Baseball

Baseball, a sport that is contested between two teams of nine players on a baseball field. In this sport a defensive player (a pitcher) throws a hard (fist-sized ball) to a target. An offensive player (a batter) attempts to strike the ball using a smooth, cylindrical bat in such order that it should not be caught by fielders periperhal to and behind the pitcher.

A team scores while batting, by advancing a player counter-clockwise past a series of four markers (bases) arranged at the corners of a diamond. The last of it (home plate) marks the location over which a pitch is thrown.

DO YOU KNOW

The birthplace of baseball is United States
Here it has long been regarded as more than just a "major sport."	For many decades in US, baseball has been popularly referred to as the "national pastime."
Major League Baseball has been given a unique monopoly status by the US Congress.	Baseball, both professional and amateur levels, is popular in North America, Central America, parts of South America, the Caribbean, and East Asia.

HISTORY OF BASEBALL

The origin of baseball is not known clearly. In the British Isles, number of early folk games were played that had characteristics like our modern baseball. They had a ball which were thrown to a target and opposing player defended this target by hitting the ball away.

Baseball has been popularized in the United States and is now popular in North, Central, and South America, the Caribbean, and Asia. It is played in organized professional or quasi-professional leagues in the United States, Japan, Puerto Rico, Taiwan, South Korea, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, and Venezuela.

BASEBALL IN OLYMPICS

This sport was first contested at the Summer Olympic Games (V Olympiad) in 1912, held in Stockholm, Sweden. It appeared as a demonstration sport again at the following games:

• XI Olympiad hosted in 1936 by Berlin, Germany.
• XV Olympiad hosted in 1952 by Helsinki, Finland, and played as pesäpallo.
• XVI Olympiad hosted in 1956 by Melbourne, Australia.
• XVIII Olympiad hosted in 1964 by Tokyo, Japan.
• XXIII Olympiad hosted in 1984 by Los Angeles, California (more than two nations participated).
• XXIV Olympiads hosted in 1988 by Seoul, South Korea (more than two nations participated).

The International Olympic Committee conferred medal status to baseball, under the auspices of the International Baseball Federation (IBAF), at its 1986 Lausanne, Switzerland, meeting. It was scheduled to be effective with the opening of the Games of the XXV Olympiad (Barcelona, Spain) in 1992.