Understanding baseball

Soccer is a universal sport because it is simple. All you have to do is make the ball go through the bars to score. The same thing can't be said about baseball. There are so many rules! By my second game, I think I finally started to understand the sport.


The afternoon was sunny last Thursday in Washington. The home team, the Nationals, hosted the game against the famous New York Mets. The stadium was crowded for a regular working day.

Thanks to a friend, we got places in the V.I.P. area, with the best view of the game, plus free food and drinks. We were right behind the catcher. 

As I learned, baseball is basically like this: 9 players on each team, 9 innings, half time pitching, half time catching. If the batter manages to strike the ball, he has to run to the next base, the second, the third and finally his first location (home plate), completing the diamond. The electronic board doesn't help you to understand. It is pretty confusing.

There is more: the game has no fixed time to end and can go on forever. Last Thursday's game lasted 3 hours. The NY Mets won. It doesn't matter what happened on the field. I learned that baseball is a nice excuse to go out, eat, drink and kill some time. The game's trademark is the hot dog with mustard.

The crowd interacts with the electronic board. There is time to dance, make noise, elect the best fan, thank the soldiers and sing the traditional song.

In Washington, there is a special feature: the presidents race. These big headed characters below represent George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt.