Baseball

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Baseball is a game of skill that is played with a hard ball and a bat between two teams of nine players each at a time on the playing field at once. Although many different people play Baseball all over the world it is most popular in the United States. It is so popular in fact, it is referred to as the national pastime of the United States because of the tradition and popularity associated with the game. Baseball consists of many complicated rules. It also has a very elaborate history. One can not fully understand the game America has grown to love until learning about not only the rules but also the history.

HISTORY
A popular legend of the history of baseball claims that Abner Doubleday, who was a Union officer during the American Civil War, invented baseball in Cooperstown, New York, in 1839. However, there is little support for this story.
A more accurate response to the question of how baseball originated would be that many scholars believe that baseball was invented long before one would think. For instance there is evidence of games played with a ball and a stick even in the earliest of civilizations such as the ancient cultures or the Persians and Egyptians. Such games continued to be played by civilizations throughout history but it was not until the early 1600s that Europeans first brought games involving a ball and a stick to the Americas. There were various games played with a ball and a stick but the one that most resembled baseball was an English game called Rounders. The rules of Rounders are more primitive than the ones of modern day baseball but it was from this game which baseball as we know it most directly originated from.

HOW BASEBALL IS PLAYED
The rules of baseball may seem very complicated but they are most easily understood by watching the game itself. First of all a baseball game is divided up into 9 different periods called innings. After nine innings are up the team that scored the most runs wins the game. Play begins when a pitcher throws the ball toward a player on the opposing team. The pitcher tries to throw the ball in the strike zone, which is an imaginary box. If the ball is in the strike zone, it is a strike if not it is a ball. The player whom the ball was thrown at tries to hit the ball onto the playing field. A run is scored when a player hits the ball and runs around a series of bases before a player on the other t...

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...rts of land so people could play. After that leagues were established and athletes started to be paid to play sports. This was a sad day for all the people who loved the game of baseball and all the tradition that surrounded it. Although players were getting salaries the tradition was still carried with the great sport of baseball.

Even though some of the tradition was lost when the game of baseball started to be played for money there were still those players who played the game with all their heart and soul because they had a passion for it. So the people who started the tradition of baseball and made America’s pastime great such as Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, and Joe DiMaggio will always be remembered by those who play with the passion that resembles that of the men that were mentioned such as Ken Griffey, Jr. and Derek Jeter. These players will forever recognize what a great game they are so privileged to be a part of by its history, rules, and the players that made it all happen. Even if one does not have as much passion for baseball as others one probably still agree with The Babe (Babe Ruth) when he said,” Baseball was, is and always will be to me the best game in the world.”

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