Baseball is one of the popular sports played
all over America. It is the national sports of the
United States of America. This sport involves two
teams of nine members each. The game is played
basically with the help of bat and ball. The pitcher
hauls a hard leather covered ball towards the
batter, an opponent, who hits it with a wooden
cylindrical bat. While the opponent team tries to
catch the ball, the batter has to run in counter
clockwise direction covering four markers called
bases. The match is divided into nine parts called
innings. Both the teams ball and score runs in each
inning. If a team gets three outs, it's half-inning.
There are three versions of baseball, including the
modern version, which was developed in the
eighteenth century. There are arguments on how and
where the game originated. According to some
reports, the game is an extension of an older game
rounders and it originated in Great Britain. British
people who came to America during the late 1700s
brought the sport. The professional Major League
Baseball is sub-categorized into the American League
and the National League with east, west and central
divisions in each. In the American League, the tenth
player, also known as a designated hitter, is
expected to bat for the pitcher where as in the
National League, the pitcher bats.
Cincinnati Red Stockings was the first established
professional baseball club. The fever began catching
the citizens of United States in the 1860s and
newspapers were referring to it as the National Game
or National Pastime. The National League was formed
in 1876 and after several trials; American League
was founded in 1901. At that time the game was
played very aggressively than when compared to the
game that is being played today. It was more like a
war and the era was named as the dead-ball era.
After the 1920s the sport became more civilized by
introduction of many rules. It was also during this
time that the famous Baseball player Babe Ruth
entered the sport. Before, the scoring was very low
but Babe Ruth proved that power hitting is obviously
the way of the game. The structure of the ball was
also worked upon so as to make it travel farther
than before.
Baseball has also influenced Canada and there are
many local minor league teams. After America and
Canada, baseball league was formed in Cuba in 1878.
Their national team consists of one of the strongest
international players. After the World War I,
baseball leagues began forming in Australia, Puerto
Rico, Netherland, and Japan. After the World War II,
more countries followed suit like Mexico, Dominican
Republic and Venezuela. Now many of the European and
Asian countries have pro and professional leagues.
Tournaments, which include baseball in their
curriculum or are based on it, are Olympic games,
Baseball World Cup, World Baseball Classic, etc.
These are held by the International Baseball
Federation, which was formed in 1938. The IOC has
voted that baseball and softball tournaments won't
be a part of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games
preceding. This is because there is a lack of good
participation because of the seasonal restriction.
These sports are only played during the summer and
the Major League Baseball does not give a break to
the players in order to participate. Because of the
seasonal obstruction and high demand by fans, this
kind of break is difficult to fit in.
