If You Don't Know the Rules, How Can You Win?

摘要

Have you ever tried to teach someone the game of baseball? It's quite complicated, and the last couple of conversations with my son has shed some light on how much I took this for granted. Aiden: "Why can I tag the base sometimes but have to tag the person other times?" Me: "Well, that's a force out." Aiden: "What's a force out?" Me: "When the runner has to go to a certain base, so then you can just tag the base." Aiden: "Shouldn't the runner just go to the other base then?" Me: "Yeah, but then they'll like get caught in a pickle." Aiden: "How would they get inside a pickle?" Me: "Not actually a pickle. I mean, they're likely going to get caught in between two defenders and the base they're going to and the base they came from."