Stupid questions about baseball

[yakalskovich]

What does a baseball player at bat do with the actual bat when he's hit the ball and starts running? nazgulwears said 'drop it', but I can't quite imagine it. Where would he leave it? How does he recover it? Is it his own bat, or does everybody bat with the same bat?

There's a virtual baseball game in Milliways that'll start pre-threading this weekend; so far I have read up on the rules etc., but that one part still makes me wonder.

Also, can somebody recommend me a YouTube link to, let's say, ten minutes of a baseball game that's really typical and has some interesting if standard things happening in it? There is lots of baseball on YouTube, but I can't really tell what would be educational to watch.

Thanks in advance!

ETA: Which of these four icons should I use as baseball icons for Teja, in the game, and for context? I just made them myself from Corbis stock; but if there's a more iconic icon, or somebody running with a bat (see thread with i_open_doors within), I'd use that just as readily.-

Comments

[bigfluffball.livejournal.com]

No, we played cricket as well but this was Rounders. Maybe rounders is British - it's a game arranged around points shaped like an envelope (four bases at the corners, a bowler in the middle, and a batsman on what would be the pointy bit of the envelope that you'd lick). You hit the ball with a baseball bat shaped bat and then run around the four bases. Rules vary slightly from school to school, but generally you only get one shot at hitting the ball each time - anywhere forwards is a valid hit (there's no V shape that you have to hit in), hitting backwards means you can only run to first base until the ball comes in front of the batting point, same with missing the ball entirely. You must run whether or not you hit the ball, unless it's a no-ball (the bowler must send the balls at a height between shoulder and knee), in which case you get another ball.

Players can be out if the ball touches a base before they run to it, but they can choose to stop at a previous one and be safe, so long as it hasn't already been touched by the ball. Players can also be caught out, or run out - if a player behind you runs for your base, forcing you to run to a tagged base. Mean kids sometimes do this accidentally on purpose. Some schools include a variant - hitting the ball into an inaccessible place constitutes Out.

You score one Rounder for getting all the way around in one go, regardless of how well you hit the ball. Some schools let you have half a rounder for getting half the way round in one go. Getting around in multiple goes does not, if I recall correctly, earn you anything - but since the game usually continues until there are no players able to bat there is a need to get back safely.

So actually not at all like cricket! Or certainly not the way I remember it.

[yakalskovich]

Thank you for that long explanation! It sounds like a fun and clever game, including both skill and strategy.