The squad in the field is the defensive team; they attempt to prevent the baserunners from scoring. There are nine defensive positions, however, only two of the positions have a mandatory location (pitcher and catcher), the locations of the other seven fielders is not specified by the rules, except that at the [...]

Great Players
Numerous great players played in the days before tennis’s Open era, many of whom are unknown by modern sports fans. Among them, chronologically, are:

“Big Bill” Tilden – winner of 21 amateur Grand Slam titles, 7 consecutive Davis Cups, 4 professional Grand Slam titles, the professional doubles title at age 52; was [...]

Olympic (or Amateur) boxing is found at the Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games. Olympic boxing prizes point scoring rather than physical damage or knockouts. Bouts comprise four rounds of two minutes in Olympic and Commonwealth and three rounds of two minutes in a national ABA (Amateur Boxing association) bout each with [...]

Measurements and time limits discussed in this section often vary among tournaments and organizations; international and NBA rules are used in this section.
The object of the game is to outscore one’s opponents by throwing the ball through the opponents’ basket from above while preventing the opponents from doing so on their [...]

A simplified version of the rules of baseball is at simplified baseball rules. The complete Official Rules can be found www.mlb.com, the official web site of Major League Baseball in the United States.
General structure
Baseball is played between two teams of nine players each on a baseball field, under the authority of [...]

Tennis has a long history (deriving from the ‘jeu de paume’), but its establishment as the modern sport can be dated to two separate roots. In 1856, Alex Ryden, a solicitor, and his friend Batista Pereira, a Spanish merchant, who both lived in Birmingham, England played a game they named “pelota”, after [...]

Earliest evidence suggests that boxing was prevalent in North Africa during 4000 BC and the Mediterranean in 1500 BC.
A Greek ruler named Thesus, who ruled around 900 B.C., was entertained by men who would be seated in front of each other and beat another with their fists until one of them was [...]

Early basketball
The first basketball court: Springfield College.
Basketball is unique in that it was invented by one person, rather than evolving from a different sport. In early December 1891, Dr. James Naismith, a Canadian-born physician of McGill University and minister on the faculty of a college for YMCA professionals (today, Springfield College) [...]

Origins of baseball
The distinct evolution of baseball from among the various bat-and-ball games is difficult to pin down. However, it is mainly agreed that modern baseball is an American development from earlier British games, such as rounders, with possible influences from cricket.
The earliest known mention of the sport is in a 1744 [...]

A competent tennis player has eight basic shots in his or her repertoire: the serve, forehand, backhand, volley, half-volley, overhead smash, drop shot, and lob.
Serve
A serve (or, more formally, a “service”) in tennis is a shot to start a point. The serve is initiated by tossing the ball into the air and [...]

Professional boxing bout featuring Ricardo Dominguez (left) vs. Rafael Ortiz.
Boxing, also called pugilism, prizefighting (when referring to professional boxing) or the sweet science (a common nickname among fans) is a sport where two participants of similar weight fight each other with their fists in a series of one to three-minute [...]

Basketball is a sport in which two teams of five players each try to score points on one other by throwing a ball through a hoop (the basket) under organized rules.
Since its invention in 1891, it has developed to become a truly international sport. Organized league play originated in the YMCA and [...]

Baseball is a team sport popular in North America, Latin America, the Caribbean and East Asia. The modern game was developed in the United States from early bat-and-ball games played in Britain, and it has become the national sport of the United States. It is a ball game in which a pitcher [...]

The U.S. Open is a prestigious Grand Slam tournament.
Tennis is a sport played between either two players (“Singles”) or two teams of two players (“doubles”). Players use a stringed racquet to strike a ball, a hollow rubber ball covered in felt, over a net into the opponent’s court. In some places [...]

The Las Vegas 51s (formerly the Las Vegas Stars) is a minor-league baseball team. They are the AAA affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers. They play at Cashman Field (capacity 9,334) in Las Vegas, Nevada. The team competes in the Pacific Coast League.
The 51s take their name from Area 51, located “somewhere” [...]

Use of the word “football” in English-speaking countries
The word “football“, when used in reference to a specific game can mean any one of those described above. Because of this, much friendly controversy has occurred over the term football, primarily because it is used in different ways in different parts of the English-speaking [...]

A satellite tournament is either a minor tournament or event on a competitive sporting tour or one of a group of such tournaments that form a series played in the same country or region. The term is most commonly used in reference to minor professional or competitive junior tennis.In professional tennis, [...]

English public schools
Match at Winchester College around 1840.
The earliest evidence that games resembling football were being played at English public schools — mainly attended by boys from the upper, upper-middle and professional classes — comes from the Vulgaria by William Horman in 1519. Horman had been headmaster at Eton and Winchester [...]

Throughout the history of mankind the urge to kick at stones and other such objects is thought to have led to many early activities involving kicking and/or running with a ball. Football-like games predate recorded history in all parts of the world, though the earliest forms of football are not known.
Ancient games
Documented [...]

Football is the name given to a number of different, but related, team sports. By far the most popular of these worldwide is Association football, which also goes by the name of soccer. The English language word football is also applied to Rugby football (Rugby union and Rugby league), North American [...]