Thursday, April 4, 2013

April 4, 2013: The Great National Pastime


Baseball is commonly known as the National Pastime, thought as a symbol of the United States.  The truth is, however, different in that baseball's early origins were possibly in a 1344 French manuscript, perhaps drawing a comparison between modern baseball and a multitude of old French sports.  It wouldn't be until 1845 that Alexander Cartwright, however, would develop the Knickerbocker rules for the game and end up being lauded as the father of modern baseball.  The sport finally went professional in 1869 withe the birth of the Cincinnati Red Stockings, and it has a long history from here.

Baseball is played with two teams, in a time-frame of nine innings, which are the time it takes for an entire team to hit a thrown ball with a bat.  After hitting the ball, should it not be a foul by going out of the side bounds, the person who hit must then run around the four bases at the edges of the 90 foot diamond without being touched by the ball, or they are considered out and cannot play until their team switches sides.  When the batting team receives three outs, they switch sides.  Successfully rounding the entire diamond earns the team a point, and the team with the most points at the end of the ninth inning wins the game.

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