Now it’s time for River City Live’s Not So-lympics! Today we are trying out baseball, but first, let’s get some history.
References to games resembling baseball in the United States date back to the 18th century. In September 1845, a group of New York City men founded the New York Knickerbocker Baseball Club. One of them—volunteer firefighter and bank clerk Alexander Joy Cartwright—would codify a new set of rules that would form the basis for modern baseball, calling for a diamond-shaped infield, foul lines and the three-strike rule.
Baseball was featured several times on the Olympic programme as a demonstration sport before being included as a medal event at the Olympic Games in Barcelona during 1992.
The object of baseball is to score more runs than your opponent. The idea is to hit the ball thrown at you as far as you can before running around 4 bases to complete a run. Once a player manages to get around the four bases before being tagged out, then another batter steps in. A game is played out between two teams, each made up of 9 players. The game lasts for 9 innings with each team alternating between batting and fielding in each inning. Each team has three outs per inning before they then swap roles. The scores at the end of the innings are added to a cumulative score and the team with the most points wins.
You can get this equipment at your local Academy Store or visit academy.com.