Transcript Introducton to Baseball

Baseball evolved from the British working-class game
of “rounders”…
However, unwilling to accept this origin of a game so
profoundly American, a 1907 committee decided,
based on an untraceable rumor, that Abner Doubleday
“invented” the game in 1839, noting especially
Doubleday’s post at Fort Sumter and his command to
return fire on the Confederates in the opening volley of
the American Civil War (even though Doubleday “didn’t
know a baseball from a kumquat”).
1847
The first official game of baseball is played
between the Knickerbockers and a group of
cricket players.
1889
The Players' League is created.
1908
Chicago Cubs win the “World Series” for the
last time that century (and still counting).
2003
Chicago Cubs come within 5 outs of the
“World Series”, but blow it again (oh the horror)
Abner Doubleday
Major League Baseball in the USA consists of both the National
and American Leagues: 30 teams (14 American and 16 National League)
Game = 9 “innings” (top & bottom half)
Inning = 3 “outs”
1 out = caught fly ball or,
“strike-out” (3 bad swings)
tag base runner with the ball
“walk” = 4 bad pitches
“home run” = ball hit over the wall
Nuts and Bolts
“7th inning stretch” (bottom of 7th: fans sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”,
a Chicago custom only now emulated by lesser teams)
Hank Aaron, April 8, 1974, 715 career home runs
http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/baseballs_best/mlb_bb_gamepage.jsp?story_page=bb_74reg_040874_ladatl
"I'm not an athlete. I'm a professional baseball player.“
-John Kruk
"If I were playing third base and my mother were rounding
third with the run that was going to beat us, I'd trip her.”
-Leo “The Lip” Durocher
Yogi Berra
"Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical."
"So I'm ugly. I never saw anyone hit with his face."
"In baseball, you don't know nothing."
"I didn't really say everything I said."
A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request
by Steve Goodman (1948-1984)
By the shore's of old Lake Michigan
Where the "hawk wind" blows so cold
An old Cub fan lay dying
In his midnight hour that tolled
Round his bed, his friends had all gathered
They knew his time was short
And on his head they put this bright blue cap
From his all-time favorite sport
He told them, "Its late and its getting dark in here"
And I know its time to go
But before I leave the line-up
Boys, there's just one thing I'd like to know
Do they still play the blues in Chicago
When baseball season rolls around
When the snow melts away,
Do the Cubbies still play
In their ivy-covered burial ground
When I was a boy they were my pride and joy
But now they only bring fatigue
To the home of the brave
The land of the free
And the doormat of the National League