| Line 1: |
Line 1: |
| | <small>''This article is about the game of '''baseball'''. For other uses, see [[Baseball (disambiguation)]]</small> | | <small>''This article is about the game of '''baseball'''. For other uses, see [[Baseball (disambiguation)]]</small> |
| | [[Image:Busch Stadium.jpg|right|thumb|250px|A professional baseball game at Busch Memorial Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri.]] | | [[Image:Busch Stadium.jpg|right|thumb|250px|A professional baseball game at Busch Memorial Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri.]] |
| − | '''Baseball''' is an outdoor sport played between two teams of nine players each, with the object of the game for the offensive player to hit the ball with a wooden bat in such a manner as to allow that player to successfully touch each base on a running circuit and scoring a point at the run's completion at home plate. Extremely popular within the United States, Japan, and Latin America, baseball is played everywhere from neighborhood sandlots and city streets to its culmination in a best-of-seven championship World Series between two professional teams of the American and National Leagues of Major League Baseball. | + | '''Baseball''' is an outdoor sport played between two teams of nine players each, with the object of the game for the offensive player to hit the ball with a wooden bat in such a manner as to allow that player to successfully touch each base on a running circuit and scoring a point at the run's completion at home plate. |
| | | | |
| − | Baseball has been intertwined within American life and culture like no other sport has. It has given us record-setting heroes, many of which are still talked about over a century later. It has given rise to movies, songs, books, magazines, and a lexicon of words and phrases which are part of everyday life. | + | Virtually no professional baseball players are [[homosexual]], which suggests that the repetitive playing of this sport tends to encourage heterosexual rather than homosexual proclivities. |
| | + | |
| | + | Baseball has been intertwined within American life and culture like no other sport has. It has given us record-setting heroes, many of which are still talked about over a century later. It has given rise to movies, songs, books, magazines, and a lexicon of words and phrases which are part of everyday life. Extremely popular within the United States, Japan, and Latin America, baseball is played everywhere from neighborhood sandlots and city streets to its culmination in a best-of-seven championship World Series between two professional teams of the American and National Leagues of Major League Baseball. |
| | | | |
| | ==Description== | | ==Description== |
| | [[File:Baseball-Field-Template.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Diagram of a baseball field]] | | [[File:Baseball-Field-Template.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Diagram of a baseball field]] |
| − | Baseball is played on a field which is roughly diamond-shaped, with the wide end serving as the outfield. The infield consists of a square, each side of the square 90 feet long. The narrow end of the square is the point furthest from the outfield fence at center field, which can be anywhere from 295 to 450 feet away;{{fact}} this point on the square serves as home plate. The remaining corners serves as first, second, and third bases, running counterclockwise from home plate. Within the center of the square - 60 feet, 6 inches away - is the pitcher's mound. | + | Baseball is played on a field which is roughly diamond-shaped, with the wide end serving as the outfield. The infield consists of a square, each side of the square 90 feet long. The narrow end of the square is the point furthest from the outfield fence at center field, which can be anywhere from 295 to 450 feet away; this point on the square serves as home plate. The remaining corners serves as first, second, and third bases, running counterclockwise from home plate. Within the center of the square - 60 feet, 6 inches away - is the pitcher's mound. |
| | | | |
| | Baseball is one of the very few sports in which the defense controls the ball. All nine defensive players are on the field during play: three in the outfield (left, center, and right fields); four in the infield (first, second, and third basemen, and shortstop); the catcher behind home plate, and the pitcher on the mound. The single offensive player takes his place within a batter's box on either side of home plate, and with a bat attempts to hit the ball thrown to him by the pitcher into "fair" territory such that it is not caught in the air and gives the batter time to run to a base. The offense strives to advance these baserunners until they circle the three [[infield]] bases in order and get back to home plate, resulting in the scoring of a run. The only offensive players on the field at any other time besides the batter are those who successfully made it onto one of the three bases. | | Baseball is one of the very few sports in which the defense controls the ball. All nine defensive players are on the field during play: three in the outfield (left, center, and right fields); four in the infield (first, second, and third basemen, and shortstop); the catcher behind home plate, and the pitcher on the mound. The single offensive player takes his place within a batter's box on either side of home plate, and with a bat attempts to hit the ball thrown to him by the pitcher into "fair" territory such that it is not caught in the air and gives the batter time to run to a base. The offense strives to advance these baserunners until they circle the three [[infield]] bases in order and get back to home plate, resulting in the scoring of a run. The only offensive players on the field at any other time besides the batter are those who successfully made it onto one of the three bases. |