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Anonymous
Aussie here, please explain to me the basics of baseball. I was watching clips on youtube and was amazed at the ability of those guys to hit throw a ball that far and fast but honestly have no clue what is going on. Is it similar to cricket, what is a stolen base, and what is going on with the catcher waving his hands everywhere before they throw the ball to him?
>> Anonymous
ok, if the batter hits a pitch, he has to make it to 1st base before the ball is thrown to the first baseman. If he makes it, he's safe, if not, he's out, and the next batter tries. There's three outs in an inning. Safe at first will be a single, if he hits the ball far enough to make it to second base, it's called a double. If he hits it good enough to make it to third, it's a triple. same applies if he makes it all the way around to home plate, called an inside home run, and 1 run is scored (if no one else is on a base), it's very rare.

The goal for the batters is to get on base and get to the home plate to score runs. If the ball is hit out of the park anywhere between left and right field, it's a homerun.

As for the catcher moving his hands around, he's usually signalling calls to the pitcher to signal what pitches to throw.
>> Anonymous
failtroll
>> Anonymous
>Is it similar to cricket?
Dunno. Never seen cricket.
>What is a stolen base?
A stolen base is when a player already on base runs to another one without anybody throwing him out.
>Catcher waving his hands
He is telling the pitcher what kind of pitch to throw. Fastball, curveball, knuckleball, etc.

I'm always interested in helping someone understand the greatest game.
>> Anonymous
a stolen base is when say there's a man on first base on the batting side, and he runs as fast as he can to get to second before the catcher throws the ball to the second baseman to tag him out. same thing applies, if he makes it in time, he's safe, if the catcher makes a good and timely throw to where the second baseman can tag out the runner, he's out.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>140127
>> Anonymous
>>140129
>A stolen base is when a player already on base runs to another one without anybody throwing him out.

To clarify: It's not a stolen base if he advances from someone else getting a hit. He has to advance while someone else is still at bat.
>> Anonymous
>>140125
>>140129
Are you allowed to hit the person going for the ball? The highlights i watched were talking about Pete Rose running over a man at home base to win a game. Also is it normal for players to fight like the Coco Crisp guy did with the other team, If so this is possibly the best sport i've ever seen.
>> Anonymous
>>140140
It's usually only normal when the Yankees and Red Sox play each other.
>> Anonymous
Watch American football instead.
>> Anonymous
>>140140
yes you can run into a player that is in your way to tag you out. Catchers can be in front of the home plate, and the runner's goal is to either plow through, slide under, basically get to the home plate anyway possible to put score a run.

You'll see each clubs brawl every now and then throughout the season. Usually it happens if a pitcher intentionally hits a batter, or hits multiple batters. You'll see battles like this alot where one pitcher hits a couple players with a pitch and then the pitcher on the other team does the same thing as "payback" or revenge. By then managers and players clear the dugout if the batter goes after the pitcher to beat his ass.
>> Anonymous
watch clips of old/recent yankees/red sox brawls. They're long time rivals
>> Anonymous
>>140143
i'm reading the wiki article on it and that should clarify some things.
What players should i watch highlights of?
I've already watched Reyes, Right, Howard, and Sosa/Mcguire and a bunch of Red Sox stuff. Anybody that hits the ball out of play is very fun to watch.
>> Anonymous
>>140157
Sosa and McGuire are as good as convicted drug-users, and don't get much respect from baseball anymore. McGuire, despite his glowing stats, was kept out of the Hall of Fame by a 3-1 margin among voters, I believe.
>> Anonymous
>>140157
Ken Griffey, Jr. is legendary, Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Albert Pujols, Vladimir Guerrero. They're all big time hitters. But I always enjoy watching clips of great defensive plays, like infielders making double-plays, or an outfielder with a great arm throwing all the way to homeplate to get a runner out, very impressive stuff.
>> Anonymous
>>140144
Thats one of the reasons i started watching baseball highlights because i was watching football hits and saw american football hits and they were just brutal. I've watched alot of your school games that come on late, i guess your late games there are our morning games here. I tried to watch the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl but they werent very interesting on the other hand i thought the Superbowl was very captivating.
>> Anonymous
>>140157
That's the one thing that taints the MLB today is the steroid users. Sosa and McGuire, despite all the great things they did and for the sport, were convicted steroid users, and now there's a big asterisk on everything that's baseball nowadays it seems like. Barry Bonds is the biggest story now for steroids. Broke two very big records (most homeruns in a season and most homeruns all-time, passing babe ruth and hank aaron), but his career is now tainted with the use of steroids being his success and could be facing lots of trouble
>> Anonymous
People outside the US don't care about our sports.

troll
>> Anonymous
>>140174
Yes, i've been told that the REAL records is Hank Aarons and that Bonds isn't even liked in his own city. How could a city keep a player there fans don't even enjoy? It's seems they would want him off there squad.
>> Anonymous
>>140167
The Superbowl is our unofficial national holiday :)

The college football bowl games are really complicated to get into, as the system in how they determine what teams play what is already fucked up as it is.
>> Anonymous
>>140179
We'll first i love team sports on any level and second my dad is from Chicago and i have family in chicago so whenever i go there i see everyone wearing cubs stuff but it is just recently that i myself took an interest in it.
>> Anonymous
>>140182
On the contrary, San Francisco is the only city that loves Barry Bonds, and supported him through all that he has been and still is going through, because he's done so much for the city. The reason the franchise didn't sign him to another deal was because of what he's going through, be it a distraction to the team, plus he's getting old and they're looking to rebuild with younger players.
>> Anonymous
>>140186
Yes it was very good to see a scrappy underdog beat a team that hadn't been defeated all year and i was wondering why the seeding was so weird it would seem to make sense that a 1 would play the 2, 3 would play 4 and so on.
>> Anonymous
>>140182
Yes, The Babe and Hank Aaron are the real record holders, and I used to be a big fan of Barry but after the mess he got himself into he basically destroyed baseball by breaking those records. The Babe is rolling over in his grave, and Aaron's gay little message on the billboard after barry broke the record sounded like he was ready to puke after the recording was over.
>> Anonymous
>>140164
Wow Ken Griffey Jr. seems like he would have the HR record if he wasn't injured so much
>> Anonymous
>>140197
The seeding system is to make sure that the best possible matchups (1 vs. 2) are saved for the conference finals. If the best two teams played in the first round, everything after that would be pretty lame by comparison.
>> Anonymous
Also since i usually frequent Chicago around christmas time is there baseball that time of year on the amateur level? I think i would enjoy going to a game or 2 and i believe it would bring back fond memories for my dad as well.
>> Anonymous
>>140205
Yes but college football doesnt have a tourney thats what they complained about during the entire Sugar Bowl.
>> Anonymous
>>140208
Probably not, December in Chicago is too cold and snowy for baseball.
>> Anonymous
>>140208
Baseball season on any level usually starts around springtime and ends in the end of summer/during fall.

>>140221
Ya', that wouldn't sit too well with Detroit either.