Facts about Baseball

Changes to the lineup are tightly limited by the rules of baseball and must be communicated to the umpires, who have the substitutions announced for the opposing team and fans (see Substitutions below).

Ty Cobb said of his era, "Baseball is something like a war!"

Any baseball game involves one or more umpires, who make rulings on the outcome of each play.

Baseball history is full of heroes and goats —men who in the heat of the moment (the "clutch") distinguished themselves with a timely hit or catch, or an untimely strikeout or error.

The catcher can try to get the batter out by tagging him with the ball or throwing the ball to first base and forcing him out see Mickey Owen Mickey Owen, 1941 World Seriesbaseballlibrary.com.

By the middle of the eighteenth century the banjo was so well known that it did not require a description.

Like other professional sports, baseball has combined sport with consumerism.

One hundred years ago, games typically took an hour and a half to play; in 2004, the average major league baseball game lasted two hours and 47 minutes.

Professional baseball began in the United States around 1865, and the National League was founded in 1876 as the first true major league, quickly producing famous players such as Cap Anson.

Countries in the Caribbean, notably the Dominican Republic and Cuba, have a strong baseball culture, contributing many players to the Major Leagues.

Baseball also reflected society's prejudices, establishing a strict color line excluding black athletes from professional competition from the 1880s until the historic signing of Jackie Robinson by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.

In baseball's early years, squads were smaller and relief pitchers were relatively uncommon; the starting pitcher would normally remain for the entire game unless he was either thoroughly ineffective or became injured.

Baseball is fundamentally a team sport—even two or three Hall of Fame-caliber players are no guarantee of a pennant—yet it places individual players under great pressure and scrutiny.

Baseball is most popular in East Asia and the United States, although it is also popular in South America, mainly in the northern portion of the continent, as well as Brazil.

Baseball is played between two teams of nine players each on a baseball field, under the authority of one or more officials called umpires.

Yogi Berra, a Hall of Fame baseball player, once said: "Baseball is 90 percent mental—the other half is physical."

Some sabermetrics have entered the mainstream baseball statistic world.

Competition between national teams, such as in the World Cup of Baseball and the Olympic baseball tournament, has been administered by the International Baseball Federation since its formation in 1938.

The results of baseball games are summarized in tables called box scores.

Baseball is unique in that the manager and coaches all wear numbered uniforms similar to those of the players.

The city statute proclaimed that the playing of baseball was prohibited within 80 yards of Pittsfield's new meeting house (in an effort to protect its windows).

Baseball is a team sport popular in North America, Latin America, the Caribbean and East Asia.

Baseball is a rare sport in which there is no time limit for play and the defensive side controls the ball.

In baseball, the defense always has the ball—a fact that differentiates it from most other team sports.

Israel is trying to form a professional baseball league with the help of American йmigrйs.

Baseball is unique among American sports in several ways.

Another notable role in baseball is that of the official scorer.

True underhanded pitching is not illegal in Major League Baseball.

During the course of a game, each baseball team has players that are an active part of the game, described as in the game, and players that are not, dubbed on the bench.

A standard game lasts nine innings, although some leagues (such as high school baseball) use seven-inning games.

Statistics are very important to many sports and perhaps especially to baseball.

The philosopher Morris Raphael Cohen described baseball as a national religion.

Effective pitching is vitally important to a baseball team, as pitching is the key for the defensive team to retiring batters and to preventing runners from getting on base.

Baseball is played at a number of levels, by amateur and professionals as well as the young and the old.

The complete Official Rules of baseball can be found at the United States Official Major League website.

Professional baseball leagues began to form in countries outside of America in the 1920s and 1930s, including the Netherlands (formed in 1922), Japan (1936), and Australia (1934).

The players typically got what they demanded, but the popularity of baseball diminished greatly as a result of the strike, and fans were slow to return.

General managers, baseball scouts, managers, and players alike study player statistics to help them choose various strategies to best help their team.

Alexander Fleming's famous discovery of the antibiotic penicillin came from the mold Penicillium notatum.

Despite the popularity of baseball, and the attendant high salaries relative to those of average Americans, the players have become unsatisfied from time to time, believing that the owners had too much control.

Baseball has often been a barometer of the fabled American "melting pot," as immigrants from different regions have tried to "make good" in various areas including sports.

An award-winning account of the origins of the game is David Block's Baseball Before We Knew It: A Search for the Roots of the Game (2005).

Many people believe that baseball is the ultimate combination of skill, timing, athleticism, and strategy.

The distinct evolution of baseball from among the various bat-and-ball games is difficult to pin down.

Canada has a franchise in Major League Baseball as well—the Toronto Blue Jays.

The lure of baseball is in its subtleties: situational defense, pitch location, pitch sequence, statistics, ballparks, history, and player personalities.

The use of steroids by some players to enhance performance is a recent, egregious violation of fair play for competitive advantage, rightly censured by fans, sports writers, and baseball management.