1. Baseball Anchor Activity By: Katie C.

2. Function of the ball 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 ninety-foot square, or diamond. If you touch home plate you get a point or a run. The team with the most runs after 9 innings wins.

3. Diagram

4. Laces: Hand stitched, 108 stitches tightly woven to keep the ball strongly held into place. Made of waxed thread that must be durable to get hit over and over in many types of weather. The laces help you grip the ball, and holds the baseball together. Cover: the covering is made out of full grain cowhide leather. The cover must be water proof and very strong.

5. Core: the center of the ball is made in layers. The first layer closest to the outside is 3 ply wool yarn, 4 ply wool yarn, cotton wool. The next layer is made out of red rubber. The next black rubber. The very center is made of cushioned corked also called the pill. The purpose of the core is to make the whole ball. The core must be hard. Must be strong so it doesn’t rip when it gets hit over and over.

6. History of the ball The person who invented the baseball was a young school child who loved the game of round ball. This boy is one of the only who have not received a dime for their inventions. The game baseball was invented by Abner Doubleday in 1839 in New York. The balls used to be made out of an ounce or two of lead wrapped in yarn and then covered in leather. Now its made out of cork pill different kinds of wool, and cowhide leather as a covering.

7. Improvement of the ball I believe the ball could be made better if it was lighter to make the ball lighter instead of using rubber you could expand the cork more so that it connects with the wool and yarn. This would then give the ball more flight and could be thrown faster.

8. Bibliography – http://wiki.answers.com/Q/When_did_the_baseb all_first_appear http://wiki.answers.com/Q/When_did_the_baseb all_first_appear – http://www.electro-mech.com/team- sports/tag/who-invented-the-baseball/ http://www.electro-mech.com/team- sports/tag/who-invented-the-baseball/ – baseball-fever.com/uploaded/insideball.gif – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball