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LittleLeague.org Everything There Is to Know about Baseball
Baseball has long been America's pastime, ingrained in the fabric of American history and cultural identity. It's more than a sport; it has mirrored the country's triumphs, struggles, and transformations. From its role in uniting a nation fractured by the Civil War to facilitating change and breaking racial barriers during the Civil Rights Movement, baseball has symbolized resilience, social progress, and a shared tradition that spans generations. Whether played on Major League baseball fields, in neighborhood sandlots, or on Little League fields across the nation, baseball blends the American spirit with a mix of strategy, skill, and deep love of the game.
The Origin of Baseball
Though the legend has been debunked today, Abner Doubleday, a Civil War hero at Fort Sumter and Gettysburg, was long credited with inventing the sport in Cooperstown, New York, embedding baseball's origin story in national myth and memory. Modern historians agree that baseball evolved from older bat-and-ball games like rounders and town ball, which were played in both England and the early American colonies.
The rules of modern baseball were more formally codified in the 1840s and 1850s, especially by a New Yorker named Alexander Cartwright, who helped establish the rules that shaped the game as we know it. Cartwright was a New York bookseller and founding member of the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club. In 1845, Cartwright and his fellow club members created a formal set of 20 rules, known as the Knickerbocker Rules, which laid the foundation for modern baseball. The first officially recorded game under these rules took place on June 19, 1846, between the Knickerbockers and a team called the New York Nine at Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey. While Cartwright wasn't the sole force behind baseball's development, his rules helped transform a loose collection of local games into a standardized, competitive sport. Because of this, he is often recognized as one of the true fathers of modern baseball, and he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1938 for his contributions.
Baseball During the Civil War
Baseball had already become a popular pastime when the U.S. Civil War broke out in 1861. It gained further traction as a beloved sport during the war as soldiers on both the Union and Confederate sides played it, looking to the game to boost morale. After the war, veterans carried the game home, spreading it across the North and South, helping to unifying the country following the bloody, four-year-long war.
Baseball During World War I
During World War I (1914-18), more than 200 Major League Baseball players served in the United States military, including baseball legends Ty Cobb and Christy Mathewson, who joined the Chemical Warfare Service. In the final year of the war, the U.S. government issued a "work or fight" order that required all able-bodied men to work in a war-essential occupation or face conscription. This directly impacted the 1918 MLB season, which was cut short. Despite this, baseball delivered a moment of profound patriotic resonance during Game 1 of the 1918 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Boston Red Sox. During the seventh-inning stretch, the military band began playing "The Star-Spangled Banner." When Fred Thomas, a Red Sox third baseman and an active-duty sailor who was on leave, snapped to attention and saluted the U.S. flag, fellow players and fans followed suit. The crowd stood, placed their hands over their hearts, and sang along. The moment was so moving that the song was played before each subsequent World Series game and eventually became a standard pre-game tradition at all games.
Baseball During World War II
When the U.S. entered World War II in 1941, more than 500 Major League Baseball players, including 37 who would later be voted into the Hall of Fame, sacrificed crucial career years in favor of serving in the U.S. military. Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Hank Greenberg, and Bob Feller were among those who stepped away from the game to serve. When asked by league Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis whether Major League Baseball should be paused until the war was over, President Franklin Roosevelt issued the famous "green light letter," encouraging the game to continue as a beacon of hope and to bolster national morale. Fans continued to support their hometown teams, and baseball was used as a platform for supporting the troops, raising money, and boosting unity at home. Baseball stadiums became sites of war bond drives, military recruitment, and patriotic ceremonies. The war also spurred the formation of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) in 1943. With many men away at war, the AAGPBL helped to keep baseball top of mind, ensuring that the sport endured and evolved during wartime. Its formation also helped to pave the way for gender equality in sports.
Baseball and the Civil Rights Movement
The game of baseball was not immune to racism, but African Americans played baseball long before they were integrated into MLB and recognized for their contributions to the sport. In response to an unwritten rule within the ranks of the MLB organization to not allow black players to play in the league, the Negro Leagues were formed to showcase black talent, excellence, and pride, producing many future members of the Hall of Fame. In 1947, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier of the MLB, playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He became not just the first African American player in the MLB but the first African American to become rookie of the year (1947) and the National League MVP (1949). The integration of the MLB inspired greater change. Even Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was aware of the great influence that baseball held. He credited Robinson's integration as a key moment in civil rights progress, saying, "Jackie Robinson made my success possible. Without him, I would never have been able to do what I did."
Parts of the Baseball Field
A baseball field is divided into two main areas: the infield and the outfield. The infield is the area inside the diamond-shaped base path. It includes:
- Home Plate: Where the batter stands and the pitcher throws to
- First Base, Second Base, and Third Base: Runners touch these bases as they run around the diamond toward home plate in order to score a run.
- Pitcher's Mound: Thee raised area in the center from which the pitcher throws
- Base Path: The dirt track between bases
- Infield Grass: The grassy area surrounding the bases
The outfield is the grassy area beyond the infield, and it includes:
- Left Field, Center Field, and Right Field: The zones in which outfielders play to catch long-hit balls
- Warning Track: A strip of dirt or gravel near the outfield fence that warns fielders that they're close to the wall
- Outfield Fence: If the ball goes over the fence on the fly, it's a home run.
- The Parts of an MLB Baseball Park
Baseball Positions
Infielders
- Pitcher (P): Starts every play by throwing the ball to the batter
- Catcher (C): Crouches behind home plate, catches pitches, and manages the game strategy
- First Base (1B): Covers first base and fields throws from other infielders
- Second Base (2B): Covers second base and the right side of the infield
- Shortstop (SS): Between second and third base, often handles the most ground balls
- Third Base (3B): Handles bunts and hard-hit balls down the third base line
Outfielders
How to Play Baseball
Objective
The goal in any baseball game is to score more runs than the opposing team. A run is scored when a player hits the ball and successfully touches first, second and third base and then home plate.
Game Format
A standard baseball game is played over nine innings, each divided into two halves. During the top half, the visiting team is up to bat and the home team defends in the field; in the bottom half, the teams switch and the home team bats. Each team continues batting until they record three outs, marking the end of that half-inning. The game alternates in this way through all nine innings, and at the end, the team with the most runs wins. If the score is tied after nine innings, the game will go into extra innings until one team holds the lead after a complete inning.
Balls and Strikes
When a player is up to bat, their goal is to hit the ball and safely move around the bases. What a batter usually tries to avoid is striking out, which happens when the player gets three strikes.
A strike occurs in a few different ways. If the batter swings at a pitch and misses, that's a strike. If the pitch passes through the strike zone, the area over home plate between the batter's knees and chest, and the batter chooses not to swing, it is also ruled a strike. Additionally, if the batter hits a ball foul, it counts as a strike, but only up to two strikes. Once the batter has two strikes, fouling off additional pitches does not result in a strikeout unless the ball is bunted foul, in which case the batter is out.
A ball is called when the pitcher throws a pitch outside the strike zone and the batter does not swing at it. If the batter accumulates four balls during a single at-bat, they are awarded a walk and advance to first base automatically. Balls are essentially missed opportunities for the pitcher to challenge the batter within the proper zone, and accumulating them puts the batter in a stronger position.
Outs are essential to controlling the game and keeping the other team from scoring. A team needs three outs to end the opposing team's turn at bat. A batter or base runner can be called out in several ways:
- By striking out (accumulating three strikes)
- By hitting a fly ball that is caught before it touches the ground
- By being tagged with the ball while not on a base
- By being forced out, which happens when a defensive player steps on a base with the ball before the runner arrives
Additional Baseball Resources