What's this Dad?

Well son this is baseball.

Baseball is a game played on a field in the shape of a diamond. The goal is to score more runs than the other team.  At the professional level, the game is 9 innings long. An inning is 6 outs. One team gets to hit until they have 3 outs and then the other team hits until they have 3 outs. Once both teams have had a turn to hit that is 1 inning.

What is baseball?

Wow that sounds so fun! Could I ever play dad?

Yes of course you can if you want to! I played for many years as a kid myself. You may need some practice but I think you would be awesome at it!

Do you think you could teach me right now?

Sure kid. I'll take you to the field so I can teach you the game.

Alright so here are some of the most basic rules for baseball! First, there are 4 bases: 1st. 2nd, 3rd, and home plate. You have to touch every base to be able to score. You can run through 1st base and 1st base only. Except for home because once you hit home before getting out you are safe.

When you are hitting the whole point is to hit the ball in play which takes practice if you want to be able to hit farther and harder but is always something you can work on. There are a few things you need to know about it hitting first. 

- If you get 3 strikes it's called a strikeout. A strike is called when the batters swings and misses, fouls it out of play (hitting the ball outside of the foul lines), or if the pitcher throws the ball within the strike zone and the batter does not swing (a called strike). 

- If you get 4 balls, it is called a walk. When you get walked you get to go to 1st base for free. You can also get walked if you get hit by the pitch from the pitcher. 

- If you hit the ball you have to run to first, and depending on how well you hit it you can try to go to 2nd for a double, or even third for a triple. If you hit it over the fence or go all the way around the bases in one hit, it is a home run. 

- If you hit the ball and the defense throws it to first base before you get there or they tag you before you get to first base you are out. If you try to go to past first base the defense has to tag you to be out. If you get the base before you are tagged you are safe.

- The ball has to be hit in between the foul lines that run through 1st and 3rd base all the way to the fence from home plate.

Hitting Rules: 

The other team that isn't hitting is on the field playing defense. The team playing defense has 9 players: 1 pitcher, 1 catcher, 4 infielders, and 3 outfielders.