Baseball is a sport with a simple goal – to score more runs than your opponent. There are nine innings in a baseball game, and each team has one turn at bat. A strike is a pitched ball over home plate and between a batter’s armpit and knee. The team that scores more runs ends up winning. Every batter must swing at a pitch that hits the strike zone. Foul balls also count as strikes. A strike can occur up to three times during a game.
The first game of baseball was played in the 1830s. In New York, Alexander J. Cartwright organized the New York Knickerbocker Base Ball Club and formulated the rules of the game. The first versions of baseball were similar to rounders, with the runner being put out when tagged by the ball. The rules were soon changed, and a harder ball was used. This change helped create larger-scale games. But the game was not as simple as it seems.
In 1877, Major League Baseball was formed. This organization consisted of clubs from New York City, Chicago, Louisville, and St. Louis. This new league eventually expanded to other cities, including Maine, Kentucky, and Oregon. The big-city clubs still dominated the game, but the nascent leagues helped the sport grow. In the 1880s, a federally recognized organization was formed to regulate the game. However, the league was not without its problems.
In 1920, an MLB shortstop named Ray Chapman was fatally injured after being hit by a pitch to the head. After this tragedy, MLB tried to improve player safety. A baseball needed something to help the pitchers grip the ball. Pitchers needed something to ensure that the ball was clean and didn’t dribble. Several teams tried using dirt, tobacco juice, and shoe polish. However, the MLB ultimately decided that no substance could improve ball performance as effectively as Bintliff’s mud.
Another rule in baseball allows the game to be stopped before the designated number of innings. A game can also be stopped early if it reaches five innings before a game official ends. This way, the statistics accumulated up to that point don’t count. Depending on the league’s rules, the game will be resumed from the stoppage point, even though it may be short. However, there are still some exceptions to this rule.