Baseball :: essays research papers

, cricket played a role in the ontogenesis of organized baseball. From this British crippled came umpires and innings, and early baseball writers like henry Chadwick used cricket terminology such as "batsman," "playing for the side," and " polished field" in describing early baseball games. Likewise, the pioneer baseball pioneer Harry Wright, a cricket professional turned baseball manager, move heavily on his cricket background in promoting baseball as a professional team sport in the United States. By the 1840s various forms of baseball vied for acceptance, including the popular Massachusetts and bran-new York versions of the game. The Massachusetts game utilized an irregular four-sided field of play, with the four bases located at fixed, asymmetrical distances from each other and the "strikers," or conquers position away from the family line base. "Scouts," or fielders, put men out by fielding a batted ball on the fly or on the roo tage bounce, or by hitting a outset with a thrown ball. alone this lively version of the game was overshadowed in the late 1840s by the "New York game," a popular version of which was devised by the members of the New York Knickerbocker Club. Organized in 1845 by a band of aspiring gentlemen and baseball enthusiasts, the Knickerbocker version was devised by one of their members, Alexander J. Cartwright. Cartwright prescribed a diamond-shaped infield with bases at cardinal feet apart, a standard which has stood the test of time. The pitching distance was set at forty-five feet from the home base, and a pitcher was required to "pitch" a ball in a stiff-armed, underhanded fashion. The three-strikes-are-out rule was adopted, and a batter could also be put out by a fielder catching a batted ball in the air, or on the first bounce, or by throwing a fielded ball to the first baseman before the runner arrived.