Tee-ball (also teeball, tee ball or T-ball) is a team sport based on a simplified form of baseball or softball. It is intended as an introduction for children to develop bat-and-ball game skills and have fun.
Tee-ball (also teeball, tee ball or T-ball) is a team sport based on a simplified form of baseball or softball. It is intended as an introduction for children to develop bat-and-ball game skills and have fun.
Tee-ball associations generally allow children between the ages of four and seven to play in their leagues. [1] A tee-ball coach sets the team lineup and fielding positions in the team's scorebook. The positions that get the most action in tee-ball are pitcher and first base, followed by the rest of the infield positions. In some leagues, catcher is also a special position due to the added gear that is worn; in other leagues, there is no catcher. In tee-ball, the pitcher is usually used for defensive purposes only, though gently pitched balls may be used with older or more advanced players in place of the fixed tee. The ball is placed on an adjustable tee atop the home plate at a suitable height for the batter to strike. (In some clubs, adult coaches give the batter an opportunity to try and hit a few pitched balls before going to the tee in the hope that this will further develop batting skills.) [2] Most of the other rules are similar or identical to those of baseball, though the game is played on a smaller field, typically one used for Little League or other youth baseball. [2] In addition, for the youngest tee-ball players, runs and outs are often not recorded, and every player gets to bat each inning. [1]
Many parents assist during the game by coaching players in the dugout, in the field, on the bases, and at the plate. They often also perform the task of umpiring.
Bats: 25 to 26 inches long, 2.25 inches diameter, maximum weight 17 to 20 oz. [2]
Balls: typically appear identical to baseballs, but slightly softer to reduce injuries: 9 to 9.5 inches around, 4 to 5 oz weight, with a molded core or sponge rubber center. [2]
Footwear: Athletic footwear such as running shoes. [2]
Gloves: 12 inches long maximum. [2]
Safety helmets: Mandatory at all times. [2]
Tee: Height-adjustible, flexible tube, with a movable base. [2]
The game's origins date back to at least the 1950s, with several people claiming to be the father of the game, and it appears to have been independently invented in several places. Albion, Michigan claims to be the earliest place of invention of the sport, in 1956, by Jerome Sacharski. [3] Claude Lewis, director of the Warner Robins, Georgia, Recreation Department, formed a tee-ball league in March 1958, in which 20 children played the first year. Lewis designed rules for the new game and mailed the rule books out to recreation departments all over the country and overseas. Nevertheless, the city of Starkville, Mississippi, claims to have independently created tee-ball in 1961. According to the Starkville Rotary Club's website: "In 1961, when it was apparent that younger children needed some way to participate in the program, Rotarians Clyde Muse and W. W. Littlejohn devised the game of "t-ball" and added it to the summer baseball program." [4]
A "Tee Ball" trademark was filed in April of 1971 and subsequently registered in February of 1973 with the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Robert Dayton Hobbs (1924–2006), the pastor of a fundamentalist Christian church he founded in Milton, Florida, and also the organizer in the late 1950s of the first organized youth baseball program in Santa Rosa County, Florida. [5] Hobbs's "Tee Ball" trademark was still asserted by Gospel Projects, Inc., of Milton, Florida, at least as of 2009 [update] (last year of publication of their "Tee Ball Baseball Organization Rules"). [6]
Hobbs credited the United States Navy with spreading the game overseas.[ citation needed ]
It is estimated that 2.2 million children play tee-ball. [7]
In the "White House Tee Ball Initiative", U.S. president George W. Bush hosted tee-ball games on the South Lawn of the White House. [8]
A non-profit governing body exists in the United States, the T-Ball USA Association, of West Palm Beach, Florida. [9] It is a national member of USA Baseball, a partner of the International Baseball Federation (IBAF), and its principal officers are members of the National Council of Youth Sports. [9] The association publishes a summarized basic rule-set [10] and field requirements, [11] and supports local parks and recreation departments, youth activity clubs and baseball leagues, military bases's youth programs, and independent parent-administered leagues. [9] The organization also arranges events, including tee-ball team attendance at Major and Minor League baseball games, and the MLB All-Star Game FanFests. [9] Their stylized "T•BALL USA" logo "identifies the projects and programs created to support the national tee ball constituency and marks licensed and approved products, corporate sponsorships and appropriate alliances." [9]
Tee-ball is a popular sport for Australian primary school children. An estimated 60% of Australian primary schools include Tee-ball in their sports programs and 17,000 children play in organised competitions. [12] 2017 research found 10.6% of 6–13 year-olds regularly play tee-ball, making it the 14th most popular children's sport in Australia. [13] This does not appear to translate into increased participation in baseball and softball which are not popular sports for teenagers older than 14.[ citation needed ]
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding team, called the pitcher, throws a ball that a player on the batting team, called the batter, tries to hit with a bat. The objective of the offensive team is to hit the ball into the field of play, away from the other team's players, allowing its players to run the bases, having them advance counter-clockwise around four bases to score what are called "runs". The objective of the defensive team is to prevent batters from becoming runners, and to prevent runners' advance around the bases. A run is scored when a runner legally advances around the bases in order and touches home plate.
In baseball, the strike zone is the volume of space through which a pitch must pass in order to be called a strike even if the batter does not swing. The strike zone is defined as the volume of space above home plate and between the batter's knees and the midpoint of their torso. Whether a pitch passes through the zone is decided by an umpire, who is generally positioned behind the catcher.
Rounders is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams. Rounders is a striking and fielding team game that involves hitting a small, hard, leather-cased ball with a wooden, plastic, or metal bat that has a rounded end. The players score by running around the four bases on the field.
Softball is a sport similar to baseball, and it is played with a larger ball on a smaller field and with only underhand pitches permitted. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hancock.
Little League Baseball and Softball is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, United States, that organizes local youth baseball and softball leagues throughout the United States and the rest of the world.
A tee is a stand used in sport to support and elevate a stationary ball prior to striking with a foot, club or bat. Tees are used extensively in golf, tee-ball, baseball, American football, and rugby.
A baseball bat is a smooth wooden or metal club used in the sport of baseball to hit the ball after it is thrown by the pitcher. By regulation it may be no more than 2.75 inches (7.0 cm) in diameter at the thickest part and no more than 42 inches (1.067 m) in length. Although historically bats approaching 3 pounds (1.4 kg) were swung, today bats of 33 ounces (0.94 kg) are common, topping out at 34 to 36 ounces.
Kickball is a team sport and league game, similar to baseball. Like baseball, it is a safe haven game in which one team tries to score by having its players return a ball from home base to the field and then circle the bases. Meanwhile, the other team tries to stop them by tagging them "out" with the ball before they can return to the home base. However, instead of hitting a small, hard ball with a bat, players kick an inflated rubber ball; this makes it more accessible to young children. As in baseball, teams alternate half-innings. The team with the most runs after a predefined number of innings wins.
Throughout the history of baseball, the rules have frequently changed as the game continues to evolve. A few common rules most professional leagues have in common is that four balls is a base on balls, three strikes is a strikeout, and three outs end a half-inning.
A baseball is the ball used in the sport of baseball. It consists of a rubber or cork center wrapped in yarn and covered with white natural horsehide or cowhide, or a synthetic composite leather. A regulation baseball is 9 to 9.25 inches in circumference i.e. 2.86 to 2.94 inches in diameter, with a weight of 5 to 5.25 ounces.
A baseball field, also called a ball field or baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played. The term can also be used as a metonym for a baseball park. The term sandlot is sometimes used, although this usually refers to less organized venues for activities like sandlot ball.
In baseball and softball, an uncaught third strike occurs when the catcher fails to cleanly catch a pitch for the third strike of a plate appearance. In Major League Baseball (MLB), the specific rules concerning the uncaught third strike are addressed in Rules 5.05 and 5.09 of the Official Baseball Rules:
White House Tee Ball Initiative refers to efforts by President George W. Bush to promote baseball and softball by allowing youth tee-ball events on the grounds of the White House in Washington, D.C. The event was first held in 2001.
Bat-and-ball games are field games played by two opposing teams. Action starts when the defending team throws a ball at a dedicated player of the attacking team, who tries to hit it with a bat and run between various safe areas in the field to score runs (points). The defending team can use the ball in various ways against the attacking team's players to force them off the field when they are not in safe zones, and thus prevent them from further scoring. The best known modern bat-and-ball games are cricket and baseball, with common roots in the 18th-century games played in England.
British baseball, also known colloquially in Wales as Welsh baseball, is a bat-and-ball game played in Wales, England, and to a lesser extent in Ireland and Scotland. The game emerged as a distinct sport in Merseyside, Gloucester and South Wales at the end of the 19th Century, drawing on the much older game of rounders. Teams in all locations played under the codified rules created by the National Rounders Association (later renamed as the, with the game in Wales locally organised first by the South Wales Baseball Association,, who in turn were replaced by the Welsh Baseball Union. The Irish Baseball Union were formed in 1933. Both the English Baseball Association and Welsh Baseball Union are members of the International Baseball Board.
Fastpitch softball, or simply fastpitch, is a form of softball played by both women and men. While the teams are most often segregated by sex, coed fast-pitch leagues also exist. Considered the most competitive form of softball, fastpitch is the format played at the Olympic Games. Softball was on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) program in 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2020. It will not be a part of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris.
The English Baseball Association is the governing body of the traditional code of British baseball in England, with responsibility for overseeing all aspects of the domestic game and the body responsible for the creation and development of the original rules of the game. The EBA was formed in 1892, though this was a continuation of the much older National Rounders Association, who created the first codified rules of British baseball, between 1887 and 1888. The EBA is based in Liverpool and is a member of the International Baseball Board.
George Khoury Association of Baseball Leagues, or Khoury League, is a non-profit organization in St. Louis, Missouri that runs youth tee ball, baseball, and softball leagues internationally. It is the longest operating youth baseball program in the United States.
16-inch softball is a variant of softball, but using a larger ball that gradually becomes softer the more the ball is hit, and played with no gloves or mitts on the fielders. It more closely resembles the original game as developed in Chicago in the 19th century by George Hancock, and today it remains most popular in Chicago, New Orleans, Atlanta, and Portland, Oregon. It also saw some popularity in Nashville, Tennessee, in the early 1980s.
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport that has many recreational variants. The major sport most related to baseball is the Olympic discipline of softball, with the two sports being administered internationally alongside Baseball5 by the World Baseball Softball Confederation.
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