Explain Baseball

[tomdemaine]

Ok. I've got nothing tomorrow so I can sleep all day. I'm in a great poker game so I've decided to stay up and watch the world series (I'm a UKer it's 1am here) so heres what I want, explain what I'm looking for in this game and why I should get excited about it. I love american footbal but can't seem to get into this baseball thing. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[LoaferGee12]

It helps to have a team to cheer for.

[RacersEdge]

See the ball, hit the ball.

[MoreWineII]

[ QUOTE ]
See the ball, hit the ball. watch the umpires fail.

[/ QUOTE ]

added to your post.

[MyTurn2Raise]

rent one of those new video games for PS2 or Xbox. Try to hit against a pitcher throwing a monster fastball, a slider, a curve, etc. It starts from there and gets better.

[TheHip41]

This is the beauty of baseball. It's not in your face like football, or constant action like hockey. It's a methodical pace. It's got exciting points, it's got low points.

On the surface, it looks like not much is going on. It looks like 1 guy throwing, and 1 guy trying to hit it.

If you watch more, you see there is infinite strategy going on back and forth. If the pitcher is trying to pitch inside, the defense will swing to that side. Is the pitcher going to follow up a eye level fastball with a sinker, or go right back up the ladder.


For me, baseball resembles life in a lot of ways. A lot of down time, but short burst of excitement and intensity.


For those that like soccer, it's the same kind of deal. It looks like someone kicking a ball over and over, but really, there is so much skill/strategy involved, it's really amazing to watch.

[andyfox]

I once took my dowdy and dotty old aunt to a ballgame. She must have been 80 at the time and had never been to a ballgame. So it was my job to explain it to her.

It was hard work. It's not like basketball where it's more self-evident what's going on. Baseball is complicated and more cerebral than most sports.

First there's the battle between the pitcher and the batter. The pitcher is trying to fool the batter, to overpower him sometimes, to finesse him at others, to intimidate him too. He can change speeds, change location, change the type of pitch, change his cadence, change the movement on his pitches. The batter is trying sometimes to bludgeon the ball, other times merely to place it in play. And their history against each other comes into play as well.

All of this is a microcosm of the game in general. The managers have this same type of play vs. each other, as do the fielders vs. the hitters and the baserunners vs. the fielders. I think football is better on TV in that you generally see all the players on the field in one shot, but you lose that with baseball. I think it's the only game that's clearly better in person where you gain a perspective of everything that's happening, all the cat and mouse of it.

[FouTight]

It's kind of interesting that it's the only sport that I know the rules to that only one team can make offensive points at any given time.

Football, soccer, basketball, hockey, pretty much any player on the field can score with a good play, but in baseball, no matter how good of a defensive play is made, you have nothing to really show for it except a lack of points for the other team.

It's obvious, but kind of unique when you think about it.

[andyfox]

Also the only sport where the defense has possession of the ball.

[JPinAZ]

It's also interesting in that there is no fixed time structure for the game. Football & basketball have their 15 minute quarters, hockey has 20 minute periods, soccer has 45 minute halfs. But baseball is played until 9 innings are up. Those 9 innings could take 1 1/2 hours, they could take 4 hours. But until 9 innings are up, the game isn't over. (I'm ignoring a called game after 4 1/2 innings).