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