Baseball/Softball Review Guide
Written Assessment History and Player Positions 5/29
Skills Assessment 6/5
While the exact origins of baseball are unknown, most historians agree that it is based on the English game of rounders. A game which began to become quite popular in this country in the early 19th century, and many sources report the growing popularity of a game called "townball", "base", or "baseball".
Throughout the early part of the 19th century, small towns formed teams, and baseball clubs were formed in larger cities. In 1845, Alexander Cartwright wanted to formalize a list of rules by which all teams could play. Much of that original code is still in place today. Although popular legend says that the game was invented by Abner Doubleday, baseball's true father was Cartwright.
The first recorded baseball contest took place a year later, in 1846. Cartwright and his Knickerbocker Base Ball Club of New York City lost to the New York Baseball Club in a game at the Elysian Fields, in Hoboken, New Jersey. These amateur games became more frequent and more popular. In 1857, a convention of amateur teams was called to discuss rules and other issues. Twenty five teams from the northeast sent delegates. The following year, they formed the National Association of Base Ball Players, the first organized baseball league. In its first year of operation, the league supported itself by occasionally charging fans for admission. The future looked very bright.
The early 1860s, however were a time of great turmoil in the United States. In those years of the Civil War, the number of baseball clubs dropped dramatically. But interest in baseball was carried to other parts of the country by Union soldiers, and when the war ended there were more people playing baseball than ever before. The league’s annual convention in 1868 drew delegates from over 100 clubs. As the league grew, so did the expenses of playing. Charging admission to games started to become more common, and teams often had to seek out donations or sponsors to make trips. In 1871, the National Association became the first professional baseball league.
Cooperstown N.Y. is the home of the baseball hall of fame.
Pittsfield Ma. was the location of the first written record of baseball being played.
The players’ positions in baseball with their appropriate number.
1. Pitcher
2. Catcher
3. 1st base
4. 2nd base
5. 3rd base
6. Shortstop
7. Left fielder
8. Center fielder
9. Right fielder
Softball
Softball was first introduced on Thanksgiving Day in 1887 at a Harvard-Yale football game. A man from Yale playfully threw a boxing glove at the Harvard grads after the game was done and bets were paid. A fan from Harvard hit the glove away with a broom handle. A game of indoor baseball commenced as a result. George Hancock, part of the Harvard and Yale Alumni who gathered at the Farragut Boat Club in Chicago that day to hear the score of the annual football game, made a large, soft ball by taking a boxing glove and tying it. The ball was fielded barehanded since it was soft and didn’t require gloves like those used in baseball. He did a small baseball diamond with chalk inside the boat club and the game was underway. The game lasted an hour and ended with a score of 41-40. Hancock wrote down rules and came up with a big soft ball and a bat that had a rubber tip that was good for indoors. He even painted permanent foul lines on the floor of Boat Club.
Indoor baseball became very popular in the Chicago area that winter. It was meant to be a way for baseball players to keep in practice during the winter. By 1889, a winter league was formed. When the weather became warmer, softball was taken to outdoor field (all of which were too small to be baseball fields.) The same large and soft balls that were anywhere from 10 to 20 inches in diameter that were used indoors were also used for the outdoor games. A fireman, Lewis Rober, played a very big role in developing the game. He needed something to keep his Minneapolis firemen busy while waiting for fire calls. He marked a field in a lot next to the fire station. The smaller field and softer ball used in the game of softball made meant more offense and action in the field than baseball. Rober decided to limit games to seven innings because this allowed games to be completed in an hour while being active and competitive. Contests between different firehouses began to draw as many as 3,000 spectators. By 1913, the game was officially adopted by the Minneapolis Park Board and was played in parks and on playgrounds all over the city.
In 1977, the American Professional Slow Pitch League became the first of three men’s professional softball leagues to play between 1977 and 1982.
Since 1951, the International Softball Federation has governed worldwide softball competition. The first women’ fastpitch world championships were played in 1965 in Melbourne, Australia. The first men’s world championships were played a year later in Mexico City. The US men’s team won the 1966 title. Since 1970, softball world championship tournaments have been played every four years.
In 1996, women’s softball hit its highest peak when it became an Olympic medal event. The 1996 Olympics also marked a key era in the introduction of technology in softball; the IOC funded a landmark biomechanical study on pitching during the games. The US Women’s team has won all three softball gold medals awarded in the sport. The US women’s fastpitch team’s strength reflects how popular the sport is in the United States. More than 25 million people in the United States alone now actively play the game of softball. Unfortunately during the last meeting of the International Olympic Committee, held in Singapore in July 2005, softball and baseball were voted to be dropped as Olympic sports for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.
Terminology
An APPEAL is the act of a fielder in claiming violation of the rules by the offensive
team.
A BALK is an illegal act by the pitcher with a runner or runners on base, entitling
all runners to advance one base.
A BALL is a pitch which does not enter the strike zone in flight and is not struck at
by the batter.
A BUNT is a batted ball not swung at, but intentionally met with the bat and tapped
slowly within the infield.
A CATCH is the act of a fielder in getting secure possession in his hand or glove of
a ball in flight and firmly holding it;
A DOUBLE PLAY is a play by the defense in which two offensive players are put
out as a result of continuous action, providing there is no error between putouts.
A FAIR BALL is a batted ball that settles on fair ground between home and first
base, or between home and third base, or that is on or over fair territory when bounding to the outfield past first or third base, or that touches first, second or third base, or that first falls on fair territory on or beyond first base or third base.
FAIR TERRITORY is that part of the playing field within, and including the first
base and third base lines, from home base to the bottom of the playing field fence and
perpendicularly upwards. All foul lines are in fair territory.
FIELDER’S CHOICE is the act of a fielder who handles a fair grounder and,
instead of throwing to first base to put out the batter-runner, throws to another base in an
attempt to put out a preceding runner.
A FLY BALL is a batted ball that goes high in the air in flight.
A FORCE PLAY is a play in which a runner legally loses his right to occupy a base
by reason of the batter becoming a runner.
A FOUL BALL is a batted ball that settles on foul territory between home and first
base, or between home and third base, or that bounds past first or third base on or over foul territory, or that first falls on foul territory beyond first or third base
A FOUL TIP is a batted ball that goes sharp and direct from the bat to the catcher’s
hands and is legally caught.
An INNING is that portion of a game within which the teams alternate on offense
and defense and in which there are three putouts for each team.
INTERFERENCE
(a) Offensive interference is an act by the team at bat which interferes with,
obstructs, impedes, hinders or confuses any fielder attempting to make a play..
A LIVE BALL is a ball which is in play.
A LINE DRIVE is a batted ball that goes sharp and direct from the bat to a fielder
without touching the ground.
An OUT is one of the three required retirements of an offensive team during its time
at bat.
A RUN (or SCORE) is the score made by an offensive player who advances from
batter to runner and touches first, second, third and home bases in that order.
A RUN-DOWN is the act of the defense in an attempt to put out a runner between
bases.
SQUEEZE PLAY is a term to designate a play when a team, with a runner on third
base, attempts to score that runner by means of a bunt.
A STRIKE is a legal pitch when so called by the umpire, which—
(a) Is struck at by the batter and is missed;
(b) Is not struck at, if any part of the ball passes through any part of the strike
zone;
(c) Is fouled by the batter when he has less than two strikes;
(d) Is bunted foul;
(e) Touches the batter as he strikes at it;
(f) Touches the batter in flight in the strike zone; or
(g) Becomes a foul tip.
The STRIKE ZONE is that area over home plate the upper limit of which is a horizontal line at the midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the top of the uniform pants, and the lower level is a line at the hollow beneath the kneecap.
A TAG is the action of a fielder in touching a base with his body while holding the ball securely and firmly in his hand or glove; or touching a runner with the ball, or with his hand or glove holding the ball, while holding the ball securely and firmly in his hand or glove.
A WILD PITCH is one so high, so low, or so wide of the plate that it cannot be handled with ordinary effort by the catcher.
Cite: URIBaseball Histiory and MLB, softball Performance