Baseball’s stature① in the history of the United States is perhaps reflected more clearly in a simple dictionary rather than in the seven-centimeter-thick baseball encyclopaedia②.
There， you can find the word Ruthian， meaning “of mammoth proportions”， as in a home run by Babe Ruth back in the 1920s. There， you can find Lou Gehrig’s disease， as the incurable degenerative③ illness amyotrophic lateral sclerosis has been better known since Lou Gehrig， Ruth’s team-mate， died from it in the 1940s. In the United States， baseball and the English language are interwoven.
However， just as the game did not begin as a wholly US enterprise， it did not end the 20th century as one either. Baseball’s all-time home-run champion is a man named Sadaharu Oh， who hit 868 during a legendary④ career in baseball-mad Japan. The national team of Cuba overpowered the Baltimore Orioles of the US major leagues 12—6 in a 1999 exhibition game.
American baseball became a full medal sport in Barcelona in 1992.
① staturen. (精神、道德等的)高度境界，高度水平
② encyclopaedian. 百科全书，大全
③ degenerativeadj. 退化的，变质的
④ legendaryadj. 传说的，传奇的
棒球概述
或许一本简单的字典比7厘米厚的棒球百科全书更能反映出棒球运动在美国历史上的地位。
字典中“Ruthian”一词的意思是“占巨大比例的”，而该词的来源是20世纪20年代的棒球巨星贝贝·鲁斯（Babe Ruth），他击出的本垒打占其全部击球的很大比例。还有“Lou Gehrig’s disease”，这个短语指的是“肌萎缩性侧索硬化症”，鲁斯的队友卢·格里格（Lou Gehrig）患这种导致身体器官衰退的不治之症，于20世纪40年代去世。在美国，棒球和英语是结合在一起的。
不过，就像棒球最初不完全是美国的独家运动一样，在20世纪末，美国已经不能在这项运动上称霸了。棒球历史上个人的本垒打纪录（868支）是由传奇性的华裔日籍球员王贞治（Sadaharu Oh）在日本这个极其热爱棒球的国家中创下的，而美国职业棒球大联盟的劲旅巴尔的摩金莺队（Baltimore Orioles）在1999年的一场表演赛中曾以6—12负于古巴国家队。
美式棒球于1992年巴塞罗那奥运会上成为正式比赛项目。
