March Madness is over (Florida won again, who cares?). The Masters has passed (Tiger didn’t win, who cares?). It’s time to take the tarp off the field and get into America’s favorite pastime: baseball.Since there will be action on the diamond from here until October, you should probably know what’s going on. Here are five quick facts to impress your baseball-savvy friends:
1. Designated offense
Baseball is one of the few sports that does not have a transition game. At any given time only one team can score a run (we don’t call them points). This creates the need for players to have two skills: fielding and hitting. More strategy enters the game as substituting a player on offense will take them out of the game and leave a vacancy on defense (and vice versa).
2. No salary caps, corporation not league
Baseball is one of the few sports that has no salary caps. Teams can spend as much as they want on their players; in other leagues teams can only spend a set amount on the total team. The lack of a salary cap has created some major inequalities. For example, Jason Giambi of the New York Yankees makes as much as the combined salaries of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
3. Steroids
The most prominent problem in baseball right now is steroid usage. The problem escalated when Jose Conseco released a tell-all book, “Juiced.” Then the U.S. Congress called baseball players in to hear testimonies. The hearings featured Mark McGuire, formally of the St. Louis Cardinals, being unclear about his usage. Then Chicago Cub Sammy Sosa (now with the Texas Rangers), apparently forgot how to speak English. The steroid problem continues to plague the game as alleged steroid user Barry Bonds is chasing the all-time home run record of Hank Aaron’s 755, arguable the most unbreakable record.
4. Long seasons
The baseball season is 162 games long, spanning eight months. Baseball teams play almost every other day, unlike football teams, which play 16 games, one every week. The stretch gets very tiring over that period.
5. Not a slow game
Many people say that baseball is a slow game. These people don’t understand the game. Baseball is one the few sports in which every pitch counts and every swing matters. You have to watch every minute of a baseball game because it is always changing. For example, pitcher vs. hitter match-ups will change the strategy. Baseball is not like college basketball, where you can just watch the last two minutes of every game.
6. Ks, ERAs and RBIs
Strikeouts are abbreviated as K. The letter “K” was chosen because it is the letter that stands out the most in the word “strikeout.” ERA and RBI are more straight forward. ERA stands for earned run average and is calculated by earned runs given up per innings pitched, multiplied by nine (the amount of innings in regulation). RBI stands for runs batted in.
7. Perfect games and no-hitters
A perfect game is when a pitcher pitches at least nine innings without one batter reaching first base. Twenty-seven batters go to the plate, and 27 walk back to the dugout in disappointment. A no-hitter consists of not one batter achieving a hit. Walks, hit batters and errors can still occur in a no-hitter. In fact, a pitcher can throw a no-hitter and still lose the game.
No matter how much you know about the game of baseball it is still fun to watch. Don’t be intimidated by people making believe they are the next Harry Carry (famous Cubs announcer). Just remember that the umpire is always wrong when you want him to be, remember that it’s bad luck to step on the foul lines and remember that Babe Ruth was not originally a candy bar.
So go out to a park, grab yourself a hot dog and yell at the guys in tights.
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