KNOWING THE GAME Baseball is a game that changes with every pitch A ball here or a strike there can change the game in an endless variety of ways What should a player in the field do when a ball is hit to the outfield with runners on base What should the runner on base do With so many possibilities how does a player know what to do on each play They have lots of practice how to play the game when they were kids and worked hard to become great players But it’s never too late to learn how to play baseball Ballplayers know their positions because they learned 4 BASEBALL ORIGINS No one knows exactly how baseball was invented It’s believed baseball’s rules came from two English sports cricket and rounders But the rules and number of players on the field changed many times over the years Eventually they settled on nine innings or periods and nine players for each team
THERE ARE LOTS OF THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT BASEBALL BUT IT’S AN EASY SPORT TO LEARN READ ON TO LEARN ABOUT AMERICA’S PASTIME 5
BATTER UP There are nine positions on a baseball field and each one is different But the one thing every baseball player must do at some point is bat Hitting is a hard part of the job because everyone on the other team is working to stop you from getting hits and reaching base ball They watch either the ball itself or how a pitcher stands to figure out what kind of pitch is being thrown which we’ll get to later Getting a good swing on the ball is the best chance a batter has to get a hit The most important thing a hitter can do is see the 6 LIVING WITH FAILURE Batting comes with a lot of failure Even the best hitters in the major leagues only get a hit in three out of 10 at-bats But don’t worry much of this failure is because the other team’s players are good at their jobs Pitchers trick batters into swinging at bad pitches and good fielders catch well-hit balls for outs
GOOD HITTERS HAVE LEARNED TO ACCEPT GOING A WHILE WITHOUT A HIT YOU JUST HAVE TO KEEP TRYING 7
