Baseball For Beginners

Baseball is a game played between two teams of nine players each. The game is divided into nine innings, each divided into two halves. In the top half of the inning, the players of one team successively come to bat and attempt to score runs, while the other team plays in the field and attempts to stop the offensive team from scoring. In the bottom half, the teams swap places. The team with more runs at the end of nine innings is the winner of the game.

The game is played on a diamond-shaped playing field, the four corners of the diamond being formed by home plate, first base, second base and third base. In the middle of the infield is the pitcher's mound, where the pitcher stands to pitch the ball to the batter. The area beyond the infield, bordered by the first and third baselines, is called the outfield.

During an inning, the pitcher of the defensive team throws the ball toward member of the offensive team currently in batting position at home plate. The batter attempts to hit the ball with the bat to a location out of the reach of the defensive players in the field and run around the bases. If he is able to round the bases and return to home plate, he scores a run. But if the ball is caught, or can be thrown to first base before he arrives at the base, then the batter is out. A batter is also put out if he strikes out, or fails to hit the baseball three times after three good pitches. The offensive team's time at bat is over when it gets three outs.