How to play baseball

Introduction
Baseball has been an American tradition for decades. Little boys and girls grow up playing baseball and seeing other kids and adults play baseball. Naturally, kids want to learn to play so that they can join the school or community team and play with their friends. Adults enjoy playing on teams as well. But in case you missed the boat growing up, or you've never been a natural athlete, here's your chance to learn how to play baseball.

Instructions
Difficulty rating: moderately easy

Steps

1. Learn the basic structure of the game: There are ten players allowed on a team at one time, however they can't be all on the field at the same time. You are allowed nine field players and one extra hitter. After that you have an overall of ten players in the game but only nine allowed on the field. There are nine innings in a baseball game, or six at younger levels in which each team gets a chance to try and score as many runs as possible in only three outs. The team that isn't batting is playing defense trying to make those three outs so that the team batting doesn't score any runs.

2. Learn how to bat. You can't play baseball if you don't know how to hit the ball. The key to this task is keeping your eye on the ball. The umpire (who stands behind the plate) will let everyone know if the pitch thrown was in the strike zone or not. If it was then the pitch is a strike (if you didn't swing your bat or if you swung and missed). If it wasn't than the pitch was a ball. When batting you get three strikes and four balls. If you get four balls before you get three strikes, then that is called a walk. You get a free pass to first base. If you get three strikes before you get four balls, then that is a strikeout, in which the defensive team gets an out and your turn batting is over. The pitcher will throw the ball towards you and it's your job to strike the ball with the bat with all your strength. However, you don't want to hit the ball the wrong direction (behind you or directly to your sides).

3. Once you've hit the ball you must run to 1st base. The infield is shaped like a diamond. To score points you must run to 1st base, then 2nd base, then 3rd, and finally to home base (the opposing team has team members stationed at each base as well as in the outfield). In order to get an out while playing defense, the defense team must catch the hit baseball before it hits the ground. They can also try to through the ball to a baseman before the runner gets there. As a runner, you can also "steal" bases whenever the ball has been thrown. The idea behind this is to get as close to home base as quickly as possible.

4. If your team is not up to bat, your job (if in the outfield) is to catch the ball if it comes toward you, and then quickly throw it to an infielder. If you're in the infield (manning one of the bases) your job is to catch the ball and then get the other team's runner out (as mentioned in #3).

Tips and Warnings

• Ask anyone that knows anything about baseball for advice. They may even be willing to show you some tips, which is much more helpful that simply reading about it.
  
• Practice! The more you practice, the more familiar you'll get with the rules, and the better you'll become