This article first appeared in the Jul/Aug 2013 issue of World Gaming magazine.
The Major League Baseball season is in full swing so WGM thought we would take a look at this popular sport, why it is known as America’s favorite pastime and how the game has spread like wildfire through Asia.
Baseball has long been known as America’s favorite pastime and is a part of the nation’s fabric. It runs in the veins and for many years was comfortably the number one sport in the country – even though it would be safe to say that gridiron has assumed that mantle now due to the fact it appeals to America’s taste for short and sharp entertainment.
While American football has a very short season – just 17 weeks in the regular season – baseball has the longest of any sport. During the regular season, all 30 Major League Baseball (MLB) clubs play an incredible 162 games and the team that goes on to be crowned World Series Champions will go close to playing 200! It is an amazing statistic but this long season represents the very fabric of the game.
Baseball is not about cheerleaders and fast paced action; it’s about sitting down with a hot dog and a beer, listening to the organ playing songs like the “Baby Elephant Walk” and enjoying the spectacle over a number of hours.
The great news for the casual sports fan, or tourists, is that it’s relatively easy to get tickets to a game. That’s not the case for America’s other major sports, gridiron and basketball – football due to its popularity during such a short season and basketball due to the limitation on seats. Make no mistake, getting tickets for Game 7 of the World Series is nigh on impossible but if your goal is to simply experience a regular season baseball game you won’t have too much trouble picking up a ticket.
Baseball also has the advantage of filling the void while the other sports are having a break – it’s played seven days a week in both the day and night. There is even an early morning game most days so that baseball tragics across the continent can have their fill. Perhaps that is why Americans hold it so dear? On a day off from work, playing baseball is the perfect way to spend a day with your kids – pull them out of school, tell them to keep it a secret and, mitt in hand, head off to the ball park.
THE HISTORY OF BASEBALL
Guess who pops up when you start looking into the history of baseball? Yep you guessed it, those crazy French Aristocrats of the Middle Ages! With too much time on their hands, they were playing a game that bore striking similarities to what is known as baseball today. It is widely accepted that the English were the first to play the modern game but they quickly gravitated towards cricket instead and the real credit should go to the Americans.
Ty Cobb
The game continued to grow over the ensuing decades and leagues sprung up and shut down with monotonous regularity. The game really started to hit its straps after World War I with improvements to the balls and the rules of the games. More runs were being scored and the game came on leaps and bounds as a spectator sport. The emergence of superstars like Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb also helped the game secure itself as the national sport.
Baseball suffered a little after the Second World War due to the expansion of gridiron and the invention of television which had people staying home much more than they used to. Still, the major leagues expanded their competitions, moved out to the West Coast and by the mid-’50s the game was again on the rise. Over the following decades these leagues morphed into the competition that we know as Major League Baseball today.
THE BASICS
Baseball is played over nine innings with the home team always batting second. During each of these nine innings the fielding team has to get three batters out to retire, or end, the innings. A batter can be struck out by swinging and missing three times, can be caught out on the full by a fielder or either tagged or “run out” by a baseman when running.
The term “three strikes and you’re out!” comes from baseball. The pitcher, who throws the ball, has to throw into a certain hitting area known as the “strike zone”, otherwise the pitch is called a “ball”. If the pitcher throws four balls before getting the batter out, that batter receives a free “walk” to first base. The object for a batsman is to make it around three bases and on to home base where he will score a run for his team. If the batter hits the ball over the field of play and into the stands it is a “home run” and all players on base score a run.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
- When the visiting side bats in any given innings it is referred to as the “top of the innings”. When the home side bats it’s called the “bottom of the innings”.
- The fielding side has nine players on the field and these nine players rotate through the batting order.
- In the American League the pitcher doesn’t bat.
- If the game is tied after nine innings they will continue to play extra innings until one team finishes an innings with the lead.
- Pitchers work on a rotation system so every franchise has a large number of pitchers to chose from.
- Pitchers rarely play a whole game. More often than not they are relieved towards the end of the game by one of their side’s relief pitchers from what is known as the “bull pen”. The “bull pen” is the area where these relief pitchers warm up.
- Towards the end of the game a pitcher called the “closer” comes onto the field. The “closer” is usually a top quality pitcher but can only throw a small number of pitches before his arm gives out.
- Batters also have a specialized fielding position and tend to play every game as long as they are fit and in form.
- All Major League clubs have affiliations with Minor League clubs and when a player shows good form in the minors he is “off to the majors”.
- Betting markets in baseball list the starting pitcher. Bets are usually voided if the starting pitcher doesn’t start the game, as the pitcher has a huge influence over the result.
THE PLAYOFFS
10 teams make up the playoffs each season with all the divisional winners coming together plus two wild cards from both the American and National League. This is very similar to how the American Football playoff system works.
The playoffs are played over a “best of five” game series during the early rounds then progress to a “best of seven” game series towards the end of the playoffs. When both the National League and the American League have crowned their champions, the two come together for a “best of seven” game playoff, known as the World Series.
RIVALRIES AND CURSES
The history of baseball is rich and much loved which is what separates it from the other major American sports. Fans will debate games, plays and players for decades and you will always find a couple of baseball tragics at bars across the country watching a ball game and arguing about something to do with the game they love.
Billy Sianis cursed the Cubs after his goat was banned from Wrigley Field
The biggest rivalry in baseball exists between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. This goes all the way back to when the Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees in the 1919-20 off-season. Up until that point the Red Sox had been one of the most successful franchises in the country with five World Series titles, but the sale of Ruth began what was known as the “Curse of the Bambino” – while the Yankees themselves went on to become the biggest team in the country, the Red Sox endured an 86-year World Series drought which only ended in 2004.
The other great story is the “Curse of the Billy Goat” which revolves around the Chicago Cubs. In 1945, Billy Sianis was asked to remove his pet goat from Wrigley Field (home field of the Cubs) because the smell of the goat was annoying other fans. Sianis, who had paid for a ticket for his goat, was disgusted at the treatment of his friend and is said to have placed a curse on the Cubs, declaring “Them Cubs, they ain’t gonna win no more.” The Chicago based franchise hasn’t won a National League pennant since and hasn’t won a World Series in over 100 years.
BASEBALL IN ASIA
Baseball is massive in Japan. Outside of sumo wrestling, which is a peculiarly Japanese cultural sport, baseball is Japan’s number one professional sport. The game there dates back to the 1870s although professional baseball began with the Nippon Professional Baseball League in 1920.
Japan has had a rich history of sending their best players to play in major league baseball and there have been a number of household names that have succeeded at the highest level. These include Hideo Nomo, Mac Suzuki, Hideki Matsui and current New York Yankee and former Seattle superstar Ichiro Suzuki.
Koreans also love their baseball and the sport there rivals football as their number one sport. Korea’s professional league commenced in the 1980s but its roots date back to the early 20th century when American missionaries first introduced the game to the locals. The sport boomed in popularity in 1994 when pitcher Chan Ho Park made his debut for the LA Dodgers.
China’s professional baseball league is still in its infancy and was founded in 2002. They have strong ties with the game in Japan and receive assistance with coaching and training. The game is also very much loved in Taiwan where it has been played professionally since 1989 in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL).
BASEBALL AROUND THE WORLD
Baseball is well loved in Canada but remains well behind both American and Canadian Football and their national sport, ice hockey.
Where baseball enjoys total dominance is Cuba, the Caribbean and parts of Latin America. A large proportion of major league baseball players come from this part of the world where baseball is very much a religion.
