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Baseball cards
Baseball cards are trading cards showing baseball players, originally given away in cigarette and candy packs from the 1860s and now a collectibles market with individual sales in the millions.
Baseball color line
The Baseball color line, or Baseball color barrier, was a period of segregation that lasted roughly six decades, ending when Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.
Baseball field
Baseball field, or diamond: the playing area for baseball, with a fixed 90-foot square infield, 60 ft 6 in pitching distance, and variable outfield dimensions set by each ballpark.
Baseball glove
Baseball glove (mitt): padded leather or synthetic hand covering worn by fielders, first seen in the 1860s, patented from 1877, given its web pocket by Bill Doak in 1919, and modernized by Wilson's 1957 A2000.
Baseball in Japan
Baseball in Japan (yakyū, 野球): introduced 1872 by Horace Wilson; NPB two-league pro circuit since 1950; Koshien high school tournaments; about 70 Japanese players in MLB since Murakami 1964; WBC champions 2006, 2009, 2023.
Baseball metaphors for sex
Baseball metaphors for sex, or the bases, are American slang mapping intimacy stages to baseball: first base kissing, third base genital contact, home run intercourse; post-WWII origin, now used ironically by Gen Z.
Baseball positions
Baseball positions: the nine defensive spots (pitcher, catcher, infielders, outfielders) with scorebook numbers 1-9, positional difficulty order, 2023 shift restrictions, and the designated hitter role.
Baseball statistics
Baseball statistics: measurements of player and team performance, from Henry Chadwick's 1859 box score to batting average, OPS, ERA, sabermetrics, WAR (fWAR vs bWAR), and Statcast expected stats like xwOBA.
Baseball Tonight
Baseball Tonight is ESPN's Major League Baseball studio show, debuting March 19, 1990 as a nightly highlights program; since 2017 it airs as Baseball Tonight: Sunday Night Countdown, a one-hour Sunday Night Baseball pregame.
Baseball World Cup
The Baseball World Cup, also known as the World Cup of Baseball, was an international baseball tournament organized by the International Baseball Federation and held 39 times from 1938 to 2011.
Baseball/softball (olympedia_sports SBL)
Baseball/softball (Olympedia code SBL) is one Olympic sport with men's baseball and women's softball disciplines under the WBSC; medal sports 1992-2008 and Tokyo 2020, returning at LA 2028.
Baseball5
Baseball5 is the WBSC's five-inning, five-on-five urban variant of baseball and softball, played with a rubber ball and no bat, glove, or pitcher; Cuba holds both World Cup titles, and it debuts at Dakar 2026.
BASEketball
BASEketball is a 1998 Universal sports comedy directed by David Zucker, starring South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone as Milwaukee friends whose invented basketball-baseball hybrid becomes a professional league; it grossed $7.0 million and holds 40% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Basil D'Oliveira
Basil D'Oliveira (Dolly), Cape Coloured South African-born cricketer of Indian-Portuguese heritage who played 44 Tests for England; his 1968 exclusion from the MCC tour of South Africa, the D'Oliveira Affair, began apartheid sport's isolation.
Basil Heatley
Basil Heatley (Benjamin Basil Heatley, 1933-2019), English distance runner of Coventry Godiva Harriers; marathon world best 2:13:55 in 1964 and Olympic marathon silver at Tokyo 1964 behind Abebe Bikila.
Baska
Baśka (Baszka), Kashubian four-player trick-taking card game of the Schafkopf group, played in Pomerania since the 19th century with 16 cards, 12 trumps, black-Queen partnerships, and a four-Queen top bid.
Basketball
Basketball, invented by James Naismith in Springfield, Massachusetts in December 1891, is a team court sport governed internationally by FIBA; NBA and FIBA rules differ in game length, three-point distance, and defensive three seconds.
Basketball (ball)
Basketball (ball): the inflated spherical ball used in basketball, standardized by FIBA as size 7 (750-770 mm, 580-620 g) for men and size 6 for women; bladder, winding, and leather, composite, or rubber covers.
Basketball Association of America
Basketball Association of America (BAA), 1946-1949 professional basketball league founded June 6, 1946 at New York's Commodore Hotel with 11 teams; merged with the NBL on August 3, 1949 to form the NBA, which counts 1946 as its founding date.
Basketball at the 1992 Summer Olympics
Basketball at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the first open to NBA professionals, won by the United States "Dream Team" (Jordan, Magic, Bird) 8–0, beating Croatia 117–85 in the final; average margin just under 44 points.
Basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Basketball at the 2004 Athens Olympics: Argentina won men's gold (MVP Ginobili), Italy silver, USA bronze after losses to Puerto Rico, Lithuania, and Argentina; US women won gold.
Basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament
Men's 12-team Olympic basketball tournament, Athens, 13–29 August 2004. Argentina won its first gold, beating the USA 89-81 in the semifinal and Italy 84-69 in the final; Ginóbili was MVP; the US took bronze.
Basketball at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Basketball at the 2008 Beijing Olympics: two 12-team tournaments at the Wukesong Olympic Basketball Gymnasium, 9–24 August 2008. The US Redeem Team beat Spain 118–107 for men's gold; US women won a fourth straight title.
Basketball at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Basketball at the 2012 London Olympics: 12-team men's and women's FIBA tournaments, 28 July to 12 August. USA won both golds, beating Spain 107-100 in the men's final; Spain and Russia took men's silver and bronze.
Basketball at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Basketball at the 2016 Rio Olympics: two 12-team tournaments at Carioca Arena 1. USA men beat Serbia 96-66 for a third straight gold; USA women beat Spain 101-72 for a sixth.
Basketball at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament
Men's Olympic basketball tournament, Rio 2016, 6–21 August, Arena Carioca 1. United States won a third straight gold, beating Serbia 96–66; Spain took bronze over Australia 89–88; Carmelo Anthony won a record third gold.
Basketball at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Basketball at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics: 5x5 men's and women's tournaments at Saitama Super Arena plus 3x3's Olympic debut at Aomi Urban Sports Park; USA won three golds, Latvia the men's 3x3.
Basketball at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament
Tokyo 2020 men's Olympic basketball tournament: 12-team FIBA competition at Saitama Super Arena, 25 July–7 August 2021, in three groups of 4. USA beat France 87-82 for a fourth straight gold; Australia took bronze.
Basketball at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Men's qualification
Men's basketball qualification for Paris 2024: seven direct berths from the FIBA World Cup 2023, host France, and four July 2024 Olympic Qualifying Tournaments won by Greece, Brazil, Puerto Rico, and Spain.
Basketball at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament
Men's basketball at Paris 2024: 12-team FIBA Olympic tournament, July 27-August 10, 2024. USA beat France 98-87 for a fifth straight gold; Serbia took bronze; group stage in Lille, knockouts at Bercy Arena.