2.  1791 was the first mention of baseball because it was banned from being played with 80 yards of town hall in the state of Massachusetts.  Believed the game originated from a British game call rounders.  Modern rules were formed in 1845 by Alexander Cartright

3.  National Association of Professional Baseball League was formed in 1901. First World Series was won in 1903 by the Boston.  Currently there are 29 U.S teams and 1 Canadian team. American League and the National are the two divisions within MLB. The two divisions will send one team each to the World Series.

4.  Objective of the game is to hit a ball from a designated spot known as home plate and eventually make your way back to home plate after crossing 3 different bases to score a run.

5.  A run or homerun earns 1 point  A run is when an individual makes it from home plate back to home plate after crossing 1 st base, 2 nd base, and 3 rd base. This is done with help from teammates hitting the ball in a way that prevents the defense from getting 3 outs.  Homeruns are when a single person hits the ball either out of the stadium or inside the stadium in a manner that allows them to run from home plate back to home plate off a single hit.

6.  The offensive team bats or hits the from an area known as the batters box using a bat.  Once a hit occurs they try to reach 1 st base initially, if they hit the ball well enough to run to 2 nd or 3 rd base the batter may do so. However if the defense has gained possession of the ball, the offense has to decide whether to risk running to another base or staying on a base and giving their teammates a chance to hit them in.

7.  A Baseball field is broken into two main areas infield and outfield. The team that is in the infield and out field are on defense while the team batting is on offense.  In field positions: catcher, pitcher, 1 st baseman, 2 nd baseman, 3 rd baseman, and short stop  Out field positions: left field, center field, right field.

8.  Catcher- tells the pitcher what pitch to throw and stops the ball after the pitcher has thrown it toward the batter  Pitcher-throws the ball at the batter and tries to throw pitches that will make the batter miss. If the throw is bad meaning it’s not in the strike zone its known as a ball 4 balls allow a batter to walk to first base. If the batter reaches three strikes then they are out and it counts as 1 of the 3 outs the defense needs to earn to create an offensive possession or chance to bat.

9.  1 st, 2 nd and 3 rd baseman are responsible for catching the ball when thrown at them to prevent a person from reaching their base by completing the catch and tagging the base before the runner. A baseman may tag the actual runner as well and not just the base to create an out.  Short Stop is responsible for keeping ball hit toward the third base direction from getting to the out field. If kept in the infield it increases the chance of getting the ball to the base and stoping the runner therefore creating an out or holding a runner further from home plate.

10.  An Outfielders responsibility is to catch the ball that is hit past the infield in the air or to stop balls that were hit past the infield on the ground and get them thrown to a base or the pitcher again stopping the runner from advancing to home plate a run is scored giving 1 point.

11.  The time of the game is determined by innings. Major League Baseball/high school games contain 9 innings unless a tie has occurred in which extra innings exist.  The time length for an inning is determined by each team having a batting (offensive possession) and fielding (defensive possession). Once this occurs the game will move from 1 inning to the next.

12.  The offensive team loses possession of batting when the defensive team has created 3 outs. The outs occur by catching a ball in the air, throwing the ball to a base before the forced runner reaches the base, tagging the runner, or throwing 3 pitches with a specific zone known as the strike zone in which the batter doesn’t hit the ball.

13.  When an offensive batter hits the ball in the air and a defensive player catches it an individual must tag their previous base before running to the next base.  Example: batter hits the ball and he has a teammate on 1 st base, if the defensive person catches it the batter is out and his teammate on 1 st has to tag the base before running to 2nd. If he just runs straight to second before verifying a defensive player has caught it the defensive player can throw the ball to 1 st base and get the runner out.

14.  If a batter hits the ball and it hits the ground and then bounces out of the stadium the batter has to stop at second base. It does not count as a homerun it is ruled as a ground rule double.  If a batter hits the ball outside the field dimensions it’s known as a foul ball. Two foul balls count as a two strikes but a third foul ball does not count as third strke

15.  Kickball uses the same rules and game set up as baseball and softball.  However instead of hitting a ball using a bat a person kicks a rubber ball and then proceeds to run the base routes. Also scoring if reaching home plate.  Major differences in softball compared to baseball: If a batter has two strikes then a foul ball will get them out and the ball it’s self is 3- 4 inches biggger.