What Are The Items Needed For Baseball?

It's called America's pastime because baseball is so popular in the United States. It's a game played with equal enthusiasm by kindergartners batting a ball off a tee, and by major leaguers playing professionally with contracts worth millions of dollars. There are many rules of the game, but the basic equipment is the same.

Space

The official Little League field is 180 feet from home plate to the outfield fence, and the bases are separated by 60 feet. Stadiums where professionals play are larger with bases separated by 90 feet, and a home-plate-to-outfield-fence of more than 400 feet. You can adjust accordingly for casual games, depending on the size (and number) of players.

Players

The team playing defense has nine positions, including a pitcher, catcher, three basemen and a shortstop, plus three outfielders. But many a group of neighborhood kids have played games with many fewer players.

Glove

Padded leather gloves are made specifically for every position in baseball and range in price from under $10 for inexpensive plastic kids play versions, to several hundred dollars for professional gloves.

Bat

Made of wood or aluminum, bats are specially made smooth and rounded sticks used to hit the ball. They are measured in ounces, and players get comfortable with a bat's weight based on their size and strength, which may change as they grow.

Ball

Baseballs are about 9 inches around and weigh about 5 oz. Their core is rubber or cork, wrapped by cotton or wool yarn, then covered with two pieces of leather sewn together. T-ball and training league balls are rubberized.

Protective Gear

Catchers wear chest, leg and face protectors because of the precarious position they occupy catching balls that are traveling so rapidly. Batters wear batting helmets, to help guard against errant balls that could hit them. Male players wear groin cups for the same reason.