Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The goal is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a 'diamond'. The sizes of these diamonds can vary, and depend on what league is being described. Players on one team (the batting team) take turns hitting against the pitcher of the other team (the fielding team), which tries to stop them from scoring runs by getting hitters out in any of several ways. A player on the batting team can stop at any of the bases and later advance via a teammate's hit or other means. The teams switch between batting and fielding whenever the fielding team records three outs. One turn at bat for each team constitutes an inning; nine innings make up a professional game. The team with the most runs of baseball developed]]. By the late nineteenth is sometimes referred to as hardball, in contrast to the derivative game of softball. Soft ball is similar to baseball in many respects, because you use a bat and a ball. There are some minor differences, like the type of bat you use, and the type of ball, but are still similar. Even though the name suggests that the ball is soft, it is not and sometimes confusing young rookies.
In North America, professional Major League Baseball (MLB) teams are divided into the National League (NL) and American League (AL). Each league has three divisions: East, West, and Central. Every year, the champion of Major League Baseball is determined by playoffs that culminate in the World Series. Four teams make the playoffs from each league: the three regular season division winners, plus one wild card team. Baseball is the leading team sport in both Japan and Cuba, and the top level of play is similarly split between two leagues: Japan's Central League and Pacific League; Cuba's West League and East League. In the National and Central leagues, the pitcher is required to bat, per the traditional rules. In the American, Pacific, farm system of one or more minor league teams. These teams allow younger players to develop as they gain on-field experience against opponents with similar levels of skill. (more...)
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The 1926 World Series was the championship series of the 1926 Major League Baseball (MLB) season, featuring the St. Louis Cardinals against the New York Yankees. The Cardinals defeated the Yankees four games to three in the best-of-seven series, which took place from October 2 to October 10, 1926 at Yankee Stadium and Sportsman's Park. The Cardinals and Yankees earned their places in the series by having the best win–loss records in the National and American Leagues, respectively. This was the first World Series appearance for the Cardinals—the first of ten World Series championships in Cardinals history. The Yankees were making their fourth World Series appearance in six seasons; after this series, they would play in another 35 World Series. In Game 1, pitcher Herb Pennock led the Yankees to a 2–1 win over the Cardinals. In Game 2, pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander evened the Series for the Cardinals with a 6–2 victory. Cardinals pitcher Jesse Haines threw a complete game shutout in Game 3, which gave St. Louis a 2–1 series lead. In the Yankees 10–5 victory in Game 4, Babe Ruth hit three home runs, a World Series record equaled only twice since. According to newspaper reports, Ruth had promised a sickly boy named Johnny Sylvester to hit a home run for him in Game 4. After Ruth's three-home run performance, the boy's condition had miraculously improved. The newspapers' account of the story is disputed by contemporary baseball historians, but it remains one of the most famous anecdotes in baseball history. Pennock was again the winning pitcher for the Yankees in the team's 3–2 victory in Game 5.
The Yankees led the series 3–2, and Cardinals player-manager Rogers Hornsby chose Alexander as the starting pitcher in Game Six and used him as a relief pitcher in Game 7. Behind Alexander, the Cardinals won the final two games of the series, thus giving them the championship. In Game 7, the Yankees were losing 3–2 in the bottom of the ninth inning, their last opportunity to score in a regular game. Ruth walked with two outs. Bob Meusel came to bat next, but Ruth, who had a 50% career success rate at stealing bases, decided to try stealing second base. Meusel swung and missed Alexander's pitch, and catcher Bob O'Farrell threw the ball to second baseman Hornsby, who tagged Ruth out, ending the game and giving the Cardinals the World Series championship.
Mariano Rivera (born November 29, 1969) is a Panamanian professional baseball player who has spent his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the New York Yankees. Nicknamed "Mo", the right-handed Rivera has served as a relief pitcher for most of his career. His presence in the late innings of games to record the final outs has played an instrumental role in the Yankees' success, particularly the team's late 1990s dynasty, which won four World Series championships. Rivera was signed by the Yankees organization in 1990 and spent parts of six seasons in the minor leagues before debuting in the Major Leagues in 1995 as a starting pitcher. He found success after being converted to a relief pitcher in the bullpen. After a breakthrough year in 1996 as a setup man, he became the Yankees' closer in 1997 and has maintained that role for the team ever since. Rivera has become one of the best closers in baseball history, and he has done so by primarily throwing one pitch, a sharp-breaking, mid-90s mile per hour cut fastball that has been called an all-time great pitch. Rivera is a ten-time All-Star, a four-time American League (AL) Rolaids Relief Man Award winner, and a three-time saves leader. He has recorded the second-most saves in Major League history, and in 2009, he surpassed 500 career saves. Recognized as an exceptional postseason performer, he holds Major League postseason records for saves and earned run average (ERA), among other records. Baseball writers expect Rivera will be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame upon retirement.
The First-Year Player Draft, also known as the Rule 4 Draft, is Major League Baseball's (MLB) primary mechanism for assigning amateur baseball players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur baseball clubs to its teams. Unlike most professional sports, MLB does not permit the trading of draft picks, so the draft order is solely determined by the previous season's standings; the team that possesses the worst record receives the first pick. If two teams have identical records, the team with the worse record in the previous season will receive the higher pick. In addition, teams that lost free agents in the previous off-season may be awarded "compensatory" picks. The first draft took place in 1965; it was introduced to prevent richer teams from negotiating wealthier contracts with top-level prospects and therefore, monopolizing the player market. Originally, three drafts were held each year. The first draft took place in June and involved high-school graduates and college seniors who had just finished their seasons. The second draft took place in January for high school and college players who had graduated in December. The third draft took place in August and was for players who participated in American amateur summer leagues. The August draft was eliminated after two years, and the January draft lasted until 1986. In 1965, Rick Monday became MLB's first draft pick after being selected by the Kansas City Athletics. Stephen Strasburg is the most recent first overall draft pick after being selected by the Washington Nationals in 2009. Overall, 18 of the 45 picks have participated in the All-Star Game, and two, Bob Horner and Darryl Strawberry, have won the Rookie of the Year Award. Twenty of the forty-five picks have been drafted from high schools, one has been drafted out of the Independent American Association, and the others were drafted from universities. To date, Arizona State University has been the only school from which mulitple number-one overall draft picks have been chosen. No first overall draft pick has been elected into the Hall of Fame. The New York Mets and San Diego Padres are tied for the most first overall picks with five, and the Seattle Mariners and Tampa Bay Rays are tied for second most, with four.
| If you're going to play at all, you're out to win. Baseball, board games, playing Jeopardy!, I hate to lose.''
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