Despite its immense popularity and iconic place in American life, it's certainly possible that some people may know next to nothing about it. To such people, "where is the infield?" might be a perfectly logical question. So let's take a look at the infield's design and positions.

The infield starts at the batter's box, an area on the ground with a rectangle on each side, where batters stand to hit the ball. The general area, with the rectangles and white plate in the middle of them is called home plate. Behind home plate, the catcher's primary job is exactly that: catching balls thrown by the pitcher, who stands on a mound of dirt 60 feet 6 inches away (18 meters 15 centimeters). The infield forms the rough shape of a diamond if viewed from the air, and home base is the "bottom," narrow part of the diamond. Ninety feet (27 meters) from home plate in each direction (the distance forming the "sides" of the diamond) are first and third bases, with a position player handling the area around those bases. Between the corner infield positions of first and third base is second base. The area around second base is handled by the second baseman and the shortstop. The pitcher's mound is in the middle of the diamond.

The diamond-shaped area that contains the infield is itself part of a larger diamond shape, that of the whole playing field. Beyond the infield is the outfield, a vast expanse of grass or turf that is shorter at the sides and longest at the center (the top of the diamond). Position players in the outfield play left field, center field and right field. Given that center field tends to be the deepest part of the ballpark (usually more than 400 feet -- 122 meters -- away), the center fielder has the most ground to cover, which is why that position player is typically a very fast runner and graceful fielder.