BASICS OF THE GAME
PARENTS: Read these with your kids to help them understand the fundamentals. Look at the animation with your child and discuss how the batter holds the bat (hands, arms and elbows) starts with bat behind head, swings level and follows through with his swing.
1) 2 TEAMS: There are 2 teams in baseball, one team is batting and the other is defending the bases. The batting team tries to score points while the defending team tries to catch the batters to make 3 outs. With 3 outs the defending team gets a chance to bat and make points.
The Defending Teams Positions are: 1st Base, 2nd Base, Short Stop, 3rd Base, Right Field, Center Field, Left Field, Pitcher and Catcher. These are 9 positions. On some younger kid teams there may be more than 9 kids that can play in the out field.
2) FIELD: The baseball field is in the shape of a diamond with each corner marked by a base. The batter stands at the Home Base and if they hit the ball they run to the First Base, then Second Base, then Third Base and finally Home Base to score a point for their team.
There is also the out field beyond the bases. Behind the First Base is Right Field. Behind the Second Base is Center Field and behind the Third Base is Left Field. There are always (at least) 3 people who stop any hits in the out field, one for each out-field position, Right, Center and Left Field.
The in-field is also defended by players. There is a person who stops any balls that come close to each base including First Base, Second Base and Third Base. There is also an extra person called the Short Stop who stops balls trying to get into the out field between Second Base and Third Base.
3) SCORING: To Score a point for your team, you must hit the ball and try to run around all the bases back to Home Base without getting caught. If the other team has the ball and is coming after you, you have to get on a base which is a Safe Spot and they can not tag you out. Once you stop on a base you can not run to another base until someone else hits the ball. You always have to run around the bases the same way, that is in this order: First, Second, Third and Home Base. You always have to touch the base before going on to the next base... if you miss a base you have to run back to it and touch it with your foot.
4) MAKING OUTS: Besides catching a batter by tagging them with the ball (while holding the ball, not throwing it at the runner), the defenders can also get outs by 1) catching a batted ball before it touches the ground, 2) touching a base (with the defenders foot) before a batter can get to the base (force outs description for older kids), or 3) if the batter 'strikes out' which is for older kids and basically means each batter gets 3 strikes or tries to hit the ball into the fair part of the baseball field (and gets 4 balls if the pitches are very poor). Finally, 4) if the catcher catches a foul ball before it hits the ground counts as an out (for older kids).
5) INNING: When each team has been up to bat once, that counts for one inning. Most games are 9 innings long, that means each team gets 9 chances to hit the ball and score points.
6) HOME RUNS: If a batter hits the ball and is able to run around all the bases back to the Home Base without getting tagged out or having to stop at a base, and therefore are able to score a point for their team, they have just hit a HOME RUN!
7) BATTER UP: It is important for defenders of the bases to always look at the batter, especially when someone shouts Batter Up. This means that the batter is about to hit the ball.
8) CALLING THE BALL: If you are a defender, it is important for you to call the ball if it is coming towards you. That is, you say "MY BALL". This way no other defender will try and catch the ball and run into you.
9) RELAY: If a batter hits the ball and it rolls past all of the defenders, it is important for the defenders to set up a relay in order to get the ball back to the baseball diamond as fast as possible in hopes of tagging the runner out. A Relay is like a chain, one person runs after and catches up with the ball, then throws it to someone that is closer to the diamond, then they throw it to the next person and so on until the ball is in a position to stop the runner from scoring a point.
10) WAITING TO BAT. It is important that all the players that are on the team that is batting stay behind the fence so that any foul balls that are hit by the batter doesn't hit a player. The person who is next to bat is called On Deck. Once the batter hits the ball the player who was On Deck can go to the Home Plate only after the current play is over, just in case someone needs to run into home plate to score a point. In other words, wait until the batter is either stopped on a base or has run past home plate before the 'On Deck' players goes to home plate and practices swinging the bat.
11) BATTING: Pick up a bat that isn't too heavy, go to Home Plate, face Home Plate (not the Pitcher), hold the bat with 2 hands next to each other (not one on top of the other), put the other end of the bat above the shoulder and behind the head. Before you swing the bat, keep your eyes on the ball, then make a smooth motion where the bat goes horizontally in front of the chest (do not swing down in a chopping motion). Always keep both hands on the bat. If you hit the ball, as you start to run towards first base, lay the bat down on the ground, do not throw the bat. |
