That baseball game of yours.

[kga26]

Yeah, thankyou Brits for inventing 'rounders', without which, this conversation would not be possible!

P.S. Whats the difference between 'softball' and 'baseball' ?

P.P.S. I was 'goal scorer ' in our school netball team, (shooter) , when I went to the states, they had basket ball machines in lots of the bars, I made a fourtune shooting baskets, never missed.........did we invent basket ball too?
Come on we need a boost at the moment..tell us we did!!!!!!

[rebl_rn]

Yeah, thankyou Brits for inventing 'rounders', without which, this conversation would not be possible!

P.S. Whats the difference between 'softball' and 'baseball' ?

P.P.S. I was 'goal scorer ' in our school netball team, (shooter) , when I went to the states, they had basket ball machines in lots of the bars, I made a fourtune shooting baskets, never missed.........did we invent basket ball too?
Come on we need a boost at the moment..tell us we did!!!!!!

Sorry, it was a Canadian who invented basketball....

the difference between softball and baseball...

Softball is played with a larger, "softer" ball (though soft is a relative term). There are two sizes of softballs, the larger one (I'm forgetting the inches at the moment) is used mostly in Chicago and they play without gloves. The smaller, more common softball is still larger than a baseball, and gloves are used.

There is "fast pitch" and "slow pitch" softball. All pitching in softball is underhanded, opposed to baseball which is primarily overhead (some players use a sidearm technique). Fast pitch and slow pitch are pretty self-explanatory.

Softball is more commonly played recreationally, and is what women play in high school, college, the Olympics (the US women's softball team went undefeated in Athens and unscored on until the gold medal game). I don't know why that is, really. Back in the '40's there was the women's All-American Baseball league (as seen in "League of Their Own"). Softball is slightly safer.

There are rule differences too, but I won't get into all of those, primarily because I don't know them all.......

Someone else will probably explain it better than me, but that's my stab at it.

Beth

[Will O'B]

Some of the best baseball stuff I've read in years.

If there were no other sports I wouldn't care as long as there were Baseball.

Yeah, I have to admit it . . .these posts have been pretty good. My favorite baseball stuff though has been and will always continue to be when the Peanuts comic strip takes to the field with Snoopy at short stop, crabby Lucy in the outfield, Schroeder behind the plate and the hapless team manager, good ol' Charlie Brown on the mound. Undaunted by an eternal losing streak, Charlie Brown optimistically looks forward to the next game . . . and the next . . . and the next . . . Through rain or shine, ducking insults being hurled from the outfield, not ducking line drives that clunk off his forehead, and enduring his players who seem to keep their eye on the clouds in the sky rather than on the grounder gently rolling between their legs, Charlie knows that someday, if they don't give up, his team may actually win a game. And that is what makes this stuff great.

Will O'Ban

[TXwhistle]

I don't follow baseball...but I'm glad the world series is over. I work with two people from Boston and I was really getting tired of hearing that sing-songy "Let's go Red Sox" followed by the clap, clap, clap clap clap. I heard it about three times an hour for weeks.

[PhilO]

Be forewarned Txwhistle - there is no real off season for baseball fans - the long winter is merely a time to talk about first the past season and then the coming season; we're in a virtual holding pattern until "pitchers and catchers" in the early spring.

There is a further variation of fast pitch softball, windmill, wherein the pitcher winds up and comes over the top of the head with the arm staying close to the body throughout the arc before releasing underhanded at the bottom of the arc. Some fast pitch leagues specifically do not allow windmill. There are more variations in rules in softball. Some is even played with 3 balls and 2 strikes, with "no fouls on last."

When I was a kid, softball leagues developed in the inner city associated with summer centers that were run by the public schools in NYC; these games were played on concrete in school yards.

In 1961, we had the best summer center team in the Bronx and the entire team was also the same team playing in the playoffs to the Little League World Series (baseball or hardball). We had to vote on whether to miss the sure thing softball championship game or go up to Haverstraw for the State Championships. We voted Haverstraw, and after winning 10 games in a row, lost 2 to 1, thereby missing by one game the Regional finals and also losing our opportunity to win the softball championship. Twelve year olds rolled the dice and lost it all - a wonderful time, but we cried a bit...

Philo

[TyroneShoelaces]

While I'm not especially a big baseball FANatic, I did like reading some of the articles that you chaps wrote. Maybe the tide could turn back to baseball and away from all the bickering and back biting of the political posts. I liked the piece about Charlie Brown's Allstars, especially because I'm such a Peanuts comic strip fan.

[TomB]

Undaunted by an eternal losing streak, Charlie Brown optimistically looks forward to the next game . . . and the next . . . and the next . . . Through rain or shine, ducking insults being hurled from the outfield, not ducking line drives that clunk off his forehead, and enduring his players who seem to keep their eye on the clouds in the sky rather than on the grounder gently rolling between their legs, Charlie knows that someday, if they don't give up, his team may actually win a game. And that is what makes this stuff great.

Will O'Ban

Yep, perfectly demonstrated during this year's World Series!

Tom