This invention relates to baseball, and more particularly to a method and playing field for conducting a baseball hitting game.
Baseball is a game that has been enjoyed by young and old for many years. Even the most casual sports fan knows the rules of baseball and almost everyone has played the game at one time in their life.
The object of baseball is to hit a pitched ball into the boundaries of a playing field and safely reach base. If a player can successfully round the bases, his team scores a run. The team with the most runs at the end of the game wins.
The present invention involves utilizing one of the basic elements of baseball--hitting a pitched ball into the baseball playing field. Sports fans have long admired the ability of athletes to hit a pitched baseball and there have been many long debates over whether a power hitter or a placement hitter is the better athlete at hitting a baseball. It has also been said that the most difficult feat in sport is to hit a round ball with a round bat.
Many baseball game have been developed utilizing the hitting element of baseball. For example, a game known as "Home Run Derby" involved two players competing against each other to see who can hit the most home runs. Each game consisted of nine innings. Each inning comprised the first player batting against a pitcher until the first player made three outs, then the second player would bat until he made three outs. An out was any ball that was swung at by the player and was not hit over the fence for a home run. Whichever player had the most home runs at the end of nine innings won the game.
While "Home Run Derby" was a very successful game and was even a television series in the 1950's, "Home Run Derby" rewarded power hitters and did not give appropriate credit to batters who could not hit home runs but could control the placement of the ball in the playing field.
It is an object of the present invention to create a baseball hitting game that rewards equally the ability to hit a baseball a long distance and the ability to hit a baseball to a particular location. It is a further object of the present invention to create a playing field that can be used to play the game of the present invention.
It is a feature of the present invention that a hitter score points for hitting home runs and also scores points for hitting the ball to a particular location.
It is an advantage of the present invention that power hitters and placement hitters can compete on an equal basis in a contest of skill related to the ability to hit a baseball.