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Baseball
Take me out to the ballgame, the baseball game, that is! The baseball category is all about the game of baseball, America's pastime. Questions include what a baseball is made of, what bats are the best to use, what the bullpen is, and much more!
14,315 Questions
Why is the strike K sometimes backwards in baseball?
The "K" is placed backwards in cases where the batter strikes out looking.
How much are the New York Yankees worth?
An article on Forbes.com placed the value of the Yankees at $2.3 billion as of March 2013. Click on the link below for more information.
In April 2010, Forbes.com had the team at $1.6 billion.
Why do they change pitchers to pitch to a right hand or left hand batter?
right handed pitchers throw breaking balls that break AWAY from right handed hitters and vice versa, thus it is generally considered more difficult for a right handed batter to hit righties. There are exceptions, the 'screwball' is an example. Generally a right hander wants to throw it only to a lefthander. Its not that common of a pitch. Recently the most notable example was Fernando Valenzuela and lesser known Jim Mecir.
Is the new Yankee Stadiums field grass or turf?
The Cleveland Browns Stadium uses grass, not synthetic turf.
"The field is a Kentucky Bluegrass irrigated field with a sand-soil root zone and an underground heating system containing nine boilers and 40 miles of underground piping. The heating system helps to keep the field from freezing and extends the growing season of the turf. Field has been designed to accommodate international soccer as well, with dimensions of 69 yards by 114 yards."
Why is a K used to designate a strike out?
The use of the last letter of Struck instead of the first to denote a strikeout dates back to when Henry Chadwick developed the box score in the late 1850's. Chadwick often used the last letter instead of the first, especially if he considered that letter to be the more prominent one in the word. Chadwick said "the letter K in struck is easier to remember in connection with the word, than S." He also used L for Foul and D for Catch on Bound. Only the K survived into the 20th Century. Source: Paul Dickson's The New Dickson Baseball Dictionary and Alan Schwarz's The Numbers Game. The common view that the K was used because the S was taken (by Sacrifice, Stolen Base, or Single) appears to be erroneous.
Other answers from the community:
- 'K' was chosen to represent Struck, because S was already taken to mean Stolen base. The K and S are both still used today.
- 'K' is a Strike
- The symbol "K" is used because it is made with 3 strokes of the pencil, symbolizing the 3 strikes for the strikeout. Scorekeepers use a backward K (or a KL, or Kc) when a batter strikes out looking/called 3rd strike.
- K stands for 'struck'. Back in the old days, scorekeepers used letters for symbols, K is the only one that we still use today.
- Fyi, to help keep things clear in record keeping, a backwards k is used if the player struck out looking.
- I always thought that K was short for K.O. like knock out.
- Back in the day, score keeping was done entirely with letters, no numbers (Double was D, not 2B). When "strikeout" became an official statistic, "K" was the first letter not already being used (S- Single, T- Triple, R-Run, I-Inning, then K) So K became strikeout, and it was one of the few from that era that actually stuck.
- We owe the "K" to an early sportswriter named Henry Chadwick. In fact, Chadwick and another writer named M.J. Kelly are largely responsible for the scoring system baseball uses today. Chadwick already had "S" slated for "sacrifice." So a strikeout became a "K", after the last letter of the word "struck." The reason a strikeout isn't a "T" is because "struck" was the preferred term of the day.
- The symbol "K" in baseball scorecards represents "Strikeout." Why? Well, baseball pioneer Henry Chadwick, the NY Herald's first baseball editor, first used the symbol in 1868. As far as he was concerned, the letter "K" was the "prominent letter of the word strike," adding that "the letter K in struck is easier to remember, than S."
- While the above answer may have some basis in fact, there is another explanation. There are two ways to strike out. (In fact, there are two ways in which a player can strike out, and reach first base safely, if the third strike is not caught in the air by the catcher. How do you score that? I'm not telling. ;-)) A player can strike out swinging, or be called out on strikes. To make the distinction, the letters SOS and KOS are used. Try to shorten it. KS? COS? CS? It is an important statistic to the manager, that wants to know who will let the third strike go by, and who will swing. A "K" merely denotes a generic strikeout.
- This might be a myth but I was taught it was a simple way of counting strikes. First strike, line one "|" second strike line two "/", third strike line three "". That makes your K. The reverse or "backwards" K indicates the third strike was a called strike.
- I think it might be short for K.O. or knock/strike out. sort of a link to boxing.
- A "k" means a strike out but you can be more specific than that. if it is forwards than that means that they struck out swinging if it is backwards it means that they didn't swing at the third strike
What is the pitching distance for 9 year old baseball players?
Obviously I am on here because I have a 8U son who pitches well. He is actually 8 turning 9 in mid September and throws strikes consistantly at 43mph. Yes, he hits 44-46 here and there but 8 times out of 10 the bushnell gun reads 43. He practices his mechanics every day and works with a pro which leads me to my point. There are not too many 8U pitchers in any one league who actually "pitch." There are kids who are just throwing and achieve both faster and slower speeds than my son. However, they have not learned to pitch so it's pointless to compare them. If I see a kid who pitches with at least halfway decent mechanics and he seems to repeat his motion while throwing strikes 75% of the time, I may make a comparison. This is why it's so hard to come up with an avg. pitching speed for this age group. With that said, my best guess would be that 40 for a kid who just turned 9 is average based on what I have seen. On his 9th birthday he throws 44 and can increase to 50 by the time he turns 10 while still throwing strikes, I think he would be considered tp 2%
What is name of Pittsburgh Pirates Stadium?
It is called PNC Park after PNC Financial Services, the local company that bought the naming rights to the stadium.
Who was the first professional black baseball player?
Charles Follis, a.k.a "The Black Cyclone," (ca. 1879-1910) signed a contract to play football for money on September 16, 1904, becoming the sport's first black professional. In 1899, Follis helped organize the varsity football team at his high school in Wooster, Ohio. He was elected captain by his white schoolmates, and he led them to an undefeated season. After graduation, Follis played with an amateur Wooster team before being lured to the Shelby Blues of the American Professional Football Association. Injury ended Follis' football career a couple of years later. He played professional baseball for a while. In 1910, Follis died of pneumonia. He was 31. Reference: Akron Beacon Journal,"Wooster man was first black in pro football" - Sept. 16, 2003
What is the meaning of DH in baseball?
A DH is a designated hitter in baseball. The American League uses DH's to bat in the lineup so that the pitchers do not need to actually bat. In the National League there are no DH's and the pitchers must bat just like the other position players.
What was the first baseball bat made of?
Basically if im not mistaken it was a African American got together with Cacassions 1
afternoon and one person brought like a soft ball. So they went to an open field and laid
down some sacks (They layed the sacks perfectly in position just like how we know today
and they all got in position and started to play the wonderful game of baseball!! :)
Sorry if I spelled something wrong:)
Why will a ball go farther when hit by a metal or wooden bat?
I'm just guessing here, as I am not very savvy in the world of sports. Logically I would think that the difference is due to the fact that wooden bats are solid and metal bats aren't. metal is hollow and wood is not I just hit the ball and run, I'm not really the scientific type so I will try to explain it the best I can. So think about it. Knocking on wood sounds different than knocking on metal so I guess it is because they are different materials? Maybe?
Where do the Chicago White Sox play their home games?
U.S. Cellular Field commonly referred to as "The Cell" (formerly New Comiskey Park). It is the home of the Chicago White Sox of the American League. The park opened for the 1991 season, after the White Sox had spent 81 years at Comiskey Park. The new park, completed at a cost of $167 million dollars. The park originally opened with the Comiskey Park name, but became U.S. Cellular Field in 2003 after U.S. Cellular bought the naming rights at $68 million over 20 years. The park hosted the MLB All-Star Game that same year. A few sportscasters a fans, however, continue to use the former name, (new) Comiskey Park.
The stadium is situated at 35th Street and Shields Avenue on Chicago's South Side and in Chicago's Armour Square neighborhood ajacent to the Bridgeport neighborhood. It was built in the parking lot of old Comiskey Park, which was torn down and became a parking lot for the current park.
Address:
333 West 35th Street
Chicago, Illinois 60616
Capacity:
40,615
Dimensions:
Left Field - 330 ft (100.5 m)
Left-Center - 375 ft (114 m)
Center Field - 400 ft (122 m)
Right-Center - 375 ft (114 m)
Right Field - 335 ft (102 m)
Backstop - 60 ft (18 m)
AnswerU.S. Cellular Field in Chicago.
All MLB players endorsed by Nike?
Since the 1960s, athletes have endorsed Nike shoes. The first American athlete to endorse Nike was Steve Prefontaine in 1973. Since then, many other athletes have endoresed Nike, including John McEnroe, Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson, Tiger Woods, and the entire Indian Cricket Team. Needless to say, many athletes stand by Nike's quality.
What is the average pitching speed for age 11?
Depending on the gender the speeds could differ Depending on the gender the speeds could differ
Who was the baseball home run king in the 1920?
Ralph Kiner of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Johnny Mize of the New York Giants tied for the National League home run crown in 1947 with 51 each. Ironically, Kiner and Mize tied for the NL home run crown in 1948 with 40 each.
Can a major league starting pitcher pitch on consecutive days?
If you're talking MLB, then there is no rule. For example the Yankees just pitched CC Sabathia on three days rest, if they wanted to they could start him tomorrow for game 5 of the 2009 world series. But that would probably be extremely unwise.
Pitcher's rest is about saving that pitcher's arm, as the more tired or overworked the arm, the more prone the pitcher becomes to injuries. Typically 4-5 days of rest or a pitcher has one start roughly once a week as a general rule of thumb, hence your 4-5 starting rotation.
Again no rule exists and say the Phillies win game 5 behind Cliff Lee, and say Lee goes 6 innings and throws 50 pitches. Then if the Phillies need to call on him in game 5, the may just do so for 5 innings. It's rare but has been done before. It would be a suprise to see him at least come out of the bullpen if the above scenario happens.
For pitch rest in other leagues, Little League for example: The days vary by the number of pitches thrown by that pitcher. Example: If Johnny pitches on Saturday and throws 60 pitches, then he needs one calendar day of rest, so if he has a game on Tuesday he's eligible to pitch again, but not Sunday. I believe LL (12/13 and under) just added a pitch count rule of a pitcher can throw a max of 80/85 pitches. This is a safety measure to prevent injury and save the kids arm.
hope that helps.
Who wore number 28 for the Chicago Cubs?
Danys Baez, Brett Tomko, Curtis Granderson, Kyle Davies, Jesse Crain, Ryan Budde, Jason Jennings, Brandon Jones, Daniel Murphy, Jayson Werth, Edwin Encarnacion, Jeff Keppinger, Prince Fielder, Paul Maholm, Aaron Cook, Eric Milton, and Henry Blanco
What is it called when only one team scores in baseball?
When a baseball team makes three outs in one play is it called a Triple play its very rare and happens about once or twice a year.
What falls faster a baseball or basketball?
Under normal atmospheric conditions, a golf ball will fall faster. This is due to its surface area being smaller and it's weight to size ratio being greater than that of a tennis ball. Although a golf ball is designed with flight in mind, this is specifically when induced to high velocity by the swing of a golf club. In realistic terms, it would be difficult to see the difference if dropped from hand by a person of average height standing on the ground.
How many college baseball players are there currently?
The highest percentage of college baseball players that get drafted into the MLB each year is about 2.5 percent This would be about 10 rookies per team - or 300 players. The exact number may fluctuate each year.
How many baseballs can be made from one cowhide?
Usually around five baseball gloves can be made from one cow hide.
