| | <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''', dubbed the [[American]] "National Pasttime" in 1856 (before the [[American Civil War]]),<ref>https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/baseball-americana/about-this-exhibition/origins-and-early-days/#:~:text=Amateur%20teams%20flourished%20in%20the,the%20sport%20in%20every%20direction.</ref> is an outdoor sport played between two teams of nine players each, whereby the winning team is the one that scores the most "runs". A run occurs when a player rounds the bases without being tagged out, but while allowed to stop at one of the three intermediate bases in between plays. Each play consists of a pitcher throwing the ball towards home plate, where a batter attempts to strike it with a bat, which must be wooden in professional baseball, in the batter's attempt to hit the ball where no fielder can catch it or pick it up and throw it to the first baseman before the batter is able to run to first base. | + | '''Baseball''', dubbed the [[American]] "National Pasttime" in 1856 (before the [[American Civil War]]),<ref>https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/baseball-americana/about-this-exhibition/origins-and-early-days/#:~:text=Amateur%20teams%20flourished%20in%20the,the%20sport%20in%20every%20direction.</ref> is an outdoor sport played between two teams of nine players each, whereby the winning team is the one that scores the most "runs". A run occurs when a player rounds the bases without being tagged out, but while allowed to stop at one of the three intermediate bases in between plays. Each play consists of a pitcher throwing the ball towards home plate, where a batter attempts to strike it with a bat<ref>Only wooden bats are allowed in professional baseball, while metal bats are allowed at most other levels of baseball.</ref> in the batter's attempt to hit the ball where no fielder can catch it or pick it up and throw it to the first baseman before the batter is able to run to first base. |
| | Virtually no professional baseball players are [[homosexual]], which suggests that the repetitive playing of this sport tends to encourage heterosexual rather than homosexual proclivities. | | Virtually no professional baseball players are [[homosexual]], which suggests that the repetitive playing of this sport tends to encourage heterosexual rather than homosexual proclivities. |