Infield it includes that area where the all-important duel between the pitcher and batter takes place. The pitcher stands on the pitcher's mound (a raised mound of dirt located at the center of the infield) and from there he pitches the ball to his catcher, who is crouched behind home plate sixty feet, six inches away at what might be called the cutlet of the diamond-shaped baseball field. To the left and right of the catcher are chalk boxes in the dirt called batter's boxes. The opposing team's batter must stand in one of the two boxes and from there he
Origins of baseball put the batter-runner out when liable ("liable [to be put out]" is the baseball term for unsafe). The game of "cat" (or ""cat-ball"") had many variations but usually there was a pitcher, a catcher, a batter and fielders, but there were no sides (and often no bases to run). Often, as in English tip-cat, there was no pitcher and the "cat" was not a ball but an oblong wooden object, roughly football-shaped, which could be flipped into the air by striking one end, or simply a short stick which could be placed over a hole or stone and similarly flipped