BASEBALL

The Origin of Baseball

• The history of baseball dates to the 19th century, when boys and
amateur enthusiasts played a baseball-like game by their own
informal rules using homemade equipment. The popularity of
the sport grew and amateur men's ball clubs were formed in the
1830–50s. Semi-professional baseball clubs followed in the
1860s, and the first professional leagues arrived in the post-
American Civil War 1870s.
The exact origins of baseball are unknown,
most historians agree that it is based on the
English game of rounders. It began to
become quite popular in the early 19th
century, and many sources report the
growing popularity of a game called
“townball”, or “baseball”.
Who Discovered Baseball?

ABNER
DOUBLEDAY
( 1819-1893)
 Who Discovered Baseball?
Abner Doubleday (June 26, 1819 – January 26, 1893) was a career 
United States Army officer and Union major general in the American Civil War. He fired
the first shot in defense of Fort Sumter, the opening battle of the war, and had a pivotal
role in the early fighting at the Battle of Gettysburg. Gettysburg was his finest hour, but
his relief by Maj. Gen. George G. Meade caused lasting enmity between the two men. In
San Francisco, after the war, he obtained a patent on the cable car railway that still runs
there. In his final years in New Jersey, he was a prominent member and later president
of the Theosophical Society.
In 1908, 15 years after his death, Doubleday was declared by the Mills Commission to
have invented the game of baseball (a claim never made by Doubleday during his
lifetime). This claim has been thoroughly debunked by baseball historians.
What is Baseball

• Baseball is a bat-and-ball game played between two opposing teams,

of nine players each, that take turns batting and fielding. The game
proceeds when a player on the fielding team, called the pitcher,
throws a ball that a player on the batting team tries to hit with a bat.
The objective of the offensive team (batting team) is to hit the
ball into the field of play and away from the other team's
players, allowing its players to run the bases, having them
advance counter-clockwise around four bases to score what are
called "runs". The objective of the defensive team (fielding
team) is to prevent batters from becoming runners, and to
prevent runners' advance around the bases. A run is scored
when a runner legally advances around the bases in order and
touches home plate (the place where the player started as a
batter). The team that scores the most runs by the end of the
game is the winner.
 Rules and Regulation
• Baseball has two teams of 9 players.

• The fielding team's positions are made up of a pitcher, catcher, first

baseman, second baseman, shortstop, third baseman, and three
outfielders at left field, centre field and right field.

• Games last for 9 innings of which both teams get to bat once. If the
game is a tie after 9 innings then an extra inning will be added until a
winner is found. If the team batting second in the bottom of the 9th
inning are already ahead in points, then they do not need to complete
their batting innings.
• Once a batting order is picked, then it cannot be changed
throughout the game. Substitutes are permitted, however, they
must bat in the order of the previous player whom they replaced.

• If the batter manages to hit the ball from the pitcher, they must
make an effort to at least get to first base. They can then run to
as many bases as they wish before being tagged out. Each base
must be touched with some part of the batters body when
running past.
• A batter gets up to three strikes before getting out. A strike is deemed when
a batter swings for a ball and misses it. The batter can leave the ball but, if it's
within a certain area (called the 'strike zone'), then a strike will also be given.
If four balls miss the strike zone and the batter does not swing their bat, they
can walk to first base.

• When on base, the batter can run to the next base at any point.

• Players can be dismissed by either a 'strike out' (referring to a batsman

missing the ball three times), 'force out' (when a player fails to make the base
before the defensive player), 'fly out' (when the ball is hit in the air and
caught without it bouncing), and 'tag outs' (where a defensive player with the
ball tags the batsman with the ball all whilst they are running).
 Mechanics how to play Baseball

• The object of baseball is to score more runs than

your opponent. The idea is to hit the ball thrown
at you as far as you can before running around 4
bases to complete a run. Once a player manages to
get around the four bases before being tagged out,
then another batter steps in.
Home plate to centerfield is 400 ft or more.
Home plate to the nearest fence is 325 ft or
more. The foul lines have a length of 320 ft
or more. The rubber on the pitcher's mound
measures 24in x 6in and is a distance of 60ft
& 6in to home plate.
Catcher is a position for a baseball or
softball player. When a batter takes
their turn to hit, the catcher crouches
behind home plate, in front of the
(home) umpire, and receives the ball
from the pitcher.
In baseball, the pitch is the
act of throwing the baseball
toward home plate to start a
play.
In baseball, batting is the act of facing the opposing
pitcher and trying to produce offense for one's team. A
batter or hitter is a person whose turn it is to face the
pitcher. The three main goals of batters are to become a
baserunner, to drive runners home or to advance runners
along the bases for others to drive home, but the
techniques and strategies they use to do so vary.
The general consensus among baseball
experts is that playing the right field is
generally harder. The ball coming off the
bat to the left field is commonly more
predictable and has less of a spin to it.
Most batters are righties and they rarely
send balls of sliced pitches to the left
field.
EQUIPMENTS AND MATERIALS USED IN
BASEBALL GAME

Batting Helmet
A helmet is worn by a batter to protect
his/her head and the ear facing the pitcher
from the ball. While some helmets have ear
protectors only on one side as only the ear
facing the pitcher should be protected,
helmets with ear protectors on both sides
are more common as some batters are left
handed and some right handed.
 Uniform
All players, coaches and
managers wear shirts,
pants, cap, and shoes.
Each team has a uniform
dress of a specific colour
and design.
 Baseball Cleats
These are baseball specific
shoes made of rubber or metal
that players wear for better
traction.
 Baseball Bat
Bat is a round, solid wooden or
hollow aluminium bat. Wooden
bats are traditionally made from
ash wood, though sometimes
maple and bamboo is also used.
 Gloves
Players wear leather gloves to protect
their palms. A webbed "pocket" between
the thumb and first finger helps the
fielder to catch the ball easily.
ASSESSMENT

1. What Is the other term for Baseball?

2. Based on the discussion, what century when did Baseball began?
3. Who introduced Baseball?
4. Traditionally made from ash wood, though sometimes maple and bamboo
is also used.
5. Layers of yarn or string is rolled on a cork sphere.
6-10. Enumerate five Equipment and Materials used n Baseball.
Answer key:

1.TownBall
2.19 century
3.Abner Doubleday
4.Baseball bat
5.Baseball ball
6-10. Batting Helmet, Uniform, Baseball Cleats,
Baseball Bat, Ball, Gloves