The game of baseball is popularly referred to as “America’s Pastime.” Although not true, many people are under the belief that the game of baseball was invented by American Civil War hero Abner Doubleday. Regardless of baseball’s real origins, however, the game has earned a prominent spot in the public consciousness, and as a measure of baseball’s popularity, you can ask any American his or her opinion of the New York Yankees, and nine out of ten of them will have some kind of opinion, be it positive or negative.

Of course, baseball as it is played by professionals is a game that requires great amounts of skill and athletic prowess, honed over many years of playing baseball. Tim Lincecum did not just start throwing ninety-five mile-per-hour fastballs when he was five or six years old. It took a lot of work to perfect that ability. Young children, especially those just starting to play the game, take a while to learn those skills, so rule modifications to the game of baseball are quite common in kids’ games.

For example, the first exposure that a child has to playing any form of baseball for the first time is usually tee-ball, wherein the ball, rather than being pitched to the batter, is placed on a “tee,” which is essentially a platform that can be raised or lowered to match the height of the batter. This ensures that the batter is able to develop a good swing of the bat at a young age, an important early skill to develop. One day, that batter may be able to pull his bat or lay down a bunt or smash a sinker out of the ballpark, but all of those skills descend directly from that player’s ability to swing the bat, a skill that is learned early on with tee-ball.

After a year or two of tee-ball, a child’s next progression in baseball is usually a “coaches pitch” league, wherein the team’s coach will pitch, either overhand or underhand (depending on the skill level of the league) to his or her players. This allows the batter to develop hand-eye coordination in a controlled setting, and to learn to judge pitches and determine which ones he or she should swing at. The next step up from a “coaches pitch” league is to have the actual players pitch, although coaches make certain to monitor how many pitches a player throws, so as not to wear out young arms before they are physically ready to handle the strain of pitching an entire game.

There are several other variations to the rules of baseball that are played at various levels, based on the skill levels present: adding additional outfielders, not allowing players to steal bases or lead off, and not allowing players to bunt are just a few of the rule modifications that are commonly practiced. Taken together, the system in place to develop young children into baseball players is designed to allow them to master the basic skills of the game before moving on to the more difficult talents required for baseball.

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Category: Sports
Keywords: baseball,baseball players,baseball game