Playing Field

• The baseball field is a quarter of a circle. The infield is a square, with 90 feet between each base. The pitcher's mound is 10 inches high and 60.5 feet away from home plate. The lines that run from home plate to first base and from home plate to third base are extended to the outfield wall. The wall must be at least 320 feet from home plate at the foul lines, and should be at least 400 feet from home plate to center field.
  
  

Games

• Each baseball game is made up of nine innings. Each inning is divided into two halves--the visiting team bats in the top half and the home team bats in the bottom half. Each team gets three outs before its half inning is over. At the end of nine innings, whichever team has more runs wins the game. If the home team is winning after 8.5 innings, the game is over because the home team does not need to bat in the bottom of the ninth to win. If the teams are tied, they play additional innings. If the visiting team scores in the top of an inning, the home team has the opportunity to score in the bottom of the inning. If the home team takes the lead in the bottom of an extra inning, the game is over.
  
  

Players and Pitching

• Each team has nine players on the field at a time. The standard positions are pitcher, catcher, first base, second base, short stop, third base, left field, center field and right field. In the American League, a designated hitter can be used. A designated hitter is someone who replaces the weakest batter in the batting order--usually the pitcher--but does not play defense. The pitcher starts the play by throwing the ball toward the batter. If the ball is over the plate and between the bottom of the batter's knees and the midpoint between the batter's shoulders and waist, the ball is a strike. A strike is also called if the batter swings and misses or hits the ball and it goes foul. If the batter gets three strikes, he is out. A foul ball, except on a bunt, cannot be the third strike. A pitch that is not swung at and is outside the strike zone is a ball, and if the pitcher throws four balls the batter gets a free pass to first base.
  
  

Batted Balls

• When a ball is hit into play, the batter tries to make it around the bases. The batter can be put out in three ways: if the ball is caught before it hits the ground, if the batter is tagged with the ball when not on a base, or if he is forced out. A force out occurs when a defensive player with the ball touches the base that the runner must advance to. For example, after the batter hits the ball, he must advance to first base. When a runner is on base, if there are runners on all the other bases, he must advance on a ground ball or be forced out. For example, if there are runners on first base and second base, the runner on second must go to third and the runner on first must go to second on a batted ball that hits the ground. On a fly ball, runners cannot advance until the ball is caught. The batting team scores a run when a runner makes it around all the bases without being put out.