Simple rules required please Is it hit ball run all the way round and get 1 point? anything else to be aware of thank you
If you are at bat with no one on base ahead of you and you drive the ball out of the park within the foul lines (a home run, so-called), you can go around the bases and back to home plate to score one point, or one rather one run. If there is anyone on base in front of you, they can do the same when you drive the ball out of the park, thus scoring additional runs. The man who hits the home run will be credited with "runs batted in," which will include himself and all others who scored ahead of him. You must touch all bases and home plate to score, though; guys have been called out for failing to do so. I hope that is clear.
Baseball rules are ridiculously complicated. As an example, in TTHs scenario, if bases are loaded (the batters team has a runner on first, second and third base) with two outs and the ball is hit out of the park but the batter misses stepping on second base, four runs (points) are put on the scoreboard. If the opposing team notices that the batter missed second, they tell the umpire and IF the umpire saw the miss, the batter is called out and the inning is over. By the way, the fielding team has to throw the ball to second during the appeal to complete the out. I don't even know how many runs remain on the scoreboard then. I think it is based on how many runners crossed home plate before the batter missed second but that only might be if there was one out and not two. This whole thing is more likely to happen with an 'inside the park home run'. This is when a batter hits one deep but not out of the park and makes it around all the way to home plate before the fielding team gets the ball back into the infield. This isn't getting into pickoffs, run downs, stolen bases/caught stealing, balks, spitters, tagging up, interference, running out of base path, passing a runner, dropped third strike, past ball, hit by pitch, foul bunt, ground rule doubles and infield fly rules. When a team (or person) is really hitting good it's said 'they're tearing the cover off the ball.' Found this yesterday EDIT: Apologies. You asked a simple answer and TTH provided it before I went off into the weeds. At least I didn't get into pitch counts and all the rules around them
I've watched parts of a few games, but it's not proven to hold my interest. I have a vague idea of the rules, then I'll see a pitch that doesn't look to be a ball, nor a strike, and not a foul ball either. It's like they just wave it off... And one proper question from me. If there's a guy on first base, and the batter gets a walk, does the guy on first move to second, with the previous batter now taking the slot at first? If yes, and there's a guy on each base, would that result in the guy on third getting a run, as he'd have to move on to home? Gary
You're right on all points on walks. Walking a batter with the bases loaded is called walking in a run. Pressure is on the pitcher when he has a full count (three balls and two strikes) and bases loaded. "He has no place to put him," is the saying. The batter can foul off the next 100 pitches (unless he bunts foul) but if he takes a ball he gets first base and a run scores. The game can end on a walk if the score was tied when the walk occurs and the home team was at bat in the bottom of the ninth inning or later. What probably happened when you see pitches waved off and ignored is that either the batter or an ump called time (time out) just as the pitcher was starting his wind up. They often finish the pitch when that happens but it is a dead ball from the moment time is called. Batters do it on purpose to mess up the pitcher's timing. It is a gamble though because the umpire won't grant him time out if the pitcher is truly in his windup. Then the pitch counts even though the batter has stepped out of the batters box and can't swing at it even if he wanted to.
It is far more fun to play than it is to watch. I played baseball all of childhood until I was 18 and wished it had not ended then. I played all positions except pitcher, second, and short, but was mostly a catcher. I could not tell you when I watched an MLB game on the tube, but I have gone to the local stadium to watch the AAA team, The Biscuits, play. It is kinda fun in person, as it is watch hockey at the rink. The real fun game to watch is when 5 or 6 year-olds are playing. High comedy. There is a lot of jawing going on behind the plate, with both the batter and catcher playing mind games with each other. I disagree with Dave up above when he says it is complicated. It is really not and the rule book is the smallest of any profession team sport in North America. Of course, we ignore the infield fly rule.
Like Comrade Slip, I feel that the basic and most important rules of baseball are indeed fairly easy to grasp. Three strikes you're out, throw four balls out of the strike zone and the batter walks to first base, reach home plate and you score a run, hit it out and that's a home run. There are more rules of course and innumerable tactical and technical subtleties, but if you study the game you will pick those up in time. To newcomers from the UK who are interested in baseball, I would advise you just to concentrate on the basic rules I have mentioned and watch as many games as you can. In time, you will get it. Years ago when I was in Australia I watched Aussie TV and found most of it so awful (reruns of ghastly and long-forgotten US and UK series plus innumerable soft core skin flicks) that I turned to the cricket for lack of anything better. I knew zero about cricket, but after a while I started to get it and even enjoy it. If I'd stayed down there and watched more matches I might even have become a fan in time. The two games have some similarities. They are both bat-and-ball games, no doubt with a common ancestor. If you can appreciate a fast bowler, then you can appreciate a fastball pitcher. Like cricket, baseball is often a slow game which demands patience and close attention. It's not like football, but it can be a lot of fun to watch and it will reward the patient viewer.
I used to like playing softball at school much more than cricket. We watched our friends youngest lad play Little League from their porch in Gabriels NY in 1995 whilst visiting them. Only been to one professional game. That was in Washington DC in August 2019 when visiting my cousin in Va. Nats v Orioles in the Beltway series. Put a curly W in the book.
Not to mention the (just one of many) "game within a game" fascinating things that is the communication twixt catcher and pitcher. Hand signals galore, head shakes, the pitcher "looking off" the incoming "digits down" finger work from the catcher till he sees something he likes, and then just ignores it and sends down a slider instead of his change up! It truly is a supremely interesting game to me. And, more than a few years back I did wonder if street sign(s)/gang sign(s) had their start from the signing of catchers. Heaven only knows the answer to that one I guess. Keep up the good work chaps, now "play ball!" Kind regards, always, Jim. P.S. My favourite hand signal of recent years.
And with apologies to all for being so obvious (Dave, TTH, Slip') you knew this was coming. Kind regards, always, Jim.
I’ve always enjoyed cricket but, as Slip says re baseball, I always enjoyed playing it much more than watching it; again, I echo Slip’s further sentiments and wholly agree that actually being at the game does have a certain feel to it, much better than watching on the telly. I’m no fan of horse racing, for example, don’t even glance when it’s on the tv, but went to the race course at Sandown years ago with a group from my office for a trip out. Took my Grandad along, he was a big fan of the horses and having a flutter and I also thought he’d be my secret “racing expert” weapon, but the bookies caned us. Anyway, the sound and vibration of those pounding hooves and just the atmosphere there fair sent a shiver down my spine, absolutely brilliant experience. When I played cricket, at no great level I hasten to add, I especially enjoyed when we batted, mainly because, as those of us who used to bat at the very tail end of the innings would say when we won the toss, “we’ve elected to sunbathe”.
Never played softball, though I’ve seen them in parks. Bit of rounders in junior school was about it and that, to my very young brain, seemed quite simple at the time - whack it and run! I’ve never checked since to see whether rounders is actually more complicated than that.
Agree with everybody that it is more fun to play than to watch, although once I took a liner (line drive) to the face when pitching that was distinctly not fun. Used to be fun going to the stadium to watch the pros, especially against a hated rival but politics has destroyed those days. We used to play the stickball version too that used a chalk strike zone on a wall behind the batter. Endless hours of fun. Stickball - Wikipedia
Legendary comic routine. A few weeks ago, the Final Jeopardy question was about "Who's on first?" None of the contestants answered it correctly. I quit playing 3rd base after I took low line shot to the nose that I expected to bounce right in front of me and into my glove like a grounder. Instead it bounced straight up and broke my nose. I never could get down on the ball after that and went back to catching, where I had a mask on.
The bastard positions in cricket are those prefixed “silly” - you’re so close to the batsman it’s stupid. Ouch. Now, now lads, we’ve all been there before
My worst injury during a cricket match was also a broken nose - oddly enough when I was the bloody umpire! Couple of broken fingers too taking, or trying to take, a few catches.
Wow. Why do they do that? I googled silly position and I now know what it is but haven't figured out why yet. Baseball third basemen sometimes creep in on the batter in obvious bunting situations but never ever near as close as the silly position guys. Is the cricket batter allowed to swing away at full force when they are in like that? Seems like flirting with death to me.