Let us play baseball !

Baseball is defined as a universal ball game played with a hard, spherical ball, baseball gloves and a wooden or aluminum bat. It is played between two sides of nine players which take turns at batting and fielding. Although, a side can only field nine players at a time, any team can have what is called an active roster comprising 23 players or more. The essence of the game is for the batting team to score runs and for the fielding team to stop runs being scored. It has to be said that baseball is a subject-matter which encompasses an entire compilation of actions, emotions and conventions, where rules, speed, signs and gesticulations are used to convey instructions to the players. The ball used in the game of baseball is round - 9 to 9.25 inches in circumference - with a rubber or cork center, wrapped in yarn and covered in leather.  Players take turns at batting and fielding. Each player on each side is alloted a batting order in the lineup and the batting side is often referred to as the offensive side. The lineup defines the batting order in which batters take turns to bat against the pitcher of the opposite side and at the start of playing, each batter must take his/her turn at bat  in the same order in which he/she had been registered in the lineup; should this rule be contravened at any time during the game the player whose turn at bat had been infringed would be automatically called out. The defensive side has nine players in different positions on the field of playing which is divided in two parts - the Infield and the outfield. The infield is shaped in the form of a diamond with a mound in the middle of it and it is patrolled by six infield players. The pitcher is the player who stand on the mound and his numerical position on the field is 1. The catcher is the player who crouches behind the home plate with his knees bent and weight on his feet as he receives the pitcher throwings - his numerical position on the field is 2. The first baseman and the second baseman are placed on the right hand side of the catcher and their numerical position on the field are 3 and 4 respectively.  On the left side of the field and to the left side of the catcher one finds the third basement and shortstop and their numerical position on the field are 5 and 6 respectively.  The outfield is comprises the area behind the diamond and is patrolled by the left, center and right field and whose numerical position on the field are 7, 8 and 9 respectively. The left field plays a way behind the third baseman, the center field a way behind the shortstop  and the second baseman while the right field plays immediately a way behind the first baseman and the second baseman.  However, there is more to baseball than just a ball and a bat.

There is more to come soon about the game of baseball on this page. Keep reading it!

P.Figueras