Chapter 1

The Lowdown on Baseball

IN THIS CHAPTER

Uncovering the origins and objective of the game

Plotting player positions and field layout

Handing over hits and runs

Delivering strikes and balls

For people who still believe that Abner Doubleday invented baseball in Cooperstown, New York, we bring you a line from the gangster movie Donnie Brasco: "Fuhgedaboudit!" Abner didn't invent nuttin'. No one person actually conceived of the sport. Baseball evolved from earlier bat and ball games including town ball, rounders, and "one old cat"(which was played with home plate and one base). Although there's no denying that the English game of cricket was also an influence, baseball is as singular an American art form as jazz. (Although during the early 1960s, the Soviet Union claimed baseball was a Russian creation. We should note, however, that Soviets were also taking credit back then for the invention of the telephone and the electric light.)

This chapter gives you a quick overview of America's pastime. Whether you've been a fan your entire life or just started showing an interest in the sport, this chapter can help you start.

Tapping into the Roots of the Game

According to John Thorn, Major League Baseball's official historian, a game called "baseball" was documented in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in 1791 but was probably played in that state much earlier. A game called baste or baste ball - most likely the same game, was played at Princeton College in 1786.

For many years, Abner Doubleday was considered the game's "Zeus," with baseball springing directly from his brain. Revisionist historians then shifted their credit to a bank teller named Alexander Cartwright, who was thought to have invented most of the rules in atavistic form. However, thanks to the research Thorn presented in his book, "Baseball in the Garden of Eden," we know three other men had more to do with baseball's rise than those two: William Rufus Wheaton, Daniel Lucius Adams, and Louis Fenn Wadsworth. Wheaton (not Cartwright) wrote the first baseball rules for a club called the Gothams and copied them, virtually unchanged, eight years later for the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club of 1845. Adams (not Cartwright) positioned the base paths ninety feet apart, set the pitching distance at 45 feet (its distance from the late 1850s well into the era of professional league play, enduring until 1880) and created the position of shortstop around 1850. Wadsworth (not Cartwright) is responsible for setting the number of men to each side at nine, as well as the number of innings required to complete a game. In doing so, he bucked the majority of his fellow Knickerbockers, who preferred to play seven innings. The ancient Knicks achieved a semblance of validation when in 2020, Major League Baseball decided to limit the second game of doubleheaders to seven innings (though it discontinued this practice before the 2022 season).

Understanding the Game's Structure

In the Major Leagues, a game is divided into nine units of play called innings. Almost all leagues play nine-inning games, except some youth leagues that play only five to seven innings. An inning consists of a turn at-bat and three outs for each team. Visiting teams bat in the first half (called the top) of an inning; home teams bat in the second half (called the bottom) of the inning.

While one club (the offensive team) is at-bat, the other (the defensive team) plays in the field. Nine players compose each team's lineup. The defensive team consists of the pitcher, catcher, first baseman, second baseman, third baseman, shortstop, left fielder, center fielder, and right fielder. Check out Figure 1-1 of the playing field to see the basic positions for each of the defensive players. (Table 1-1 gives you the abbreviations for these players.)

Illustration by Wiley, Composition Services Graphics

FIGURE 1-1: The playing field with its players.

TABLE 1-1 The Players

Abbreviation

Position

P

Pitcher

C

Catcher

1B

First baseman

2B

Second baseman

3B

Third baseman

SS

Shortstop

LF

Left fielder

CF

Center fielder

RF

Right fielder

When nine isn't really nine

Many baseball games are finished before the completion of nine full innings. If the home team leads after the top of the ninth, it wins the game without taking its turn at-bat in the bottom of that inning. The home team can also win the game in less than nine innings if it scores the winning run during the last inning before the third out. For example, the Toronto Blue Jays come to bat in the bottom of the ninth inning of a game against the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers lead 3-2. With two men out, Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hits a two-run homer off the Tiger starter. Toronto wins, 4-3. The game is over even though the two teams combined for only 8 2/3 innings. (Remember, a team doesn't complete an inning until it makes the third out.)

This example illustrates the difference between baseball and other major team sports. Either team can win a game that ends in regulation time in football (four quarters), basketball (four quarters), and hockey (three periods). In baseball, the home team can never win any game that ends after nine full innings (except in the event of a forfeit).

Going extra innings

Games that are tied after nine innings go into extra innings. The two opponents play until they complete an extra inning with the visiting team ahead or until the home team scores the winning run. However, in 2020, MLB introduced the extra-inning tiebreaker rule, in which a runner (also known as a ghost runner) is automatically placed on second base to begin each inning. The rule originally was introduced on a trial basis during the 60-game 2020 pandemic season as a way to shorten games and reduce the risk of injury after a pandemic-jerry-rigged spring-training shutdown and midsummer build-up period for pitchers. After retaining the rule on a temporary basis in 2021 and 2022, the rule was made permanent in 2023, much to the dismay of purists who felt that players should do something to earn their way on base. However, purists should be happy to know the rule applies only to regular season play. You won't see ghost runners used in postseason games.

Introducing the Playing Field

Baseball is played on a level field divided into an infield and an outfield. The infield (also known as the diamond) must be a square 90 feet (27.45 meters) on each side. Home plate sits at one corner of the square, and the three bases rest at the other corners. Moving counterclockwise from home, you see first base, second base, and third base.

Base lines run from home plate to first base, as well as from home to third. Base lines also extend from first base to second and from second to third. However, only the base lines extending from home to first and home to third are marked by white chalk. The lanes connecting the bases are the base paths. Runners must stay within them while traveling around the diamond. Should a runner step out of the base path to elude a tag, the umpire can call him out.

Foul lines extend from the first-base and third-base lines and run straight to the outfield walls. The section of the outfield beyond first base is called right field, the outfield section behind second base and shortstop is center field, and the outfield section beyond third base is left field.

Coaches pass on advice to players from the coach's boxes, the chalk rectangles in foul territory near first and third. When the players are not on the field, they sit in shelters in foul territory called dugouts. Between the dugout and home plate is the on-deck circle, where the next hitter awaits his turn at-bat. (See Figure 1-2.)

Illustration by Wiley, Composition Services Graphics

FIGURE 1-2: The structure of the playing field.

Major League rules required the distance from home plate to the nearest fence or wall in fair territory for stadiums built before June 1, 1958 to be at least 250 feet (76 meters). The required distance for stadiums built after that date is 325 feet (99.06 meters). Home plate must be a 17-inch (43-centimeter) square with two of its corners removed to leave a 17-inch edge, two 8½-inch (21.5-centimeter) adjacent sides, and two 12-inch (30.5-centimeter) sides angled to a point. The result is a five-sided slab of white rubber. A regulation pitching rubber is a 24-x-6-inch (61-x-15.5-centimeter) rectangle made of white rubber, set in the middle of the diamond 60 feet, 6 inches (18.4 meters) from the rear of home plate (see Figure...