Basic Baseball Rules

On a scale of one to ten, how important is knowing basic baseball rules, with ten as the highest? The answer is ten, of course.. But what makes basic baseball rules very important to know? Wouldn’t knowing the necessary skills be more important, like catching and pitching perhaps? These are important as well, but knowing the basic baseball rules is the first step into winning the game.

So, what are the basic rules of baseball? What are the rules about the game that you would have to know, if you want to get into baseball as well? Before we get into the basic baseball rules listed, let us first discuss the different players and the positions they have when playing the game. Baseball is a game that is played between two teams having nine players each. These nine players include the following positions: pitcher, catcher, first baseman, second baseman, third baseman, shortstop, right fielder, center fielder, and left fielder. The pitcher is the one positioned at the center of the diamond. He is the one who throws the ball towards the batter, to signify the start of the play. The catcher is at the home plate directly across from the batter. The catcher catches the pitched balls that are not hit by the batter. The basemen guard their bases from the runners of the offensive team. They make up the boundary of the infield. The shortstop is positioned near the pitcher and either the first or the third baseman. He is still positioned in the infield, and is the one who will most likely deal with ground balls inside the infield. The fielders are positioned in the outfield and are responsible for retrieving fly balls and highballs.

Now that we have the positions at bay, let’s move to the basic rules of baseball. A play begins when the defensive team pitcher pitches a ball at the offensive team’s batter at the home plate. The batter has to hit this pitch, in order for him to have a chance to make it to the bases. The batter has to make a complete turn of all the bases, in order for him to score a run. But the pitcher will make it difficult for him to do this, since he will be employing different pitching styles to keep him guessing. If the batter is not able to hit a ball in the strike zone, then the ball would be deemed a strike. The strike zone is actually the area between the batter’s shoulders and knees. Three strikes and the batter would be deemed out, as soon as he is tagged. If the pitcher pitches a ball outside of the strike zone, it would be termed a ball. Four balls can get the batter a free walk to first base. Once a batter makes it to the first base successfully, he then becomes a runner.

If the batter hits a ball and any player of the defensive team catches the ball without the ball hitting the ground prior to the catch, then the batter is automatically out. If there are runners in the diamond, and this happens, the runners have to immediately go back to the bases where they came from originally, before the ball was hit. If not, they can be tagged out as well. Three outs are all that is needed for teams to switch places. A complete turn for both teams at the offensive and defensive positions make up an inning. And nine innings typically make up one complete game. But there are times when a game would have nine innings, especially if the scores between the two teams are neck and neck. When this happens, an extra inning or extra innings are played out, to determine the winner.