Sports and activity information for the ALL STAR in your house

Web Search

Baseball is played between two teams of nine players.  The game is played on a baseball field and is monitored by one or more officials, called umpires. The number of umpires vary depending on the importance of the game and the league.

The field is called a diamond.  The baseball diamond is  a square with 90 feet on a side.  It is made up of four bases. The bases are numbered counter-clockwise: first, second, third and home plate.   The bases (first, second and third) are 15 inch, raised, square cushions located at three corners of the triangle.  The fourth corner is  home plate which is a five-sided rubber slab that is flush to the ground.

Most baseball fields are enclosed with a fence that marks the outer edge of the outfield. The fence is usually set at a distance ranging from 300 to 410 feet (90 to 125 m) from home plate.

The field is divided into infield and outfield.  Infield is the area in the vicinity of the square formed by the bases.  Fair territory outside the infield is the outfield.  Chalked lines mark the base paths. The lines between home plate and first base and between home plate and third base are extended beyond the bases to the outfield fences and are called foul lines.  These lines form a large V, which is the portion of the playing filed between and including the fouls lines, and it designates fair territory; the rest of the filed is foul territory.  Most baseball fields have a fence that marks the outer edge of the outfield and this is usually from 300 to 410 feet from home plate.

The pitcher's mound is a circular area of  raised dirt with a white rubber slab, known as the pitcher's plate, set flush with the ground in the center.  In Little League Baseball, the distance between the mound and homeplate is 46'.  In High School, the distance is 60 feet 6 inches.

The game is played in nine innings in which each team gets one turn to bat and tries to score runs while the other pitches and attempts to defend in the field. The game begins with the visiting team at bat and the home team in the field. After three outs the home team comes to bat. Once both teams have had a turn at bat, an inning is completed.  A base runner who successfully touches home plate after touching all previous bases in order scores a run.

The winner is the team with the most runs after nine innings. In the case of a tie, additional innings are played until one team comes out ahead.