CHAPTER 1 A WORLD SPORT WITH AMERICAN ORIGINS Nhe sport of baseball developed in the eastern United States in the mid 18oos From there it spread to big cities and small towns across the country By the turn of the 20th century baseball was known as America's national pastime To Some people baseball was also considered a symbol of the country's character Whoever wants to know the heart and mindof America had better the learn baseball rules and reali ties of the game wrote American author and historian Jacques Barzun The United States is not the only coun try where the game has had a large impact Baseball is also a national passion in Cuba Puerto Rico the Dominican Republic and Venezuela And in Mexico Japan and Korea baseball has thrived since the early 1900s Whereas the United States can boast IO
A WoRLD SPORT WITH AMERI ORIGINS of legendary players such as Babe Ruth and Willie Mays elsewhere fans praise the tal ents of baseball heroes such as Martin Dihigo of Cuba Roberto Clemente of Puerto Rico and Sadaharu Oh of Japan Today television radio print media and Web sites provide information on players and teams for millions of baseball fans in all corners of the globe Baseball is played by two teams of nine players On the inner part of the field are four white bases laid out in a square The basic equipment consists of a bat ball and gloves During a game the two teams alter nate between being fielders playing defense and batters playing offense The object of the game is to score more runs than the opponent A run is scored each time a player on the offensive team is able to run to and touch all four bases A period of play called an inning is completed when both teams have had a turn at bat The team with the most runs after nine innings wins the game If there is a tie extra innings are played until a winner emerges NoRTH AMERICA The two major professional leagues in North America are the National League NL II
BASEBALL AND ITS GREATEST PLAYERS and the American League AL which are governed by an organization called Major League Baseball There are also professional minor league teams in many American cit ies In addition baseball is one of the more important amateur sports in the United States with several well organized leagues for youth and junior players as well as a long standing college tradition LAFOR AND Minor LEAGUES For most of their early history the National and American leagues each had eight teams and every team played a 154 game schedule to determine the league champions The league champions would then meet in the World Series Currently the American League has 14 teams and the National League has 16 teams Each league is divided into Eastern Central and Western divisions and each team plays 162 regular season games The team with the best record in each division at the end of the season is a division champion In October each of the division champions and two wild card teams the teams with the best record among the non division winning teams in each league advance to 12
A WoRLD SPORT WITH AMERI ORIGINS Pitcher Brian Wilson and his San Francisco Giants teammates cel ebrate the series winning moment of the 2010 World Series The Giants clinched the title on Nov 1 2010 in game five against the Texas Rangers Damian Strohmeyer Sports Illustrated Getty Images the play offs Best of five games series are played in the first round The winning teams from the first round move on to compete in a second round best of seven games series to determine the league s champion or pennant winner The American League and National League pennant winners then play a best of seven games World Series to determine the overall champion 13
