Now, as Americans, my wife an I are obsessed with the absurd cultural obsession known as baseball. To us, the rules and quirks of the game are written on our very DNA, they're so familiar.
So, I am now faced with the following: how the fuck do I explain baseball to our German guests? It's a relatively simple game, discounting the quirks, but the amount of requisite information to understand the basics appears to be somewhere on the order of Dwarf Fortress. But then again, I may just be getting bogged down by minutiae that, really, isn't important.
So, is anyone aware of a relatively simple way to explain how a baseball game goes?
Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite. - John Kenneth Galbraith
Obviously there's more (balls, stealing bases), but I'm tired of typing and I really know almost nothing about baseball, ha ha!
Home team takes the field first, Visiting team takes the field second. After each team has taken the field once and batted once, an inning is completed. There are 9 innings, unless both teams are tied at the end of 9. If this is the case, they play one extra inning until someone takes the lead and holds it through the second half of an inning.
When in the field, you pitch the ball to the batter. The batter gets a strike if any of the following are true:
1) They swing and miss
2) They hit the ball foul with 0 or 1 strikes (the ball is hit outside of the diamond while it is airborne, or if it rolls out before it passes first/third base).
3) They bunt the ball (hold the bat out without actively swinging it) foul on any strike.
4) The ball passes over home plate and is not higher than the batters shoulders or lower than his knees. Yes, the batter can crouch to shrink his strike zone.
If none of these are true, the batter gets a ball. If the batter gets four balls, they get a walk, and "walk" to first base. If the pitch hits them, they are automatically walked.
If the batter makes contact and puts the ball in play (anywhere between the foul lines), they run to first base. Should the fielder catch the ball before it bounces or throw the ball to first base and have the first baseman tag the base before the runner gets there, they are out. Three outs in an inning means the other team comes to bat.
If there is, for example, a runner on second base and not one on first, you have to tag the runner with the ball instead of just touching the base. IF there is a runner on first and second, though, and the ball is put in play, you have to only tag the base. This is called a force out. IF the ball is caught in the air and the runner is off the base, you can tag the base before they get back, scoring an out.
If you hit the ball over the fence without it bouncing, everybody on base scores a run. This is called a home run. If there are runners on all the bases, it is referred to as a Grand Slam. If you hit the ball and it bounces over the fence, that is a ground rule double. You get to advance two bases, and runners ahead of you advance if they are 'forced' (meaning that someone would be on the same base as them). Ground rule doubles get more complicated when the runner is already advancing, and i'm not so sure on that rule.
Oddly enough, they do have baseball in germany, too. Tarquinn, I believe, lives close to the team my brother plays for, the Solingen Alligators. Here's my brother:
I can explain stats and such if anyone wants.
The object of the game is to build the baseball team, or "club", with more players doing more drugs than any other team without congress finding out.
Fortunately congress is not terribly observant, so most teams have a fair share of doped up players. To determine who has the most, teams take turns hitting a ball thrown by the tallest guy on the other team as hard as they can.
The rest of the game is really only there to give radio announcers and sportscasters something to talk about. Maradon! fucked around with this message on 05-15-2009 at 07:09 PM.
maradon is a comic genius.
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And now, we sprinkle Maradon! liberally with Old Spice!
Ten or twenty years ago, this would have been much more challenging, but with the recent drastic changes to the game, explaining baseball is really easy:The object of the game is to build the baseball team, or "club", with more players doing more drugs than any other team without congress finding out.
Fortunately congress is not terribly observant, so most teams have a fair share of doped up players. To determine who has the most, teams take turns hitting a ball thrown by the tallest guy on the other team as hard as they can.
The rest of the game is really only there to give radio announcers and sportscasters something to talk about.
You know, there are other professional leagues not associated with Major League Baseball, if you're really that offended by the steroid era. You should really check out whichever league is operating in your area. If you're still in the 'Burgh, you should check out the Frontier League, which has a team somewhere in your vicinity.
Point is this: MLB is not the only game in town, despite what they'd like you to think. I myself prefer to support my regional league, the Atlantic League.
Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite. - John Kenneth Galbraith
Nice thing about regional stuff is that the players are there playing to play, not because of the big bucks. That's a drive for some. My brother may actually be catching on with an independent league here sometime -- if he does, I'll let you know, Karnaj.
Also, there's college baseball, though you should focus on Division I as opposed to Division II or III, the quality of those teams varies by a ton. Falaanla Marr fucked around with this message on 05-16-2009 at 12:18 AM.
hmph
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Liam - Liam = 0:
baseball is boring shit and you should just let them watch nhl insteadhmph
Baseball is chess. NHL is hand grenade toss.
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x--KarnajO-('-'Q) :
You know, there are other professional leagues not associated with Major League Baseball, if you're really that offended by the steroid era. You should really check out whichever league is operating in your area. If you're still in the 'Burgh, you should check out the Frontier League, which has a team somewhere in your vicinity.Point is this: MLB is not the only game in town, despite what they'd like you to think. I myself prefer to support my regional league, the Atlantic League.
Oh, I can still watch the Pirates, whose cleanliness is made manifest by their sixteen consecutive losing seasons. At least, one would hope!
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Blindy. was naked while typing this:
Baseball is chess. NHL is hand grenade toss.
You would watch televised chess matches?
"Don't want to sound like a fanboy, but I am with you. I'll buy it for sure, it's just a matter of for how long I will be playing it..."
- Silvast, Battle.net forums
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nem-x is SUPER gay has funnier quote texts than me:
Would each chess piece be highlighted with a light blue outline to make each piece more visible for the television audience?
im pretty sure they're easily identified by black and white
now, i dunno if i need to point this out, but that is KINDA racist no???
lemme know what ya think bye
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nem-x is SUPER gay's complete misunderstanding of life manifested itself when they said:
You would watch televised chess matches?
There isn't much going on visually in Chess, but I picked it as an analogy because both games have a simple appearance and set of rules hiding complex underlying strategy. Baseball's still a sport though, and there is still an unpredictable component to it- anyone at any time could smack a home run. Or steal a base. Or miss an easy catch and allow a few extra bases. That keeps it exciting.
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Blindy. thought about the meaning of life:
There isn't much going on visually in Chess, but I picked it as an analogy because both games have a simple appearance and set of rules hiding complex underlying strategy. Baseball's still a sport though, and there is still an unpredictable component to it- anyone at any time could smack a home run. Or steal a base. Or miss an easy catch and allow a few extra bases. That keeps it exciting.
If you want a complex and strategic sport watch football, because it's actually complex and strategic.
Baseball is successful because of how available the sport is. It's both a very learnable and a very playable sport simply because there is so little "complex strategy" required.
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Inferno-Spirit says po-ta-to, I say pa-ta-to:
If you want a complex and strategic sport watch football, because it's actually complex and strategic.
Yes because football is on during the summer. I constantly have to choose one or the other! And I can only appreciate one! If you like one thing you have to hate everything else!
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Baseball is successful because of how available the sport is. It's both a very learnable and a very playable sport simply because there is so little "complex strategy" required.
You have absolutely no idea what the fuck you are talking about. You are as clueless as a 5 year old discussing the finer points of indy-car racing.
Read this book if you are in any way interested ever discussing baseball with even the smallest flickering spark of a sign that you bear some insight in the topic.
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Naimah's complete misunderstanding of life manifested itself when they said:
The other problem with baseball is that it isn't really a team sport. It's played by a group of individuals that happen to rarely have to interact with a subset of their group. Football has every single person making an impact on every single play.
This is a more apt criticism that might seem correct to someone who has at least watched one game of baseball and made some attempt to discern what the fuck was going on, but still belies a grevious misunderstanding of the game.
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We all got dumber when nem-x is SUPER gay said:
'Baseball' and 'Exciting' don't go in the same sentence. Two minutes per play make the game incredibly dull.
That depends. If you can actually follow what's going on, that time in between plays is when a team is making a play for some runs, or when your team is leading by one at the bottom of the seventh though the end of the game is all on the edge of your seat.
The problem is most people don't know what the hell is going on, and can't be bothered to watch a sport that doesn't result in people getting JACKED UP!!!
Not that I don't appreciate football as well, I just appreciate it in an entirely different way. Blindy. fucked around with this message on 05-17-2009 at 09:44 PM.
"Don't want to sound like a fanboy, but I am with you. I'll buy it for sure, it's just a matter of for how long I will be playing it..."
- Silvast, Battle.net forums
Always works!edit: feel free to bore them with baseball during a good dinner with enough booze so they forget about it but never automatically think that your hobby is as intersting to them as it is to you Niklas fucked around with this message on 05-17-2009 at 09:59 PM.
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Steven Steve must think they're pretty smart:
I understand what's going on in baseball, as I played it for 6 years, but I still think it's boring as hell and it very nearly kills me to watch an entire game
I can understand it's not for everyone but I don't think just playing for only six years is going to give you any more than a cursory insight into the game, unless those six years were from age 14-20 or something. I played soccer from age 5 to age 18 and I still don't understand the more advanced strategy you see in professional level soccer.
I played baseball for years, I've watched and been to a few dozen games. I still find it extremely slow and boring and wouldn't watch it solely of my own volition.
People calling baseball boring, simple, or doesn't make baseball boring, etc. It means they don't like it for those reasons as they perceive them. And I'm right, for the same reason that some people think chess is boring and others think it's interesting.
I know quite a lot about chess too, but I wouldn't want to watch a match for three hours.
But maybe I'm just a five year old talking about indy-car racing (also boring as hell OH GOD HERE COME SOME NASCAR FA-
"Baseball has no complex strategy" is a statement of fact.
I will refute your statement of fact because it is refutable. Just because you don't appreciate the strategy doesn't mean it is not there.
Also both nascar and indy-car have a lot of strategy to them as well, but I'm not in any way prepared to discuss them.
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Blindy. Model 2000 was programmed to say:
"Baseball is boring" is the statement of an opinion."Baseball has no complex strategy" is a statement of fact.
I will refute your statement of fact because it is refutable. Just because you don't appreciate the strategy doesn't mean it is not there.
Also both nascar and indy-car have a lot of strategy to them as well, but I'm not in any way prepared to discuss them.
This is fair.
Do you think that complex strategy is a significant portion of the basis of baseball's popularity?
Also I'd appreciate if you could give a slight lead-in to the kind of complex strategy that baseball does not appear to have, I'll hunt that book down and read it. If there is that much more to baseball than I'm aware of I'd love to know because I might have a new sport to be hopefully entertained by.
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nem-x is SUPER gay isn't in Kansas anymore:
Please give me an example of strategy in Baseball that isn't "Hit the ball really hard, bunt, throw the ball past the batter"
First, understand that different kinds of pitches are more likely to hit to left or right field. Different pitch heights more or less likely to be a ground ball or pop up or deep fly, and some batters are more or less likely to swing at balls that are inside and low or outside and high, or sometimes they love the outside ball and a ball right in the middle of the strike zone is almost always a grounder.
The objective is always to get an out, but that doesn't always mean throwing the ball past the batter. Sometimes that means throwing a change up that looks like it's going for the batter's sweet spot but will end up a short grounder to the shortstop they can turn into a double play. The catcher's job is to know where the batters like to swing and call for a pitch that will have this effect. Most of the time the batter will know this kind of thing is coming and will try to adjust for it. But there is always more than one way to force the out.
Complicating matters is the fact that not every pitcher can throw every pitch. Most pitchers can only throw one type of pitch, maybe two that aren't a simple fastball with enough skill to be used in a professional game. Sometimes the pitch that would most likely lead to that easy out isn't on the pitchers standard list- do they attempt it anyway, and hope the batter gets caught off guard?
And never underestimate the psychological battle between pitcher and catcher. The batter who is weak on the outside is going to crowd the plate, so outside pitches are likely to be off the plate. Does the pitcher throw one high and inside to scare the guy back? Does he have control on the inside or is that his weak spot? Or does he just walk the guy because there's one out and a man on second and the next guy up always falls for the slider, which you can turn to a double play?
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nem-x is SUPER gay + nem-x is SUPER gay = 2nem-x is SUPER gay:
and Nascar doesn't have any strategy at all. It's a game of personal driving skill.
Resource management is a huge part of any motor sport. If you're leading the pack or driving too aggressively you'll use more gas, overheat your brakes, wear down your tires, and otherwise put yourself at a disadvantage. However, fail to drive aggressively enough and you'll fall too far back to be in striking position of the lead in the last laps. Often the best driver isn't the one in the lead, it's the one at #3 or #4, conserving his resources by drafting the guy in front of him and trying to pace his pitstops so he'll have fresh tires and a quarter tank of gas for the last laps.
My thing about Nascar is that the first 80 out of 100 laps are just about keeping pace and putting yourself in position for for the win. You could literally just watch the last 10 laps and get 90% of the excitement the race is going to offer.
But no you're right the guy who mashes the gas pedal the hardest and knows how to turn left best is the one who wins. hurr.
Rugby and hockey are the superior team sports.
It really just all depends on what you like. If you like tons of layered strategy, Baseball is entertaining. If you like non-stop action? Not so much.
I do think Football is the perfect balance of action and strategy and that's the reason it's so successful, but Baseball has it's merits for those who can understand them.
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Blindy. stopped beating up furries long enough to write:
First, understand that different kinds of pitches are more likely to hit to left or right field. Different pitch heights more or less likely to be a ground ball or pop up or deep fly, and some batters are more or less likely to swing at balls that are inside and low or outside and high, or sometimes they love the outside ball and a ball right in the middle of the strike zone is almost always a grounder.The objective is always to get an out, but that doesn't always mean throwing the ball past the batter. Sometimes that means throwing a change up that looks like it's going for the batter's sweet spot but will end up a short grounder to the shortstop they can turn into a double play. The catcher's job is to know where the batters like to swing and call for a pitch that will have this effect. Most of the time the batter will know this kind of thing is coming and will try to adjust for it. But there is always more than one way to force the out.
Complicating matters is the fact that not every pitcher can throw every pitch. Most pitchers can only throw one type of pitch, maybe two that aren't a simple fastball with enough skill to be used in a professional game. Sometimes the pitch that would most likely lead to that easy out isn't on the pitchers standard list- do they attempt it anyway, and hope the batter gets caught off guard?
And never underestimate the psychological battle between pitcher and catcher. The batter who is weak on the outside is going to crowd the plate, so outside pitches are likely to be off the plate. Does the pitcher throw one high and inside to scare the guy back? Does he have control on the inside or is that his weak spot? Or does he just walk the guy because there's one out and a man on second and the next guy up always falls for the slider, which you can turn to a double play?
I'm aware of the outcomes that a pitcher can hope to direct, and how. But it's pretty difficult to notice those nuances at all, let alone without a fantastic view. You also need to know a huge amount of information about pitcher and batter capabilities to appreciate it properly. Frankly I've never spent much time thinking about baseball's nuance mind-games because they don't present themselves well to the viewer. I'll admit this gives me something more to try and look for during the fraction of a second the ball is in the air after being thrown.
Unfortunately this only deepens the small portion of the game that I already do enjoy watching, the pitch and the swing, and hopefully the hit. Immediately after the swing everything plays out pretty much exactly as expected except for the rare error. There are a very limited number of players who can affect a given play in an unexpected way, and they have a very limited number of ways to do so.
I will try watching another few games with this in mind. Are there other complicated strategies unrelated to the pitcher/catcher vs batter dynamic, or in-depth knowledge of the line-up?
edit: It may be easier to see a pitch's exact properties than I remember, so I'll have to watch another game for that. Inferno-Spirit fucked around with this message on 05-18-2009 at 12:38 AM.
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Blindy. had this to say about Reading Rainbow:
But no you're right the guy who mashes the gas pedal the hardest and knows how to turn left best is the one who wins. hurr.
I said this
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At least Inferno-Spirit isn't Somthor:
I'm aware of the outcomes that a pitcher can hope to direct, and how. But it's pretty difficult to notice those nuances at all, let alone without a fantastic view. You also need to know a huge amount of information about pitcher and batter capabilities to appreciate it properly. Frankly I've never spent much time thinking about baseball's nuance mind-games because they don't present themselves well to the viewer. I'll admit this gives me something more to try and look for during the fraction of a second the ball is in the air after being thrown.edit: It may be easier to see a pitch's exact properties than I remember, so I'll have to watch another game for that.
If you are at the park and you don't have primo seats, bring a radio. Generally you can just kick back and relax but when batting team gets a few runners on, tune that radio in to the AM broadcast. Knowing the pitch location can help you follow the meta-game. If you're watching it on TV it's pretty easy to see.
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Unfortunately this only deepens the small portion of the game that I already do enjoy watching, the pitch and the swing, and hopefully the hit. Immediately after the swing everything plays out pretty much exactly as expected except for the rare error. There are a very limited number of players who can affect a given play in an unexpected way, and they have a very limited number of ways to do so.
Fielding is more about individual skill in making the catch and perfect throw and less about tactics, but the position of the fielders prior to the pitch is not without its own small nuances. Personally, I like the balance this athleticism provides to the mind games between pitcher and batter.
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I will try watching another few games with this in mind. Are there other complicated strategies unrelated to the pitcher/catcher vs batter dynamic, or in-depth knowledge of the line-up?
Well there's the whole base running meta game. When to steal, when to take a 5 step lead to piss off the pitcher, when to try to steal the catcher's signals and pass them off to the batter. How many bases to take, if you should charge the catcher or slide. But it's less layered. Most of the action you see in the park is going to be between pitcher and batter, so it makes sense that most of the strategy of the game is there as well.
There is a lot of sign stealing in baseball. The whole infield helps with that.
