Pitcher

In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the pitcher is assigned the number 1. The pitcher is often considered the most important defensive player, and as such is situated at the right end of the defensive spectrum.

Traditionally, the pitcher also bats. Starting in 1973 with the American League and spreading to further leagues throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the hitting duties of the pitcher have generally been given over to the position of designated hitter, a cause of some controversy. The National League in Major League Baseball and the Japanese Central League are among the remaining leagues that have not adopted the designated hitter position.

Overview

In most cases, the objective of the pitcher is to deliver the pitch to the catcher without allowing the batter to hit the ball with the bat. A successful pitch is delivered in such a way that the batter either allows the pitch to pass through the strike zone, swings the bat at the ball and misses it, or hits the ball poorly (resulting in a pop fly or ground out). If the batter elects not to swing at the pitch, it is called a strike if any part of the ball passes through the strike zone and a ball when no part of the ball passes through the strike zone. A check swing is when the batter begins to swing, but then stops the swing short. If the batter successfully checks the swing and the pitch is out of the strike zone, it is called a ball.

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of nine players each who take turns batting and fielding.

The batting team attempts to score runs by hitting a ball that is thrown by the pitcher with a bat swung by the batter, then running counter-clockwise around a series of four bases: first, second, third, and home plate. A run is scored when a player advances around the bases and returns to home plate.

Players on the batting team take turns hitting against the pitcher of the fielding team, which tries to prevent runs by getting hitters out in any of several ways. A player on the batting team who reaches a base safely can later attempt to advance to subsequent bases during teammates' turns batting, such as on a hit or by other means. The teams switch between batting and fielding whenever the fielding team records three outs. One turn batting for both teams, beginning with the visiting team, constitutes an inning. A game comprises nine innings, and the team with the greater number of runs at the end of the game wins. Baseball is the only major team sport in America with no game clock, although almost all games end in the ninth inning.

Baseball (disambiguation)

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams.

Baseball may also refer to:

Sports and games

Music

Television

Other

Baseball (drinking game)

Beer-Baseball is a drinking game in which players shoot a ping-pong ball across a table with the intent of landing the ball in one of several cups of beer on the other end, doing so in a way combining beer pong and flip cup. The game typically consists of two teams of even numbers, one on each side of a table, and four cups set up on each side. The cups are lined up in a straight line representing the bases with the last cup at the edge of the table.

When a ball lands in a cup, the defending team must consume all of the beer inside that cup and all the cups below it, e.g. if the third cup is hit (a triple), the third, second and first cup are consumed. The cups are filled according to their position on the table. The cup closest to the opposing team is 1/4 full, the second cup is 1/2 full, the third cup is 3/4 full and the final cup nearest the edge is full. It is also common to have a glass of water with the purpose of cleaning the ball between throws. After consumption the cup is refilled to the appropriate level and placed back on the table.