Catch (baseball)

In baseball, a catch occurs when a fielder gains secure possession of a batted ball in flight, and maintains possession until he voluntarily or intentionally releases the ball. When a catch occurs, the batter is out, and runners, once they properly tag up (retouch their time-of-pitch base), may attempt to advance at risk of being tagged out.

Unlike in American football and other sports, neither secure possession for a time nor for a number of steps is enough to demonstrate that a catch has occurred. A fielder may, for example, appear to catch and hold a batted ball securely, take a few more steps, collide with a wall or another player, and drop the ball. This is not a catch.

Umpires signal a catch with the out signal: a fist raised into the air, often with a hammering motion; if there is doubt about it, the umpire will likely shout "That's a catch!" On a close no-catch, the umpire will signal with the safe signal, which is both arms swept to the side and extended, accompanied by the call "No catch, no catch!" with an emphasis on the word "no".

Catch (band)

Catch were a British indie pop group consisting of musicians Toby Slater (vocals and keyboards), Wayne Murray (bass and vocals) and Ben Etchells (guitar). The band were signed to Virgin Records and released two singles - "Bingo", which reached No. 23 in the UK Singles Chart, and "Dive In", which reached No. 44. The band released one self-titled album, which was only issued in Indonesia. The album is no longer in print or available online, however various tracks have surfaced on file and video sharing websites over the years.

History

Reputedly formed when Slater, Murray and Etchells kissed the same girl at a party, Catch were in fact formed from the ashes of Brattish, Slater's first band, formed in 1994/95, which also included Etchells. Brattish rehearsed the Catch material extensively, paid for by interested A&R men, but never gigged. Slater also was a driving-force behind the short-lived "Romo" movement in the autumn/winter of 1995, DJ-ing at "Arcadia".

"Bingo" was Catch's biggest hit, and resulted in the band appearing on Top Of The Pops, Light Lunch, The Paul Ross Show (performing three songs live), The Jack Docherty Show and various Saturday morning UK TV shows. "Bingo" was also being shown on the ITV Chart Show when ITN interrupted programming to report on the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997. Slater also presented some shows on MTV around this time. An album was quickly released in Indonesia due to the band's popularity there, but was never released in the UK due to Slater being unhappy with it at the time. The band visited Jakarta for a promotional tour and performed acoustically for fans.

Catch (game)

Catch, or playing catch, is one of the most basic children's games, often played between children or between a parent and child, wherein the participants throw a ball, beanbag, Flying disc or similar object back and forth to each other. At early stages in a child's life, playing catch is a good way to evaluate and improve the child's physical coordination. Notably, "[i]f a child cannot catch a ball that he or she is bouncing, it is unlikely the child will be able to play catch". Most children begin to be able to play catch around the age of four. As one source explains with respect to children of this age:

Because playing catch requires at least two participants, and because participants can be substituted at any point during the game, catch can be used to place children in social situations where they will interact with each other. For example, this can be done by first having one child play catch with an adult, and then bringing other children into the game or substituting another child for the adult, at which point the adult can leave entirely. As children become more adept at the skills used to catch a thrown object and return it to the thrower, these skills are incorporated into more complex games played with larger groups of participants, such as hot potato, dodgeball, and keep away. Playing catch can improve an aptitude for sports that involve catching and throwing, such as baseball, football, and basketball.

Helmet Catch

The Helmet Catch was an American football play involving New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning and wide receiver David Tyree in the final two minutes of Super Bowl XLII on February 3, 2008. It featured Manning escaping from the grasp of three New England Patriots defensive players and throwing a forward pass, followed by Tyree making a leaping catch by pressing the ball against his helmet. The play, a 32-yard gain during a drive on which the Giants would score their game-winning touchdown, was instrumental in the Giants' 17–14 upset victory over the Patriots, who were on the verge of becoming the first National Football League (NFL) team to finish a season undefeated and untied since the 1972 Miami Dolphins, and the first since the NFL adopted a 16-game schedule in 1978. NFL Films' Steve Sabol called it "the greatest play the Super Bowl has ever produced". The play was also named by NFL Films "The Play of the Decade (2000s)".

Background

Tyree had been used primarily on special teams and had only 4 receptions for 69 yards and no touchdowns during the 2007 regular season. Although Tyree was seldom used as a receiver during the regular season, he caught the Giants' first touchdown of the Super Bowl early in the fourth quarter, (which was Tyree's first touchdown of the season) giving his team a 10–7 lead at the time. The Patriots, undefeated on the season and heavily favored to win the game, scored a touchdown on a pass from Tom Brady to Randy Moss to take a 14–10 lead with 2:42 remaining in the game. The Giants then faced a 3rd down with 5 yards needed for a 1st down from their own 44-yard line with 1:15 remaining. On the previous play, Patriots' cornerback Asante Samuel dropped what could have been a game-sealing interception.

Early mainframe games

Mainframe computers are computers used primarily by large organizations for critical applications, bulk data processing such as census, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning and transaction processing. Before microcomputers became widely available to the general public in the early 1970s, several early video games were programmed on these computers. Developed prior to the rise of the commercial video game industry, also in the early 1970s, these early mainframe games were generally written by students and employees at large corporations, and generally only for the specific machine or computer type they were developed on. While most of these games were lost as the original computer or computer type was discontinued, some of them were ported to general computer languages like BASIC, had expanded versions later released for general computers, or were recreated for bulletin board systems years later, and thus had an impact on future games and developers.

Baseball (ball)

A baseball is a ball used in the sport of the same name, baseball. The ball features a rubber or cork center, wrapped in yarn, and covered, in the words of the Official Baseball Rules "with two strips of white horsehide or cowhide, tightly stitched together." It is 9.00–9.25 inches (228.60–234.95 mm) in circumference, (2.86–2.94 in or 72.64–74.68 mm in diameter), and masses from 5.00 to 5.25 ounces (141.75 to 148.83 g). The yarn or string used to wrap the baseball can be up to one mile (1.6 km) in length. Some are wrapped in a plastic-like covering.

A significant characteristic of the baseball is the stitching that holds together the covering of the ball. After a ball has been pitched, these raised stitches act like wings on a plane, catching the wind and causing the ball to swerve slightly on its way to the catcher. Whether the ball swerves to the right, to the left, downward, or a combination thereof, and whether it swerves sharply or gradually, depends on which direction, and how fast, the stitches have been made to spin by the pitcher. See, for example, curveball, slider, two-seam fastball, four-seam fastball, sinker, cutter.

Baseball: An Album by Sayanything

Baseball: An Album By Say Anything is the debut album from the American band Say Anything.

History

At the time of the album's release, the band was known as Sayanything, which is the name that appears on the album. During the time of recording in 2001, the band consisted of Max Bemis on vocals, guitar, and keyboard, Coby Linder on drums, and Michael Levin on bass. Although the album was recorded in 2001, most copies were not sold until May 2003 when 200 copies were pressed and sold on Say Anything's website. Thus, some sources cite the album's release year as 2003.

The album has never attained any commercial success, though it has remained a consistent cult favorite. However, in a move reminiscent of Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo's rejection of his band's Pinkerton album, Say Anything frontman Max Bemis has all but disowned the recording, until 2009 refusing to play any of its songs live. At an acoustic show on May 11, 2008 at the Chain Reaction, after a fan requested he play "Into the Night," Max stated "I promise we will start playing Baseball songs again. Some day. However, today is not that day."