BASEBALL HALL OF FAME

in full National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum museum and honorary society, Cooperstown, New York, U.S. The origins of the hall can be traced to 1935, when plans were first put forward for the 1939 celebration of the supposed centennial of baseball (it was then believed that the American army officer Abner Doubleday had developed the game at Cooperstown in 1839, a story that was later discredited). The first vote for players to be admitted into the hall was held in 1936, the date sometimes given for the hall's establishment. Dedication ceremonies took place in June 1939. Players, umpires, managers, and executives who have made outstanding contributions to the game are honoured with plaques in the hall. Writers and announcers are eligible for special awards. Selections to the Hall of Fame are made annually by two groups: the Baseball Writers' Association of America and the Baseball Hall of Fame Committee on Baseball Veterans. Memorabilia of all eras of the game and an extensive baseball library are also housed in the hall and museum. Play of the game Figure 1: Layout of a representative baseball field. Baseball is a contest between two teams of nine or (if a designated hitter is used) 10 players each. The field of play is divided into the infield and the outfield (see Figure 1). Within the infield is a square area called the diamond, which has four white bases, one on each corner. The bases are 90 feet (27.4 metres) apart. The teams themselves alternate between being fielders (defense) and batters (offense). The nine fielders take up assigned positions in the playing field; one fielder, called the pitcher, stands on a mound in the centre of the diamond and faces the base designated as home plate, where a batter, holding a formed stick (a bat), waits for him to throw a leather-covered ball. The goal of the batter is to hit the ball out of the reach of the fielders and eventually (often with the help of hits by subsequent batters) to run from base to base counterclockwise completely around the diamond, thus scoring a run. If a batter fails to advance in an appropriate manner to at least the first base, he is out; after three outs, the teams switch roles. When both teams have batted, an inning is completed, and after nine innings the team with the most runs wins the game. If there is a tie, extra innings are played. Field of play and equipment Grounds. In major league playing fields the distance to the fence from home plate along the foul lines must be 250 feet (75 metres) or more. For fields built after 1958, however, the distance along the foul lines should be at least 325 feet, and the distance from home plate on a line through second base to the centre-field fence at least 400 feet. The playing field was traditionally covered with grass, except for the pitcher's circle, the base paths, the adjacent infield from first to third base, and the home plate area. Since the introduction of artificial turf, the field has been mostly covered, except for the areas around the pitcher's plate, home plate, and the bases. Canvas bags filled with soft material and attached by metal stakes driven in the ground mark first, second, and third base. Home plate is a flat pentagonal white slab of rubber embedded flush in the ground. The distance to the stands or fence behind home plate should be at least 60 feet but may taper off along the foul lines in the outfield. Coaches' boxes are in foul territory behind first and third base; and next-batter (on-deck) circles are off to one side and behind the batting boxes.