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For people who do not get the Baseball metaphor, let me try to explain:
In Baseball there is a field (called a diamond) that has four bases (1st base, 2nd base, 3rd base, and Home). A hitter will start out at Home base, and attempt to hit a ball thrown by a pitcher. After they hit the ball, they will run to first base. If the ball has not been returned to the infield yet (the area where the bases, pitcher, and catcher are), the batter can attempt to run to 2nd base, 3rd base, or even home. Now sometimes a pitcher may choose to “walk” a player by throwing 4 balls; pitchers may do this on purpose if they feel the batter could hit a home run). Once a player has crossed all four bases, their team gets a point.
A lot of the time, players will either be walked or they will hit a single (get to first base). At that point, other players will do the same, moving all players on base to their next base.
This analogy represents a player who got moved to third base, not by their own virtue but by the virtue of others, but the player on third pretends he got to third all on his own, without help.
(NB. This is not a complete “how-to” on baseball, so I skipped over a few details not related to the analogy.)
Now sometimes a pitcher may choose to “walk” a player by throwing 4 balls; pitchers may do this on purpose if they feel the batter could hit a home run)
Could you explain that bit? The rest I get. Is a pitcher "throwing" a ball basically them deliberately pitching poorly so the batter can't hit it?
Yes. When the pitcher and catcher want to intentionally walk a batter, the catcher will extend their glove hand all the way to their side, which is outside of the batter’s reach, and the pitcher will throw it to the catcher’s glove.
Not having a ball in the game, per se, that seems like it should be illegal.
Though there's an infamous "underarm bowling incident" in Australian/New Zealand test cricket that's similar, was legal, but scandalous.
Eh. It’s part of the game. I believe it’s always been this way.
Yes that's exactly what's happening
TY!
Yes. Its part of the penalty system. If the batter fails to hit a ball that they could have hit, they get a strike, and they get three strikes before they have to go to the back of the line and let the next batter swing: if 3 batters strike out, the teams switch. If the pitcher throws so poorly that the batter would not have been able to hit the ball without lunging for it, the pitcher gets a "ball". Four balls means the batter walks to first base (and everyone else walks to the next base). Unlike batting, pitchers do not rotate when they accumulate three balls, because pitching is so physically demanding that switching them out is already a regular process.