Cricket Baseball

Baseball fans know the rhythms of innings, the strategy of pitching changes, and the thrill of October pressure. But when the diamond falls quiet in the offseason, another bat-and-ball sport is waiting to be discovered. Cricket for Americans is the ultimate guide for baseball minds curious about the world’s second-most popular sport and its fast-growing American league: Major League Cricket. Written in the voice of a seasoned coach and sports writer, this book translates cricket into familiar baseball language without dumbing it down. Readers learn why bowlers feel like pitchers with ...

Adrian does not like sports—especially baseball! He’s eager to impress his new friends, though, so he goes to a baseball game with them. When they start speaking in baseball lingo, it almost sounds like a secret code! Will they figure out that he isn’t really a fan of the game? Maybe baseball isn’t really as bad as Adrian thinks!

There is absolutely no evidence that Abner Doubleday invented the American game of baseball. Early American settlers played a game they brought with them from England, a game called rounders, a form of cricket. Eventually, the formal rules were altered to embrace a simple and faster game in America referred to as Town Ball. The game we now know as baseball evolved from this adaptation and quickly was accepted as a new sport among urban area residents.

Cricket and baseball share a parallel and occasionally intertwined history (the first international cricket match was played in the United States). Indeed, they have mirrored their countries' struggles with identity and race, and have expanded beyond the shores of their founding countries to become multinational sports commanding global followings that are, even now, challenging the future of both sports. Right off the Bat is the perfect present for fans of either sport, as well as a handy introduction to those who want to divine the deeper rhythms of play.