Games

Bat-and-ball games, or safe haven games to avoid confusion with the club games like golf and hockey, are field games played by two teams. The teams alternate between "batting" and "fielding" roles, sometimes called in "at bat" and out "in the field" or simply in and out. Only the batting team may score, so the fielding team is defending, but they have equal chances in both roles. The game is counted rather than timed.

A player on the fielding team puts the ball in play with a delivery whose restriction depends on the game. A player on the batting team attempts to strike the delivered ball, commonly with a "bat", which is a club governed by the rules of the game. After striking the ball, the batter may become a runner trying to reach a "base" or safe haven.

While in contact with a base, the runner is safe from the fielding team and in a position to score runs. Leaving a safe haven places the runner in danger of being put out. The teams switch roles when the fielding team puts the batting team out, which varies by game. In modern baseball the fielders put three players out; in cricket they retire all players but one.

Some games permit multiple runners and some have multiple bases to run in sequence. Batting may occur, and running begin, at one of the bases. The movement between those "safe havens" is governed by the rules of the game.Globally cricket and baseball are the two most popular games in the family By the late nineteenth century, baseball was widely recognized as the national sport of the United States. Baseball on the professional, amateur, and youth levels is now popular in North America, parts of Central and South America and the Caribbean, and parts of East and Southeast Asia. The game is sometimes referred to as hardball in contrast to the derivative game of softball.