The Ins and Outs of Baseball

I was at the Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association (MHSBCA) Conference in January at the Soaring Eagle in Mt. Pleasant. The University of Baylor coaching staff put on the conference. Before one of the coaches made his first presentation to the attendees, he started off with this: (Keep in mind, this was completely memorized and he didn't miss a beat. In fact, I felt bad he didn't get any reaction. He deserved a freakin' standing ovation. But, I think everyone was just in amazement. I had never heard anything like it before. So, I did some searching and think I found it.):

You have two sides, one out in the field, one in.

Each man that's on the side that's in goes out and when he's out he comes in and the next man goes in until he's out. When they are all out, the side that's out comes in and the side that's been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out.

Sometimes you get men still in and not out. When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in.

There are two men called umpires who stay out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out.

When three men are out, those that are in and still out are left out and don't score. Then the side that's been out comes in and the side that's been in goes out and tries to get the side coming in out.

When both sides have been in and out nine times, that is the end of the game. Unless, of course, both sides have the same number of not outs, not counting left outs. In that case, they continue to go in and out until after an equal number of ins and outs one side has more.