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French-American Center Newsletter

How American Baseball is Played

Baseball is a sport so popular in the United States that it is often called the 'national pastime'. This sport comes around every spring and summer for everyone to watch or partake in playing. Going to a professional baseball game on a lazy warm summer day, eating peanuts and drinking beers sold from vendors walking the stadium aisles, or going to children's 'little league' organized games at the local park - both are typical summer souvenirs.

Here's how it works: There are nine players on a baseball team. The players consist of a pitcher, catcher, first baseman, second baseman, shortstop, third baseman, left fielder, center fielder, and right fielder. Each player has a defensive position and takes turn as a batter when his team is up to bat.

Baseball is played with a small hard ball and a bat made of a long, rounded piece of ash wood. Each defensive player wears a padded glove and uses it to catch the ball. They also wear spiked shoes to help keep traction on the dirt field. This part of the field is a diamond shape, with a small base at each corner and a defense player guarding it, and the pitcher standing in the center. The rest of the grass field extends far back out past this diamond, and more defense players cover this area.

The object of the game is to outscore the other team. There are nine innings in a game, and each is divided into a bottom and a top of the inning. One team plays defense in the top and the other plays offense. Then in the bottom of the inning they switch. Each part of the inning is ended when the defense gets three outs on the opposing team.

Pitching is one of the most important parts of the game. The batter gets a total of three strikes before he is called out. If he gets four balls then he advances to the first base automatically. A 'strike' is if the batter swings and misses completely or it is thrown in the strike zone and the batter doesn't swing. A 'ball' is when the ball is not thrown near the batter or out of the strike zone.

There are three ways to get an out on the offensive team. The first way is to strike the batter out. The pitcher tries to throw a variety of pitches at the batter and if the batter gets three strikes then that is one out. The hitter may hit the ball, but if he hits it in the air and someone catches it then he is out. And the final way is to make contact with the ball and the fielders throw the batter out at home.

Points are earned every time a batter crosses the home Base - he had been able to run past the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd bases without getting tagged out. Sometimes a 'home run' is scored, when the batter is able to hit the ball far enough that the defense can't get it in time to tag him out, and he can cross all four bases in one go.

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The American sing-along baseball game song :)

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Take me out to the ball game
Take me out to the crowd!
Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks,
I don't care if I ever get back
And it's root, root, root
for the home team
If they don't win, it's a shame
Cause it's one, two, three strikes
You're out
At the old ball game!

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