| Baseball is a sport played between two | | | | team has a "farm system" of minor league |
| teams usually of nine players each. It | | | | teams at various levels. These teams |
| is a bat-and-ball game in which a | | | | allow younger players to gain experience |
| pitcher throws (pitches) a hard, | | | | against opponents with similar levels of |
| fist-sized, leather-covered ball toward | | | | skill. |
| a batter on the opposing team. The | | | | The distinct evolution of baseball from |
| batter attempts to hit the baseball with | | | | among the various bat-and-ball games is |
| a tapered cylindrical bat, made of wood | | | | difficult to trace with precision. While |
| (as required in professional baseball) | | | | there has been general agreement that |
| or a variety of other materials (as | | | | modern baseball is a North American |
| allowed in many nonprofessional games). | | | | development from the older game |
| A team scores runs only when batting, by | | | | rounders, the 2006 book Baseball Before |
| advancing its players—primarily via | | | | We Knew It: A Search for the Roots of |
| hits—counterclockwise past a series of | | | | the Game, by David Block, argues against |
| four markers called bases arranged at | | | | that notion. The earliest known mention |
| the corners of a ninety-foot square, or | | | | of the sport is in a 1744 British |
| "diamond." The game, played without time | | | | publication, A Little Pretty |
| restriction, is structured around nine | | | | Pocket-Book, by John Newbery. It |
| segments called innings. In each inning, | | | | contains a wood-cut illustration of boys |
| both teams are given the opportunity to | | | | playing "base-ball," showing a set-up |
| bat and score runs; a team's half-inning | | | | roughly similar to the modern game, and |
| ends when three outs are recorded | | | | a rhymed description of the sport. The |
| against that team. | | | | earliest known American reference to the |
| Baseball on both the professional and | | | | game was published in a 1791 Pittsfield, |
| amateur levels is popular in North | | | | Massachusetts, statute that prohibited |
| America, Central America, parts of South | | | | the playing of baseball within 80 yards |
| America, parts of the Caribbean, and | | | | of the town's new meeting house. The |
| East Asia. The modern version of the | | | | English novelist Jane Austen made a |
| game developed in North America | | | | reference to children playing |
| beginning in the eighteenth century. The | | | | "base-ball" on a village green in her |
| consensus of historians is that it | | | | book Northanger Abbey, which was written |
| evolved from earlier bat-and-ball games, | | | | between 1798 and 1803 (though not |
| such as rounders, brought to the | | | | published until 1818). |
| continent by British and Irish | | | | The first full documentation of a |
| immigrants. By the late nineteenth | | | | baseball game in North America is Dr. |
| century, baseball was widely recognized | | | | Adam Ford's contemporary description of |
| as the national sport of the United | | | | a game that took place in 1838 on June 4 |
| States. The game is sometimes referred | | | | (Militia Muster Day) in Beachville, |
| to as hardball to differentiate it from | | | | Ontario; this report was related in an |
| similar sports such as softball. | | | | 1886 edition of Sporting Life magazine |
| In the United States, professional Major | | | | in a letter by former St. Marys, |
| League Baseball teams are divided into | | | | Ontario, resident Dr. Matthew Harris. In |
| the National League (NL) and American | | | | 1845, Alexander Cartwright of New York |
| League (AL). Each league has three | | | | City led the codification of an early |
| divisions: East, West, and Central. | | | | list of rules (the so-called |
| Every year, the champion of Major League | | | | Knickerbocker Rules), from which today's |
| Baseball is determined by playoffs | | | | have evolved. He had also initiated the |
| culminating in the World Series. Four | | | | replacement of the soft ball used in |
| teams make the playoffs from each | | | | rounders with a smaller hard ball. While |
| league: the three division leaders, plus | | | | there are reports of Cartwright's club, |
| one wild card team with the best record | | | | the New York Knickerbockers, playing |
| among the remaining teams in the league. | | | | games in 1845, the game now recognized |
| In the National League, the pitcher is | | | | as the first in U.S. history to be |
| required to bat, per the traditional | | | | officially recorded took place on June |
| rules. In the American League, there is | | | | 19, 1846, in Hoboken, New Jersey, with |
| a tenth player, a designated hitter, who | | | | the "New York Nine" defeating the |
| bats for the pitcher. Each major league | | | | Knickerbockers, 23–1, in four innings. |