page_title: Comparison of baseball and cricket
section_title: Equipment
hierarchical_section_title: Comparison of baseball and cricket / Equipment
caption_attribution_description: From left to right, the bats used to hit Babe Ruth's 60th homer in 1927, Roger Maris' 61st in 1961 and Mark McGwire's 70 and Sammy Sosa's 66th in 1998. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. Attribution: Dave Hogg You are free: to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work to remix – to adapt the work Under the following conditions: attribution – You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).
context_page_description: Baseball and cricket are the best-known members of a family of related bat-and-ball games.
  Despite their similarities, the two sports also have many differences in play and in strategy. A comparison between baseball and cricket can be instructive to followers of either sport, since the similarities help to highlight nuances particular to each game.
context_section_description: Baseball players use thin, round bats and wear gloves to field (with the catcher wearing a special, more protective glove), while cricketers use wide, flat bats and field barehanded (except for the wicket-keeper, who wears gloves and protective leg pads). Note that while baseball fielders' gloves do provide modest protection against impact, they are used primarily to extend reach and are generally not padded (except for the catcher's glove). In cricket a batsman wears protective gear such as pads, gloves, thigh pads, helmet, a chest guard, an arm pad and a box (A.K.A. a cup), whereas the only required protective gear for baseball batters is an unsecured helmet (as required in major league baseball rule 1.16); many batters also use elbow, shin, ankle, or hand protectors, and most wear a cup (A.K.A. a box) and use batting gloves (similar to golf gloves) to aid grip.
  Another difference between the two sports involves the condition of the ball as a match progresses. In cricket, if a ball is hit into the stands, the spectators must return it to the field. Also, a ball that is scuffed or scratched will continue in use; a ball must be used for a minimum number of overs (currently 80 in Test cricket and 25 in One-Day-International cricket with a different ball being used from each end) before it can be replaced. If a ball is damaged, lost, or illegally modified, it is replaced by a used ball of similar condition to the old one. Finally, cricketers are allowed sparingly to modify the ball, though this is highly restricted. The ball may be polished (usually on a player's uniform) without the use of an artificial substance, may be dried with a towel if it is wet, and may have mud removed from it under supervision; all other actions which alter the condition of the ball are illegal. In Major League Baseball (MLB), a ball that is hit into the stands is never returned to play and spectators are free to keep any balls that come into their possession (although local tradition may provide for a ball to be thrown back, specifically in the case of home-run balls hit against the Chicago Cubs when playing at Wrigley Field).
  Moreover, baseballs are replaced on a regular interval during the course of a game. Major League Baseball requires the home team to supply the baseballs that will be used during that day's games. MLB further require that the home team make available at least 90 new baseballs to the umpires prior to the start of the game. Generally, a baseball is replaced every time it either is hit by a batter or touches the ground.  In a typical Major League Baseball game, baseballs are replaced every five pitches or so with a total game average of around 70 baseballs being used.
  Because baseball hitting is difficult, baseball rules prohibit the deliberate scratching or scuffing of a ball, or the application of any foreign substance that could conceivably affect the flight or visibility of a ball. Balls that are deliberately made more difficult to hit by applying foreign substances are often known as spitballs, regardless of the specific substance applied (such as Vaseline). Both spitballs and those that become scuffed or scratched through normal game play are immediately removed from play and never reused. The current rules regarding the condition of baseballs did not come into effect until 1920, after the death of Ray Chapman from being hit with a Carl Mays spitball. Before that point, the rules were similar to those still present in cricket. However, the new rules were not consistently enforced for several decades afterwards, and several pitchers (most notably Gaylord Perry) built careers around skirting these rules, doing such things as hiding nail files in their gloves or putting Vaseline on the underside of the peaks of their caps. In modern baseball, however, the prohibition against modifying the baseball in almost any way is strictly enforced and players found to be in violation of this rule are not only ejected from the game in which the infraction occurred, but are also subject to a suspension. The only substance applied to a b
caption: Professional baseball bats are typically made of ash or maple; hickory used to be popular, as well.
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