The end of the baseball era?
Do you remember the movie "Fan" with Robert de Niro? As a psychopathic supporter, he goes so far as to murder, as long as his favorite player regains his form, and the team started to win. This is not the only movie, in which this sport evokes such great emotions. Or at least it did. What are we talking about? Baseball! One of the most popular sports in the United States, next to American football and basketball. For many years he was an absolute phenomenon, affecting not only the dreams of American children, but also to popular culture. How? A characteristic cap with a long visor, which was designed to protect against the scorching sun, almost completely replaced other summer headgear, and the word "baseball cap" functions permanently in the Polish language in a similar reference to sneakers. What is the popularity of this sport in Poland?? At one time, baseball bats were the most recognizable. Fortunately, reports of victims of hooligans holding them have died down. We have one in Poland 3 senior leagues. The most important city in Polish baseball is Kutno, where in 2000 a modern sports field complex was built in the year. In the ranking of the World Baseball Federation, however, our country is located at 46 place. Included in the classification 52 end. We found ourselves behind Ukraine, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Colombia. So a lot is still ahead of us. Why such a dramatic statement? According to CBOS, baseball at the Beijing Olympics had an orderly viewership 2%. Only softball gathered a smaller number of viewers in front of the TV sets. Even the control picture at night has more lovers sometimes. Due to the low viewership in the world and the high costs of building sports fields, The IOC deleted both of these disciplines from the program of the Games in London. Real shame, because this discipline can ignite not only American society. For the uninitiated, we present briefly the rules of the game. A team of four is the attacking side, second – nine people – tries to disturb her. The attacking player hits the ball thrown by the pitcher, he throws the stick and runs as fast as his legs can carry him, to hit the nearest base. If the opposing team's catcher did not catch it, this runs to the next bases and ends the run in the fourth, called home. In the moment, when a catcher guarding a base catches the ball and touches a running player on base, the attack is interrupted. A point is scored only after all bases have been covered. Team, Whoever scores the most points after nine rounds wins the game. Many scientific publications have already been devoted to baseball. Interestingly, as the only sports discipline, it aroused the interest of the team of the popular science program Discovery Channel "Prawda or false" – Myth Busters ". Myths, that arose around baseball, got a special episode.
For example, it has been analyzed, is it true, that a cork-filled baseball bat sends the ball faster than that, or that wet balls fly faster than dry balls. The episode featured a rather controversial American league star, which lent her strong, professional arm and co-tested other myths. The results were surprising. Let's hope so, that we will hear about baseball more than once. In the meantime, let us follow the activities of the experimenters (for fans – an episode about baseball soon). You never know, will they change their minds and analyze e.g.. soccer myths – the World Cup is finally approaching.