baseball, Game played with a bat and ball between two teams of nine players (or 10, if a designated hitter bats and runs for the pitcher). Baseball is played on a large field that has four bases laid out in a square, positioned like a diamond, whose outlines mark the course a runner must take to score. Teams alternate positions as batters and fielders, exchanging places when three members of the batting team are put out. Batters try to hit a pitched ball out of reach of the fielding team and complete a circuit around the bases in order to score a “run.” The team that scores the most runs in nine innings (times at bat) wins the game. If a game is tied, extra innings are played until the tie is broken.
Baseball is traditionally considered the national pastime of the United States. It was once thought to have been invented in 1839 by Abner Doubleday in Cooperstown, N.Y., but it is more likely that baseball developed from an 18th-century English game called rounders that was modified by Alexander Cartwright. The first professional association was formed in 1871; in 1876 it became the National League. Its rival, the American League, was founded in 1900, and since 1903 (except in 1904 and 1994) the winning teams of each league have played a postseason championship known as the World Series. The Baseball Hall of Fame is located in Cooperstown. Professional baseball leagues also exist in several Latin American countries. In Asia there are professional baseball leagues in Japan and South Korea and on the island of Taiwan. Japan has two major leagues, the Central and the Pacific, that face off in the Japan Series every October or November. The first World Baseball Classic, an international tournament, was held in 2006.
