Baseball

Baseball is a team sport, a bat-and-ball game, in which a hard, fist-sized ball is thrown by a defensive player called a pitcher, and an offensive player called a batter attempts to hit it with a tapered, cylindrical, smooth stick called a bat. The ball itself is also called a baseball. Scoring is accomplished by the batter running and touching a series of four markers on the ground called bases.

Organized leagues

Baseball is played at a number of levels, by amateur and professionals, and by the young and the old. The content of the above article focused on professional baseball, however amateur baseball is a major part of baseball culture in many parts of the world. Youth programs use modifed versions of adult and professional baseball rules, which may include a smaller field, easier pitching (from a coach, a tee, or a machine), less contact, base running restrictions, limitations on innings a pitcher can throw, liberal balk rules, and run limitations, among others. Since rules vary from location-to-location and among the organizations, coverage of the nuances in those rules is beyond this article.

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Following is a list of organized leagues:

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• Youth Leagues
• Little League, a youth program, headquartered in Williamsport, Pennsylvania (USA).
• Dizzy Dean Baseball a youth program in the USA.
• American Legion Baseball, a youth program, headquartered in Indianapolis, IN.
• USSSA Baseball a youth and adult program, headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri (USA).
• Ripken Baseball, a youth program, headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland (USA).
• Babe Ruth League, a youth program, headquarted in Trenton, New Jersey (USA).
• High School
• In the USA, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) and each state association governs the play of baseball at the high school level.
• Collegiate Level
• List of Collegiate Summer Baseball Leagues
• NCAA, including NCAA Division I and the College World Series, are collegiate level baseball programs played in the USA.
• International Competition
• Many international baseball events are coordinated by the International Baseball Federation, including The World Cup and The World Baseball Classic.
• As an Olympic sport, see earlier section on the status of baseball in the Olympic games, and the article "Baseball at the Summer Olympics."
• Semi-professional baseball
• Independent Baseball
• Professional baseball
• Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States;
• Minor League baseball in the United States;
• Negro League baseball, defunct since 1958, in the United States.
• All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
• Japanese Baseball
• Taiwan professional baseball
• Korean Baseball Organization (KBO)
• Australian Baseball
• There are also smaller professional leagues in China, Italy and the Netherlands.