Major league baseball - Essay Example

The pitcher throws a fastball, a curveball, or a knuckleball (and other popular terms for how the ball is thrown) towards the offensive team’s batter at the home plate from the raised pitchers mound, at a distance of 60.5 ft (18.4 m). The batter then tries to hit the ball as far as he could, that is, within the foul lines, in order to run to as many bases as possible, scoring upon hitting the home plate. A home run is when a batter hits over the outfield and the ball goes generally into the area of the audience and the batter and all other offensive players on base are able to run to the home plate and score.

Of course, the team with the most scores after the ninth inning wins. But, if there is a tie after the ninth inning, “play continues into extra innings until one team has scored more runs than the other in an equal number of turns at bat.” As the popularity of baseball heightened, there came a need for a governing body to impose standardized rules and facilitate scheduling (The Columbia Encyclopedia 4428). Thus, the National Association was formed 1871 and is considered to be the first major league (Rubinstein 20).

The two major leagues that are recognized today as Major League Baseball (MBL), the National League and the American League, were founded in 1876 and 1901, respectively (Rubinstein 20). The MBL, a collaboration that was agreed upon in 1920, governs the American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, and the leagues which are members of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (SportsKnowHow.com and “Foreword” 2). At present, MBL is composed of “2 leagues, 30 teams, and over 750 active players” (SportsKnowHow.com). This paper and presentation will discuss only some of the basic and most noteworthy rules and regulations of the MBL as the Major League Agreement, Major League Rules and other league constitutions, which compose the official documents of