A bit about Baseball

[jippers]

Hi All,

This is a message to our those who are more knowledgable on the subject than I am. I would like to know a few basic things about baseball.

You see, here in Australia, unless you have pay TV (i.e. cable) you don't see a lot of baseball on free-to-air TV. In fact we saw nothing of it at all for all the years i can remember. Now that the digital multi-channels are broadcasting some of the major league games, and that my son and I have been playing a bit of baseball together on Wii Sports, there are a few things I don't quite get.

Watching the Atlanta Braves play the San Diego Padres the other day, and the questions I have from that game are:

1. What exactly is "bunting"?
2. Looking at the scoreboard of a game, the columns are labelled "R", "H" and "E". Looking at the Major League baseball site, these are expanded out to be "Runs", "Hits" and "Errors". What constitues an "error"? Does "Hits" include Fouls?
3. What's the difference between a ball and a strike? Can a pitcher actually choose to throw a strike or a ball? Or is it luck of the draw based on how it leaves his hand?
4. How come a foul counts as a strike? Or for two strikes, to be precise?
5. What's the difference between the National League and the American league? In fact, how do the fixtures work?
6. Who, How or what determines who plays in the "World Series"? Better still, what is the World series? National or American League?
7. New York seems to have two teams - the Mets and the Dodgers. Do they play in different leagues? They're obviously very different teams, but what is the difference? Does one represent the city of New York and one the State of New York?

Any clues to all of this would be appreciated. Thanx heaps

Jippers

[Billy's Little Trip]

If I didn't have an Aussie friend that told me he never saw a baseball game until he moved here in his 30s, I wouldn't have believed you.

That's about all I feel like typing. So here ya go.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_rules

And a little history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball

[frankie big face]

Jippers, as SongFight's resident baseball fanatic, I am going to answer all your questions gleefully but not until I get home from Pittsburgh in about six or seven hours.

[rone rivendale]

I'll do you one better and answer them all. I have nothing better to do.

1. What exactly is "bunting"?

A bunt is when you put the bat outward horizontally well before the pitch comes in. The idea is to hit the ball very softly so that you can make the base before the pitcher or catcher can get to the ball and throw you out. It also works as a way to get the player on 1st base to 2nd while usually getting yourself thrown out. That is called a sacrifice bunt.

2. Looking at the scoreboard of a game, the columns are labelled "R", "H" and "E". Looking at the Major League baseball site, these are expanded out to be "Runs", "Hits" and "Errors". What constitues an "error"? Does "Hits" include Fouls?

An error is when a player isn't able to make a catch or a throw when it would be expected that he should have been able to. Like if the 2nd baseman gets the ball and throws it the short distance to 1st but completely overthrows the base, that would be an error.

3. What's the difference between a ball and a strike? Can a pitcher actually choose to throw a strike or a ball? Or is it luck of the draw based on how it leaves his hand?

A pitch is a strike if it is caught by the catcher in the space between the batter's box going from left to right, and if it's between the batter's head and knees going up and down. The pitcher CAN choose to purposely throw a ball (outside of the range of a strike) in order to try and get the batter to chase after a bad pitch. Or if the player is really good, they might throw balls on purpose to give that player a walk (automatic base) to keep him from hitting a home run.

4. How come a foul counts as a strike? Or for two strikes, to be precise?

I can't actually explain WHY a foul is a strike. I just know that is the rule. But a batter can NOT strike out on a foul. So he can get a strike, he can get two strikes. But if he fouls a ball while having 2 strikes already, he will stay at 2 strikes and not be out.

5. What's the difference between the National League and the American league? In fact, how do the fixtures work?

The National and American leagues are just ways to separate the teams into groups. Divisions further separate them. For the most part National teams only play other National teams and the same for the American teams. There is a point in the season where they play a small amount of 'inter-league' games where National and American play each other.

6. Who, How or what determines who plays in the "World Series"? Better still, what is the World series? National or American League?

The World Series is the championship. The team that wins the playoffs in the National league and the team that wins the playoffs in the American league face off to determine the World Series champion.

7. New York seems to have two teams - the Mets and the Dodgers. Do they play in different leagues? They're obviously very different teams, but what is the difference? Does one represent the city of New York and one the State of New York?

Actually the two New York teams for the Mets and the Yankees. The Dodgers are from Los Angeles. They both represent the city of New York. It's just such a large city that they can afford the costs of having two teams there. Chicago also has two teams. The Cubs and the White Sox.

If you have any other questions just ask and I'll do my best to answer. I don't even really follow baseball but I guess just living in the US I've managed to absorb it all.

[jb]

Billy you lazy fucker.

I typed this before I saw Rone's post, and I know that Frankie, who is a REALLY big baseball fan, and an EXPERT one at that, will have more cogent replies. Nonetheless I am going to hit Submit because I am pot-committed on this post.

Hi All,
1. What exactly is "bunting"?

Bunting is a technique used while batting. Essentially, rather than swinging at the incoming pitch, you hold the bat horizontally over the plate and let the incoming pitch hit the bat and rebound. It's a way of hitting the ball so it stays in the infield-- the principle is that none of the fielders will be able to run in, scoop up the ball, and throw you out before you can reach a base.

Because it's difficult to bunt and get safely on base, the bunt is often used as a "sacrifice" play. You bunt, knowing you'll be thrown out, but that someone already on base will be able to advance and get into scoring position.

2. Looking at the scoreboard of a game, the columns are labelled "R", "H" and "E". Looking at the Major League baseball site, these are expanded out to be "Runs", "Hits" and "Errors". What constitues an "error"? Does "Hits" include Fouls?

An error is exactly that-- when a fielder screws up. Either they almost catch the ball but then drop it, or when fielding a "ground" ball (one that's rolling on the ground) they fail to scoop it up and it bounces off their shin or something, or when they try to throw it to another fielder and they throw it over his head or something like that. It's somewhat of a judgement call on the person keeping official score. Sometimes a person is not given an error when it appears they should have been. Errors are a way of judging the performance of a team, especially that of a pitcher because the pitcher is very often assigned responsibility for the score of the opposing team. If the pitcher performs really well but loses, it's telling if there were 5 errors. "He pitched well but the team didn't back him up."

3. What's the difference between a ball and a strike? Can a pitcher actually choose to throw a strike or a ball? Or is it luck of the draw based on how it leaves his hand?

Pitching is *really hard* to do well. Firstly, only a very small percentage of the world can throw an object more than 90 mph. And then you have to aim for a specific target. But you can't just have that one target that you can hit over and over, you have to be able to hit anywhere within a range of area near the batter-- with precision. Nobody can do it perfectly. Some can do it fairly consistently. The answer is that sometimes a pitcher can choose to throw a strike or a ball. Other times, physics (humidity, wear and tear on the ball) and biology (throw 80 pitches in a row and see if you're not tired) team up to make it increasingly difficult. A pitcher's ability to throw the ball where he wants to throw it is called his "accuracy". If you watch the movie Bull Durham, you'll note that Nuke has notoriously bad accuracy at the beginning of the movie, though he throws really "hard" meaning he can throw the ball very fast.

STRIKES
While batting, you can't be allowed to stand up there forever until you hit the ball. There must be a penalty for not swinging at a perfectly fine pitch. The way the umpire tells if a pitch was hittable or not is if it passes through an imaginary box called the "strike zone" that is the width of home plate and roughly from the batter's knees to his breastbone.

Part of a pitcher's skill is in being able to throw the ball in such a way that it passes through the strike zone but fools the batter in some way so that he is unable (because he is not skilled enough) to hit the pitch. To do this, the pitcher uses psychology as well as physics. For example, he'll throw three fast balls in a row, and then a slower pitch. The batter (if he's stupid) will have adjusted his swing to hit the fast pitches, so when a slower pitch comes along he'll swing way too early and miss. If you swing at a pitch, no matter how awful the pitch was, it's a strike.

BALLS
Which brings me to balls. Balls are the pitcher's penalty for not throwing a pitch the batter can hit. If a pitcher throws a ball that's out of the strike zone, it's a ball. Get four balls and you automatically are allowed to go to first base. Of course, if the batter is dumb enough to swing at a ball and misses, it's a strike. The pitcher can throw balls on purpose, trying to get the batter to swing. Many batters like pitches that are thrown sort of chest-high, maybe too high for the strike zone. They are surprisingly hard to hit up there, but oh so tempting to swing at.

The pitcher/batter duel is a mini-game in the middle of baseball, with the pitcher and catcher strategizing to get the batter out, and the batter attempting to predict which pitches he's going to get and hit the ball to a place that is helpful to his team. Sometimes that means bunting, other times it means he gets to "swing away" and try to hit the ball just wherever. The fact that pitches come in so fast and are so hard to hit (a *good* batting average means you get a hit 2.5 times out of 10), makes the game a little less predictable and more interesting to watch.

4. How come a foul counts as a strike? Or for two strikes, to be precise?

It's all about encouraging the batter to put the ball in play for everyone to participate. A foul ball is when a batter hits the ball but not into "fair play"-- meaning he hits it out of bounds. When this happens, the batter is trying to put the ball in play so he shouldn't be penalized, but he failed to do so, so he should sort of be penalized. So he gets a "foul ball". Foul balls count as strikes but only twice. After the second foul you can continue to hit as many fouls as you want without striking out. You're still trying to put the ball in play, so that's good. But you shouldn't be allowed to do that indefinitely-- so if the opposing team ever manages to catch a ball in the air, even if it's a foul ball, then you're out. There are a couple nuances to the rules there, but 95% of the time that's all there is to it.

5. What's the difference between the National League and the American league? In fact, how do the fixtures work?

It is mostly an organizational difference. If a new team is ever created, the league they join, National or American, is mostly determined by whether there is room in the league for another team. That's decided by the Commissioner and the owners of the other teams in conjunction. Apart from that, there are a very few rules differences-- the most important being that in the American League the pitcher doesn't bat. Some time back the American League decided that having pitchers bat was boring because they always strike out (pitchers get relatively little practice at batting, only playing once every week or so). So they instituted the "Designated Hitter" rule-- a player whose only job is to bat for the pitcher. Fans of National League teams deride the other league for this rule. And fans of American League teams halfheartedly pretend to endorse the rule out of loyalty, but I suspect most of us know it's kind of bullshit.

6. Who, How or what determines who plays in the "World Series"? Better still, what is the World series? National or American League?

The baseball season is one long tournament, with each League having its own. At the end of the season, the best National League team plays the best American League team to see which is the best out of all Major League Baseball. It's interesting to note that the "World Series" is named not because it's a tournament involving every team on the planet (which would mean America thinks it's the only country on earth that plays baseball) but rather after the newspaper that originally sponsored the tournament.

7. New York seems to have two teams - the Mets and the Dodgers. Do they play in different leagues? They're obviously very different teams, but what is the difference? Does one represent the city of New York and one the State of New York?

Teams, though they are often named after a region or state (the Tampa Bay area of the state of Florida has a team, for example), don't officially play to represent that area. Not officially. But they do represent an area in that many of their fans live around that area. For example people in the part of Pennsylvania where I grew up were almost as likely to be Baltimore Orioles fans as Philadelphia Phillies fans-- simply because we lived closer to Baltimore than Philly, and had more chance to go to Orioles games. And very few of us were Pittsburgh Pirates fans, because that city was four hours drive from use vs. Baltimore's 1.5 hours.

In a city like New York or San Francisco or Los Angeles, where there is a large enough population to support multiple Major League Baseball teams, it's kind of up to you which team you want to support. If you just don't like the way that one player's an asshole, you won't root for the SF Giants, or if you just don't like losing all the time like a sad disgusting loser Met fan, you won't root for the Mets.

HTH,

JB

[Ross]

"Hits" do not include fouls, a "hit" means the player at bat safely makes it to first base.

[Caravan Ray]

I played softball for one year for the Mount Isa Red Devils - so I will give you answers a Australian may understand. I have never seen a baseball game (don't have Pay TV), but tried to watch a little bit on telly when I was in NY last year. It seemed excruciatingly boring.

1. What exactly is "bunting"?

Forward defensive stroke. Pretty pointless seeing you have to run anyway. Looks like a bit of a soft-cock option

2. Looking at the scoreboard of a game, the columns are labelled "R", "H" and "E". Looking at the Major League baseball site, these are expanded out to be "Runs", "Hits" and "Errors". What constitues an "error"? Does "Hits" include Fouls?

Don't look at the scoreboard. This is all just crap for commentators to rabbit on about while nothing is happening - like Channel Nine's stupid graphs and "snickometers" and Bill Lawrie's pigeons

3. What's the difference between a ball and a strike? Can a pitcher actually choose to throw a strike or a ball? Or is it luck of the draw based on how it leaves his hand?

A "Ball" is a wide. You don't get a run for it, but after 4 you get a walk, which is a quarter of a run. The wide is measured vertically and horizontally. A yorker would be a wide. Warnie's "Ball of the Century" when he bowled Gatting around his legs probably would have been called a "ball".

4. How come a foul counts as a strike? Or for two strikes, to be precise?

Seppos seem to be too lazy to chase anything square of deep mid-on or deep mid-off. They don't have slips cordons and their wicket keepers seem to have the easiest job on earth. It's probably because they can't bat properly - it's all cross-bat slogging. No technique. No finesse. No Mark Waugh, no David Gower, no Sachin Tandulkar.

5. What's the difference between the National League and the American league? In fact, how do the fixtures work?

Think NRL and Super League. Or rather - don't. It's probably best not thinking about at all really.

6. Who, How or what determines who plays in the "World Series"? Better still, what is the World series? National or American League?

Probably the same people that determine that a cricket "World Series" can consist of Australia, Zimbabwe and Bangalesh. Still at least World Series Cricket always involves thee different national sides, not little regional clubs from the one country.

7. New York seems to have two teams - the Mets and the Dodgers. Do they play in different leagues? They're obviously very different teams, but what is the difference? Does one represent the city of New York and one the State of New York?

Probably something to do with the disturbing trend that started a few years ago in the League where Canterbury Bankstown and Eastern Suburbs started to be called the "Sydney" Bulldogs and the "Sydney" Roosters. Or maybe something like those halcyon Super League years when Novocastrians were taking on the world with not only the Newcastle Knights, but the Hunter Mariners as well.

It seems that some teams get transplanted in other cities like the Brisbane Bears. Or Lions or whatever they freaking are (Dear Melbourne - please come and take them home - we don't want these nancy boys up here). And I suppose some teams may be manufactured by business interests and put in places they don't belong - like the Melbourne Storm. Heh!!! That one worked out well, didn't it! Oh well, I'd be happy for the Storm to move to Toowoomba.

[Caravan Ray]

If I didn't have an Aussie friend that told me he never saw a baseball game until he moved here in his 30s, I wouldn't have believed you.

Did you really think the rest of the world sits around watching American baseball!?!?!?

[Caravan Ray]

my son and I have been playing a bit of baseball together on Wii Sports

I've been getting into that too. Playing against the computer, I am at about level 800 or so now, and it is starting to get really hard to hit the ball. The pitchers are chucking ones that either dip at the last minute or swing in "bodyline" style. Should be leaving those ones to go though to the keeper, but it is hard to pick them in time.

[jippers]

Firstly, thanks to all for contributing. This has helped immensely. There are a number of simularities between cricket (the game we are really good at beating the English at, considering they invented it) and baseball, but I still found the game I was watching a little abstract. Anyways...

Actually the two New York teams for the Mets and the Yankees. The Dodgers are from Los Angeles. They both represent the city of New York. It's just such a large city that they can afford the costs of having two teams there. Chicago also has two teams. The Cubs and the White Sox.

Yeah I realise that. It was 12:30am local time when I wrote this, so that was a sleep-dep-related error.

{pitchers get relatively little practice at batting, only playing once every week or so). {/quote]

The same happens in cricket I guess, which is why bowlers traditionally are at the tail end of the batting order and the batters don't usually bowl. Anyone who remembers Bruce Reid's efforts with the bat during those nail biting one-day international climaxes in the 1990s will know how excruciating it was watching him struggle with the bat knowing our chances at scoring desperately needed winning runs were disappearing before our very eyes. All-rounders (players who can do most things on the field, namely bat and bowl well.) are few and far between. Examples i can think of would be Shane warne (wicked bowler, pretty good middle order batter, wild card batter I would say, helped Australia out after a few top order collapses.) Adam Gilchrist, wicket keeper extraordinaire was quite handy with a bat in the middle order too.

Don't look at the scoreboard

Well why not? How else am I gonna know who's winning?

It seemed excruciatingly boring.

Each to their own I guess. Yes it did seem slow, and home runs can be few and far between, but there is more going on that meets the eye, I'll give it that. As a result, it held my interest for longer than, say, the US Masters Golf would.

Seppos seem to be too lazy to chase anything square of deep mid-on or deep mid-off.

Oh dear - we don't need to go down that line do we?

Or maybe something like those halcyon Super League years when Novocastrians were taking on the world with not only the Newcastle Knights, but the Hunter Mariners as well.

Yeah ok I get it. I remember Super League and what a fiasco it was. The Hunter Mariners, super league or no, were destined to be a screaming flop from the outset. Novacastrians (of which I am one) are notoriously parochial, and fiercely loyal to the Knights (who I personally can't stand - in fact I can't stand the NRL. Period.) But never has there been a more maligned team, simply for just existing, than the Hunter Mariners. You can add to that list Manly, who are just hated by most for, well, the cardinal sin of being Manly, and now the Melbourne Storm.

I agree, Ray. The Storm shouldn't be in Melbourne. But full credit to them for breaking open a staunch AFL market and finding a niche for their code of football. Too bad the administrators of the club were fraudsters that got caught and are now being anally raped by the NRL as a result. Sucked in to 'em.

Did you really think the rest of the world sits around watching American baseball!?!?!?

You beat me to it - I was gonna ask the same question!

Cheers - loving the comments and the debate guys. Thanx heaps.

[Caravan Ray]

Well why not? How else am I gonna know who's winning?

Sorry. Score is fine - it is all the silly superfluous stats I hate. Baseball seems to be the sport where this rot started, and it has been creeping into cricket and rugby league etc now for years.

Yes it did seem slow, and home runs can be few and far between, but there is more going on that meets the eye, I'll give it that. As a result, it held my interest for longer than, say, the US Masters Golf would.

Heh! OK - it is probably less excruciatingly boring than something else that is excruciatingly boring.

I played baseball in high school and loved it as a sport to play. But it seems to suffer as a spectator sport, especially in the long drawn out way it is broadcast. But, as I said, I only saw a very small sample of it.

Novacastrians (of which I am one) are notoriously parochial and fiercely loyal to the Knights

Another Novocastrian! Welcome aboard. I was born and bred in Hamilton

...(who I personally can't stand)

...uncomfortable silence....I'll pretend I didn't hear that.

[jippers]

Novacastrians (of which I am one) are notoriously parochial and fiercely loyal to the Knights

Another Novocastrian! Welcome aboard. I was born and bred in Hamilton

I'm From Thornton, went to high school in Maitland....

...(who I personally can't stand)

...uncomfortable silence....I'll pretend I didn't hear that.[/quote]

...at the same time that Andrew Johns (2 years ahead of me) and Matthew Johns (4 years ahead of me) went there as well. Being on the receiving end of Andrew's schoolyard bullying, I have absolutely no respect for him or his brand of football. As a result, I hate the Knights and the NRL with a passion.

[Caravan Ray]

Ahhh, the drugs, the sex scandals, the schoolyard bullying. Those two are just a pair of lovable scallywags! Good luck to them. Dead set champions, ornaments to the League and model Novocastrians the both of them.

[jippers]

Those two are just a pair of lovable scallywags!... model Novocastrians the both of them.

...he says with tongue firmly planted in cheek.

[frankie big face]

As always, thanks to Caravan Ray for turning what could have been a nice conversation about baseball, a topic some of us actually enjoy, into yet another opportunity for him to tell us how full of shit we are. Sorry Jippers, this thread is now about cricket or New Zealand politics or soft cocks or something.

[Reist]

As always, thanks to Caravan Ray for turning what could have been a nice conversation about baseball, a topic some of us actually enjoy, into yet another opportunity for him to tell us how full of shit we are.

Is that what happened? I feel asleep as soon as jippers said "baseball".

[Caravan Ray]

As always, thanks to Caravan Ray for turning what could have been a nice conversation about baseball, a topic some of us actually enjoy, into yet another opportunity for him to tell us how full of shit we are. Sorry Jippers, this thread is now about cricket or New Zealand politics or soft cocks or something.

No problem. Always glad to help.

[Caravan Ray]

Those two are just a pair of lovable scallywags!... model Novocastrians the both of them.

...he says with tongue firmly planted in cheek.

Not firmly, only slightly. Off-paddock antics aside - I still rank Joey as the greatest player I have seen in any code, and that is all that counts really. And I am not ashamed to admit that Reg Regan cracks me up.

[HeuristicsInc]

Actually the two New York teams for the Mets and the Yankees. The Dodgers are from Los Angeles. They both represent the city of New York. It's just such a large city that they can afford the costs of having two teams there. Chicago also has two teams. The Cubs and the White Sox.

Yeah I realise that. It was 12:30am local time when I wrote this, so that was a sleep-dep-related error.

actually, maybe you were in a time-warp; the dodgers used to be in brooklyn, one of the boroughs of new york city (1932-1958).
-bill

[Billy's Little Trip]

If I didn't have an Aussie friend that told me he never saw a baseball game until he moved here in his 30s, I wouldn't have believed you.

Did you really think the rest of the world sits around watching American baseball!?!?!?

yes

[ujnhunter]

Baseball is for nancy boys. Hockey is where it's at!

[Caravan Ray]

Baseball is for nancy boys. Hockey is where it's at!

I played hockey for about five years at school. It's hard on the shins.

But Australia did win the World Cup earlier this year. So that's cool. It's been a while.