1).
  
• Diamonds of the North: A Concise History of Baseball in Canada by William Humber (Oxford University Press, 1995).
  
• Old Time Baseball and the London Tecumsehs of the late 1870s by Les Bronson, a recorded (and later transcribed) talk given to the London & Middlesex Historical Society on February 15 1972. Barney and Nancy Bouchier.
  
• The Beaver, Exploring Canada's History October-November 1994, Baseball's Canadian Roots: Abner Who? by Mark Kearney.
  
• The Northern Game: Baseball the Canadian Way by Bob Elliott (Sport Classic, 2005).
  
• 'The 1948 London Majors: A Great Canadian Team by Dan Mendham (unpublished academic paper, UWO, December 7 1992).
  
• An Eight-Page Indenture/ Instrument #33043 between The London and Western Trusts Company Limited, The Corporation of The City of London and John Labatt, Limited, dated December 31 1936, and registered on title in the Land Registry Office for the City of London on January 2 1937, conveying Tecumseh Park to the City of London along with $10,000 on the provisos that the athletic field be preserved, maintained and operated "for the use of the citizens of the City of London as an athletic field and recreation ground" and that it be renamed "The John Labatt Memorial Athletic Park."
  
• Heritage Baseball: City of London a souvenir program from July 23 2005, celebrating the history of Labatt Park and London, Ontario's 150th anniversary as an incorporated city.