Baseball is a popular game played all over the world! This game became the national sport of the United States of America after evolving from a similar bat-and-ball game derived from England in the middle of the 18th century. Baseball is now well known all around the planet and comes in different forms for your specific level of game.
What are the Rules of Baseball?
Composed of two teams, each with 9 players, these two teams take turns in both the fielding and batting part of the game.
Basic Baseball Batting Rules
The Team Batting
- Use the bat to hit the ball that is thrown by the pitcher
- If the catcher behind you catches three pitches(swing and miss), you strike out.
- A decent hit means you’re ready to run, run to first base, or continue running to second, and third base or even get an inside the park home run by completing the route without being thrown out!
- You are out if the ball get caught in the air
- You are out if the ball has been thrown out, meaning the ball has been passed to the fielding member that is guarding the current base you are running to, if you don’t have a team member behind you on a base, you can go back to the previous base given you are not thrown out. Another form of fielding is if the holder of the baseball tags you while holding the ball and while you are in between bases.
- A run is marked for each run that touches home plate (RBI).
Baseball Explained In Simple Terms
The Team Fielding
- The fielding team’s pitcher, pitches the ball to the batter.
- A poor throw can be subjected to a “ball”, four “balls” on a single batter can ultimately allow the batter to walk to first base without interference
- When the ball is hit, and a fielder catches it in the air, the batter is automatically out.
- When the ball is hit and not caught, you can field the ball by tagging the running batter in between bases with the baseball, or throw the ball onto the fielding base man of the base before the batter steps on it first.
Additional Rules
- One turn of the team batting is called an “inning”
- One game is made up of 9 innings
- An inning is over once the team batting has had three “outs” by means of strike outs, caught outs, or field outs.
- Tying scores at the end of 9 innings will call for extra innings
Check out this video explanation of the rules of baseball
Equipment Typically Needed
- Protective Helmet
- Other protective gear depending on your position (Catcher)
- Fielding glove, specific to your position
- Baseball Bat
- Batting gloves (Unless you’re like Vladimir Guerrero)
- Baseball Ball
- Four bases : Home plate, 1st base, 2nd base, and 3rd base
Baseball is a great game to play, and even to watch! It’s been a huge part of North American tradition and brings joy to many families all around the world. There’s nothing like the classic sound effects, the buzz of the crowd’s excitement, the smell of the player’s sweat mixed with the scent of freshly cooked hotdogs! Sounds weird but you know you love it!
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