Shagging (baseball)

In baseball, shagging is the act of catching fly balls in the outfield outside the context of an actual baseball game. This is most commonly done by pitchers during batting practice before a game, where they assist their hitting teammates by catching or picking up their batted baseballs and throwing them back to the pitching area in the infield. Batboys also help shagging baseballs, and it is reportedly considered a great honor among batboys to be asked to do this. This pre-game activity is widely disliked by pitchers, who argue that it does not benefit them at all, since it drains their energy and actually increases the risk of stiffness in the lower back and leg as a result of prolonged standing. In response to these claims, several teams have exempted pitchers from having to shag fly balls. In the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) league, teams pay groups specifically assembled to shag fly balls in place of pitchers, and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim recruit local firefighters in Arizona to do the job when the team plays in the Cactus League during spring training.

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.