This update to The Everything Kids' Baseball Book contains new information from the 2020 and 2021 seasons, refreshed bios for your favorite players, and an expanded look at women's baseball and softball for any and all baseball fans! The Everything Kids' Baseball Book, 12th Edition is a great way to introduce young fans to all the fun, action, and excitement of America's favorite pastime. Featuring dozens of puzzle and games, this new edition has up-to-date stats for all your favorite players and teams. This book also introduces new baseball fans to the best stars playing today, teaches the rules and history of the game, and gives tips and tools to develop a new player's skills. From their first t-ball game to the World Series, this book is sure to be a grand slam for kids and parents alike!
Frequently asked questions
Yes, you can cancel anytime from the Subscription tab in your account settings on the Perlego website. Your subscription will stay active until the end of your current billing period. Learn how to cancel your subscription.
No, books cannot be downloaded as external files, such as PDFs, for use outside of Perlego. However, you can download books within the Perlego app for offline reading on mobile or tablet. Learn more here.
Perlego offers two plans: Essential and Complete
Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.4M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.
Both plans are available with monthly, semester, or annual billing cycles.
We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1 million books across 1000+ topics, weâve got you covered! Learn more here.
Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more here.
Yes! You can use the Perlego app on both iOS or Android devices to read anytime, anywhere â even offline. Perfect for commutes or when youâre on the go. Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Yes, you can access The Everything Kids' Baseball Book, 12th Edition by Joe Gergen in PDF and/or ePUB format. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Baseball is a great game, one that is played and enjoyed by tens of millions of people. Many of those who appreciate the game grew up playing and watching baseball. Few get good enough to be major leaguers, but everyone can learn how to play, and everyone can, with practice, become a better player. This chapter covers the fundamentals of baseball: the rules, the necessary skills, the positions of the players, and some ways to play baseball even if you donât have two teams of nine players available.
Rules of the Game
Baseball, at its heart, is a very simple game. A batter hits the ball, then tries to make it to first base (or farther!) without getting called out. Someone who gets all the way around the bases scores a run; whichever team scores the most runs during the game wins.
Teams take turns at bat. A team keeps batting until they make three outs; then they pitch to the other team until they make three outs. After each team has had nine turns, the game is over.
Here are the most common ways for the batter to make an out:
words to know
inning
A period of play in which each team has a turn at bat. A professional or college baseball game lasts for nine innings. High school and Little League games are usually shorterâfive, six, or seven innings.
Strikeout. A batter gets a strike if he swings and misses, or if he doesnât swing at a good pitch. Three strikes and the batter is out.
Flyout. If a fielder catches a batted ball before it hits the ground, the batter is out.
Groundout. If a fielder throws the ball to first base before the batter gets there, the batter is out.
Tagged out. If a runner is not touching a base and is tagged with the ball, the runner is out.
Thereâs much, much more to the rules of baseball, but you learn by playing and watching the game. Even professional players are still learning about the game. Thatâs part of what makes baseball such a wonderful sport!
Developing Your Baseball Skills
How can you develop your baseball skills? The answer is simple: play. Play a lot. Play with your friends, play in a league or two, play in the backyard with your family. The more you play, the more youâll learn about the game. Youâll develop baseball instinctsâyouâll know what to do on the bases or in the field without even thinking about it. Your skills will get better and better. And whether or not you become a great player, you will likely develop a deep appreciation for the game of baseball that you can share with your friends and family. Many adultsâ most heartfelt memories are of playing and watching baseball when they were kids your age.
For professional baseball, you need two teams of nine players, each with uniforms and gloves, several brand-new baseballs, and some umpiresâŚbut all you really need to play a game is a few friends, an old tennis ball, and a stick for a bat.
words to know
umpire
A person who is ruling on the plays in the game. The umpire rules whether a pitch is a strike or a ball; if a ball that is hit is fair or foul; and if a batter or runner is safe or out.
Hitting
To become a good hitter, you have to hitâa lot. Of course youâll get to hit in games, but if you want to get more hitting practice, try these ideas:
Take a bucket of balls out to an empty field. Have a friend pitch them all to you. Pick up all the balls and then you pitch them all to your friend.
Get some Wiffle balls. Wiffle balls are plastic balls with holes in them. Since they wonât go far, they are less likely to hurt someone or something. Wiffle balls are good for playing with on a small field or in the backyard.
Hit balls off of a tee. You can practice hitting the ball in different directions: Try hitting ten balls to left field, ten to center field, then ten to right field.
Go to a batting cage. A machine will pitch a ball to you, and you can decide how fast you want the ball to come toward you.
fun fact
What Is a Slump?
A slump is when a hitter stops getting hits for a while. Slumps happen to all hitters, even the best. Usually a slump lasts for only a few games, but sometimes it will go on for weeks. Hitters will try everything from extra batting practice to good luck charms to get out of a slump. When you get in a slump, just relax and try not to get too frustratedâall slumps have to end sometime.
Hitting Practice Is the Time to Experiment
Try out different kinds of batsâheavy bats, light bats, long bats, short bats, wooden bats, and metal bats. You donât necessarily have to buy yourself a brand-new bat to try it out. Ask to borrow a bat from a friend, or buy a cheap used bat at a secondhand store.
Then try different ways to stand. Mimic your favorite playerâs stance. Try out some of the advice a coach or a friend gave you. Find out what feels the most comfortable. As long as you can see the ball well, and you can keep your eye on the ball when you make contact, then your stance is fine. You may fine-tune it someday, but for now, go with what feels the best.
Most importantly, work on making contact with the ball. Donât worry about how hard you hit itâdonât swing hard to hit home runsâjust practice hitting the ball with every swing. After all this hitting practice, youâll find your hitting in games to be more consistent. Your body will know exactly what to do. Youâll end up getting on base a lot. Eventually, without even trying, youâll start hitting the ball harder.
Defense
The team that isnât batting is called the defense. Their job is to field the ball and put the batters out. The nine players on defense play the different positions described in the following list. Each position requires slightly different skills, though all defensive players must be able to throw well.
Infielders. Those who play first base, second base, third base, and shortstop are called infielders. Infielders play close to the batter and to the bases. They field ground balls and try to throw the batter out. When a ball is hit into the outfield, the infielders receive the ball from the outfielders and try to tag out runners.
Outfielders. The right fielder, left fielder, and center fielder are the outfielders. They play far away from the batter and the bases. Their main job is to catch fly balls and to throw the ball back to the infielders.
Catcher. The catcher crouches behind home plate to catch any pitches that the batter doesnât hit. If a runner tries to steal a base, the catcher throws the ball to try to get the runner out.
Pitcher. The pitcher starts all the action on the field by throwing every pitch to the batter. Pitchers also have to field ground balls and help out the infielders.
The best way to improve your baseball skills is to play in lots of games. A fielder needs to develop a âbaseball senseâ in addition to physical skills. This means not just being able to field and throw the ball but also knowing where to throw the ball and where to be on the field. When youâre in the field, think to yourself before every pitch: If the ball comes to me, what do I do with it? If the ball doesnât come to me, where am I supposed to go? By answering these questions before every pitch in every game you play, you will build up good baseball instincts that you may not even be aware of. Youâll find yourself making great plays simply because you knew what to do before the batter even hit the ball....
