Terms are placed in an italic font when first used.
The figure below shows a typical ball diamond. Dimensions for
softball have been added with the dotted-dashed line segments (for
baseball, multiply by 1.5).
- The bases are labelled with an italic
font, or with H for home plate. §3 discusses base-running.
- Fair territory is the area between the perpendicular
foul lines radiating from home plate; foul territory
is the area outside
them, as noted by the large, ellipsed italic font. §2 (on batting) discusses
the rules pertaining to fair- and foul-balls.
- The circles show generic (straight-away)
positions for baseball fielders, labelled by the position
name, its abbreviation, and number. I've tried to stick to the convention
that ``1B" means first base itself and ``the 1B" means the first-baseman.
The position number is used for relating
the path of the ball during a defensive play: 5-4 means the 3B fields the
ball and then throws it to the 2B. We'll use this in §4, which
discusses fielding, and also
explains the red & green arrows (shifts) drawn for
some of the fielders.
A softball team has an additional player:
the short fielder, who
is something of a rover, here shown with the dotted circle. We'll save
him/her for the end of §4.
- The infield (IF) comprises the 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, and P,
plus the territory they typically patrol. The outfield (OF) is the
territory and players farther from home plate. (but an infielder can always
go back and make a play in the outfield, and vice versa.)
campbell@jive.nl
