Baseball Factory

Baseball Factory, Inc. is a United States company specializing in player development and college placement of high school baseball players. The company is headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, approximately 20 miles southwest of Baltimore. Over five hundred events are hosted by Baseball Factory throughout the year, ranging from national tryouts to camps, tournaments and showcases. As of 2012, Baseball Factory has helped over 40,000 baseball players compete at the college level.

Baseball Factory was founded in 1994 by CEO Steve Sclafani, to provide a service that would train and educate players on the college recruiting process. In 2004, Baseball Factory acquired Team One Baseball, a baseball company for top-flight showcases. Baseball Factory provides high school baseball players with professional instruction, showcase opportunities, tournaments, and ongoing guidance in the college recruiting process.

History

Baseball Factory was founded in 1994 in Columbia, Maryland by current CEO Steve Sclafani, in order to train and educate high school players on the college recruiting process. Alongside Baseball Factory, Inc., an inner-city middle school baseball program called B.A.S.E.-H.I.T. Foundation (presently the Baseball Factory Team One Foundation) was also launched. As the B.A.S.E.-H.I.T. Foundation continued to evolve in downtown Baltimore, Baseball Factory took their program nationwide. By 1997 the program reached over 1,000 players from 46 different states and had placed 90% of their players in a college baseball program.

Under Armour

Under Armour, Inc. is an American sports clothing and accessories company. The company is a supplier of sportswear and casual apparel. Under Armour began offering footwear in 2006. Under Armour's global headquarters is located in Baltimore, Maryland with additional North American corporate office locations in Austin and Houston Tex.; Denver, Colo.; New York, NY; Portland, Ore.; and Toronto, Canada. Under Armour's International Headquarters is located in Panama City, Panama, with Latin America offices in São Paulo, Brazil; Santiago, Chile; and Mexico City, Mexico. Its European headquarters is in Amsterdam's Olympic Stadium with an additional office in Munich, Germany. The Under Armour Shanghai office is the regional headquarters for Greater China. Additional Asia Pacific offices are in Guangzhou and Hong Kong, China; Jakarta, Indonesia; Tokyo, Japan; and Sydney, Australia.

History

Early history

Under Armour was founded in 1996 by Kevin Plank, a then 23-year-old former special teams captain of the University of Maryland football team. Plank initially began the business from his grandmother's basement in Washington, D.C. He spent his time traveling up and down the East Coast with nothing but apparel in the trunk of his car. His first team sale came at the end of 1996 with a $17,000 sale. From his grandmother's basement, Plank moved to Baltimore. After a few moves in the city he landed at his current headquarters in Tide Point.

Long Island

Coordinates: 40°48′N 73°18′W / 40.8°N 73.3°W / 40.8; -73.3

Long Island is an island located just off the northeast coast of the United States and a region within the U.S. state of New York. Stretching east-northeast from New York Harbor into the Atlantic Ocean, the island comprises four counties: Kings and Queens (these form the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, respectively) to the west; then Nassau and Suffolk to the east. However, many people in the New York metropolitan area (even those living in Queens and Brooklyn) colloquially use the term "Long Island" (or "The Island") exclusively to refer to the Nassau-Suffolk county area collectively, which is mainly suburban in character. North of the island is Long Island Sound, across from which lie the states of Connecticut and a small part of Rhode Island.

With a Census-estimated population of 7,804,968 in 2014, constituting nearly 40% of New York State's population, Long Island is the most populated island in any U.S. state or territory, and the 18th-most populous island in the world (ahead of Ireland, Jamaica, and Hokkaidō). Its population density is 5,571 inhabitants per square mile (2,151/km²). If Long Island geographically constituted an independent metropolitan statistical area, it would rank fourth most populous in the United States; while if it were a U.S. state, Long Island would rank 13th in population and first in population density.

Pirate City

Pirate City is the site of minor league and spring training activities for the Pittsburgh Pirates of the National League. The complex is located in Bradenton, Florida, and serves as the site of the Pirates spring training workouts, while nearby McKechnie Field is the site of the team's home spring training games.

History

While the Pirates have been training in Bradenton since 1969, the Pirate City complex received a major renovation in 2008, the result of a $20 million financial agreement between the team and city that fixed up both the Pirate City and McKechnie Field.

Pirate City also hosts corporate events, retreats, parties, receptions and all types of baseball camps and events. It has served as a training facility for the Netherlands national baseball team during the 2009 World Baseball Classic and hosted the LG Twins of the Korean Baseball Organization. The Pirates' rookie-level minor league affiliate, the Gulf Coast Pirates of the Gulf Coast League, play their home games at Pirate City.

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of nine players each who take turns batting and fielding.

The batting team attempts to score runs by hitting a ball that is thrown by the pitcher with a bat swung by the batter, then running counter-clockwise around a series of four bases: first, second, third, and home plate. A run is scored when a player advances around the bases and returns to home plate.

Players on the batting team take turns hitting against the pitcher of the fielding team, which tries to prevent runs by getting hitters out in any of several ways. A player on the batting team who reaches a base safely can later attempt to advance to subsequent bases during teammates' turns batting, such as on a hit or by other means. The teams switch between batting and fielding whenever the fielding team records three outs. One turn batting for both teams, beginning with the visiting team, constitutes an inning. A game comprises nine innings, and the team with the greater number of runs at the end of the game wins. Baseball is the only major team sport in America with no game clock, although almost all games end in the ninth inning.