13.2.1 Baseball and Golf.

Read the text and after that do the True and False quiz. 

The sport that is probably the most important one in American culture is baseball. By the 1860s it had become the most popular sport in America. Baseball is connected to a time when most Americans were farmers. The baseball season follows the farming season. It begins in

the spring, when farmers plant their crops. It ends in the fall, when farmers harvest their crops. In addition, baseball games move slowly and unlike other types of sport they have no time limit. 

Baseball has become known as "the national pastime." It is also a democratic game. Unlike football and basketball, baseball can be played well by people of average height and weight as well.

The Official Baseball Rules have remained largely static during the modern era of the game. Many baseball players, fans, and administrators view the rules and traditions of professional baseball as time-tested and nearly unchangeable.

Baseball is played between two teams with nine players in the field on each team. On a baseball field, the game is under the authority of several umpires. There are usually four umpires in major league games.

Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization that is the oldest of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. A total of 30 teams now play in the American League (AL) and National League (NL), with 15 teams in each league. The games can be followed on television, radio, and the Internet. MLB has the highest season attendance of any sports league in the world with more than 74 million spectators in 2013.

Golf

The origins of golf are unclear and much debated. However, it is generally accepted that modern golf developed in Scotland during the Middle Ages.   In 1603 James VI of  Scotland succeeded to the throne of England. His son Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales and his courtiers played golf in London. Later Scottish soldiers, expatriates and immigrants took the game to many British colonies of faraway lands. 

Golf is a game played in an open field where the golfer plays his golf ball into a hole by using different types of clubs (golf instruments). In golf, a golfer plays a number of holes in a given order. 18 holes played in an order make up a game. On a nine-hole course, two nine-hole rounds make up a normal game. The two common forms of playing golf are match play and stroke play. In match play, two golfers (or two teams) play holes one at a time. The golfer with the lower number of strokes (number of times the golfer used to get his ball in the hole) wins that hole. In stroke play, the golfer (or team) with the smallest number of strokes all together wins.