Baseball fundamentals are fairly simple to pick up as this is not a complex game to understand. Once you know the objective of the game, you can start to learn, follow and understand the game of baseball in greater detail.
Baseball is the most watched game in the United States of America, and it is slowly finding its footing in many countries across the world as well. Baseball fundamentals are known to pretty much anyone who watches and follows the sport, and the game has become something of a religion for many suburban American families. It’s popularity is unmatched, and it is a great choice of profession for aspiring sportsmen as well; both of which are undisputed facts about baseball.
When did baseball start?
Baseball is a bat and ball game (similar to English Cricket), and was, according to some sources, developed in England in the 18th century. Baseball history documents that immigrants brought the game into the United States and shaped baseball into the modern sport that it has become. Baseball fundamentals have remained the same through the centuries, but the gameplay and the rules have changed since the time that it was first played. Without further ado, let’s brush through the commonly known baseball fundamentals.
The Players
There are nine baseball players on each team in a game of baseball, with one of these players being the designated pitcher. As is common in all bat and ball games, one team bats and the other pitches or fields the ball. The pitching side has all nine players out on the field at the same time, while the batting side can have any number of players ranging from one to four, at any given moment. Baseball fundamentals also teaches us that one of the pitching team’s players is the catcher, and crouches behind the batter, in order to catch a pitched ball that the batter may miss.
The Field
The game derives its name from the four bases. These are four spots that are in a square shape and this is known as the diamond in the game. The pitchers mound is at the center of the square, and the batter stands at the home plate. Going in a counter clockwise direction, you have the first base, the second base and the third base. At a 45 degrees angle on both sides of the batter are the foul lines. The area on the inside of the foul lines (where all the players are) is known as fair territory, the remaining portion is foul territory. The area that is enclosed within the bases and a few yards beyond in the fair territory is the infield, while the remaining portion is the outfield area. The fundamentals of baseball state that most of the game occurs within the infield and the outfield area (the fair territory), but some actions can occur in the foul territory as well. Learn more about baseball field dimensions and the layout of baseball diamond.
The Objective
Baseball fundamentals have defined the primary objective of the game as simply outscoring your opponents. Each team takes turns to pitch and bat, and at the end of the game the team that scores more is the winner. When both teams have batted once (that is, till all their players are out) it is known as an inning, and there are a total of nine innings per game. That means each team gets to bat a total of nine times. The pitching team tries to get all the batters out by either striking them out (strikeout), by catching a high ball before it touches the ground (flyout), by touching a base before the runner gets there (groundout), or by touching a runner with the ball or hand before he reaches a base (tagout).
Scoring
Baseball fundamentals say that a team gains one run when a batter has covered all four bases, that means he starts out at home base, and then he must reach first base, then second base, then third base and when he finally reaches home base again. Therefore, as mentioned before, at one point in time there can be four members of the batting team on the pitch, each of them covering one base. Once a batter completes a run his part in the half innings is over.
Home Run
This is a hit by the batter that crosses the entire boundary of the field without touching the ground, in effect it lands in the stands. People teaching baseball for beginners always talk about the home run as it is the best shot that a batter can hit. What it invariably means is that all the batting team members who are on the bases are allowed to reach the home plate unobstructed. Thus by hitting a home run, a batter can score 4 runs for his team in the best case scenario, but either way he will at least complete 1 run.
