Organized Baseball


by Vcare365 - Date: 2010-09-10 - Word Count: 592 Share This!

There are many baseball players in the United States who play on teams that represent large cities. These teams are organized into what are called leagues. There are two "big leagues," or "major leagues," in the United States. They are the American League and the National League. There are other leagues in the United States that are less important and are called minor leagues. The most important minor leagues are rated AAA ("triple A"); then come AA, A, B, C, and D. Each league is made up of some four to eight teams.
In each league the teams play each other over and over again until the season is completed. A season in the major leagues consists of 154 games, and in the minor leagues it varies from slightly less than this number to slightly more. The team that wins the most games in each league during a season wins the pennant for that season. The pennantwinning teams in the American and National Leagues play each other, each fall, in the World Series. Actually they are playing for the championship of organized baseball in the United States. Another important baseball event is the yearly All-Star Game. The best players in each of the two major leagues are elected by the votes of the fans, the people who watch and enjoy baseball.
The American League all-stars play the National League all-stars about the middle of July. All men who play in these baseball leagues are called professional baseball players, which means that they are paid salaries to play. Other men who play for money but do not play in regular leagues are called semiprofessional baseball players. Organized baseball consists of all the professional baseball leagues, and it is the highest form of baseball that is played. Organized baseball is governed by a national baseball commission. Each league is run by a president and several assistants. The league presidents appoint the umpires and see to it that the teams play baseball according to the regular schedule and that they all observe all of the rules.
Each professional baseball team has its own ballpark or stadium. The major-league stadiums are the largest in the country and hold thousands of people. The Yankee Stadium in New York City, the home of the New York Yankees, has seats for 67,000 people and the Cleveland stadium seats nearly 100,000. The other major-league stadiums can seat at least 30,000 people. Most minor-league stadiums have seats for 5,000 or 10,000 people, up to 30,000. Baseball is also played in colleges, schools, army camps, and by club teams. When a boy has shown baseball skill he usually moves up from either a club or college team to a minor-league team, and if he continues to show skill he eventually reaches the major leagues, which are the goal of every young American baseball player.
Boys and young men who play on fields and lots and pastures all over the country are playing what is called sandlot baseball. Most boys about 12 years old who play baseball play in what is called the Little League. In the Little League the baseball fields are smaller than regulation fields -the distance between the bases is 60 feet instead of 90 feet. The game itself is basically the same as regulation baseball. It is played with the same kind of balls and bats and gloves. The American Legion for many years has also encouraged baseball for boys. Legion posts all over the United States encourage boys to play baseball, and give the boys uniforms and equipment

Related Tags: stadium, american baseball player, minor leagues, sandlot baseball

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