Origins of baseball
Most studies believe that baseball evolved from various similar games. Baseball is a collective sport derived from the same roots as cricket. It is played with bats to hit a ball thrown, and gloves to catch the ball. The origins of baseball are controversial, but it is indisputable that the first modern rules (the Knickerbocker Rules) were codified in 1845 in the United States.
There is evidence that games have been played with a stick and a ball since the dawn of civilization. Ancient cultures, in Persia, Egypt, and Greece, practiced games with a stick and a ball for fun and as part of certain ceremonies.
Baseball is the second most popular sport in the United States after American football. However, it has a very different atmosphere than American football: it is a sport of concentration and skill. Baseball is still linked to the United States where the sport is called the national pastime; but it is also considered the national sport in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, Taiwan, and Venezuela. It is also trendy in Japan, South Korea, and Mexico, and is played at high levels in Canada, Colombia, Australia, the Netherlands, and Italy.
Differences to today’s Baseball
In 1876, the pitcher (thrower) had to throw from the bottom (as in today’s Softball), the distance was only 15 meters. The batter was able to determine in advance whether he wanted to get a high or a deep Ball thrown. Since 1884 the pitcher was allowed to throw from above, and since 1887 there is the Strike Zone, and the Batter can no longer choose what Ball he wants. In 1889, the number of Balls needed for a Walk was reduced from nine to four. In 1893, the Pitching distance was increased to the current length of 18.43 meters. Since 1880, leather gloves have been used for catching. These have changed over time in size, appearance, and comfort. As a rule, before 1900, only one or two replacement balls were available, thereby improving the hardness and shape of a ball in the course of a game. Since then, balls that fall into the audience’s ranks are no longer recovered and replaced immediately in the event of slight damage. In a regular Major League Baseball game today around 60 balls are consumed. Between 1900 and 1920, one speaks of the “Deadball Era” compared to today’s typically lower scores, between 1920 and 1940, from the “Golden Age” in comparison to today usually with higher ratings. These changes were mainly due to improvements in the game strategy.
Baseball at the Olympic Games
Baseball made its first appearance at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm as a demonstration sport. It was only 80 years later, in Barcelona, that it became an Olympic sport. Between 1992 and 2008, 16 nations participated in five baseball tournaments. The Olympic program commission did not include baseball in the list of sports for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London or the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
The main goal of baseball is as simple as hitting the ball with a bat, as far as possible, within the limits of the field, and go through the four bases on the ground in order reach the final, and when you do that, you have scored a point. What makes it different from other sports in which the duration of the game is set for a predetermined time, in Baseball, there is no precise time for the game to end. One Team must make at least 27-eliminations, with rare exceptions. Each entry should end when 3 players are eliminated, so the game consists of 9 entries. If at the end of these 9-entries the teams remain tied, the team that can progress in the next entry wins. The baseball field is square, which is divided into two main parts: infield and outfield, with four bases that need to be reached by the player who attacks, and each of them must have a player to defend them.