Baseball's Unique Style

Time Element

American football, basketball, ice hockey and soccer all use a clock, and games often end by a team killing the clock rather than competing directly against the opposing team. In contrast, baseball has no clock; a team cannot win without getting the last batter out, and rallies are not constrained by time.

In recent decades, observers have criticised professional baseball for the length of its games, with some justification as the time required to play a baseball game has increased steadily through the years. One hundred years ago, games typically took an hour and a half to play; in 2004, the average major league baseball game lasted 2 hours and 47 minutes. This is due to longer commercial breaks, increased offence, more pitching changes, and a slower pace of play.

In response, Major League Baseball has instructed umpires to be more strict in enforcing speed-up rules and the size of the strike zone. Although the official rules specify that when the bases are empty, the pitcher should deliver the ball within 20 seconds of receiving it (with the penalty of a ball called if he fails to do so), this rule is rarely, if ever, enforced.

Individual and Team

Baseball is fundamentally a team sport - even two or three Hall of Fame-calibre players are no guarantee of a pennant - yet it places individual players under great pressure and scrutiny. The pitcher must make good pitches or risk losing the game; the hitter has a mere fraction of a second to decide what pitch has been thrown and whether or not to swing at it.

While their respective managers and coaches can sometimes signal players regarding the strategies the manager wants to employ, no one can help the pitcher while they pitch or the hitter while they bat. If the batter hits a line drive, the outfielder, as the last line of defence, makes the lone decision to try to catch it or play it on the bounce. Baseball history is full of heroes - players who in the heat of the moment distinguished themselves with a timely hit or catch, or an untimely strikeout or error.

Strategy and Goals

Baseball requires skill and athleticism, but also has a depth of strategy and anticipation which often goes unrecognised by those less familiar with the sport. Pitchers develop strategies on how to pitch to the batter by studying the batter's previous plate appearances throughout the year. Pitchers will vary their approach with each time they see the same batter. Defensive players are positioned based on statistics about where the batter is likely to hit the ball and what specific type of pitches will be thrown. Hitters are given signals about coordinated plays the manager is calling (for example, a hit and run or sacrifice bunt), and sometimes are explicitly instructed not to swing (to "take"). Pitchers are sometimes given signals to throw a specific pitch, or even to avoid pitching to the batter at all (such as an intentional base on balls or a pitchout.)

The goals of a team vary across scope, from individual pitch to the season. Teams develop a strategy to match this varying scope. They have a broad set of goals for the season, but more specific strategies for the early part of the season, varying that by the team and even by home games vs. away games. Meanwhile, they have very specific strategies for a single game and even down to the inning, the players who are due to bat, including the next pitch.

The Uniqueness of Each Baseball Park

Unlike the vast majority of sports (with the exception of cricket and a few others), baseball parks do not have to follow a strict set of guidelines. With the exception of the strict rules on the dimensions of the infield, the official rules simply state that fields built after June 1, 1958 must have a minimum distance of 325 feet (99 m) from home plate to the fences in left and right field and 400 (121 m) feet to centre. This rule was passed specifically in response to the setup at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which had a reported left field distance of 251 feet (77 m), 1 foot (0.3 m) over the bare minimum required by the rules. However, major league teams often skirt this rule. For example, Minute Maid Park's left field is only 315 feet (96 m).

There are no rules at all regulating the height of "fences, stands or other obstructions", other than the assumption that they exist. Because of this flexibility, there are all sorts of variations in parks, from different lengths to the fences to uneven playing surfaces to massive or minimal amounts of foul territory, all of which affect the nature of the game at those ballparks.