Ok, i'm 14 years old, male. Ever since I was young i've had a couple of surgeries. Unfortunately I was never allowed to play any sports really, or at least I was, but not in a league, sometimes not at all after operations. I have never really played baseball much due to operations. When I first started playing in the 8th grade I was ridiculed a lot because I couldn't catch or didn't know where to throw the ball, and just for a game.

My question is, why do people love baseball so much?
How can I get better and learn the rules of the game, also for football, the same story with that too basically, and why does everyone love football so much also?

I almost hate going to gym class knowing i'm going to get yelled at and embarrassed for doing the wrong thing.

Baseball is a sport in which one's height, weight, and physical attributes mean nothing. Bud Daily was born deformed. Jim Abbot had only one hand. Freddy Patek was short, and so was Albie Pearson (listed at 5'3" he was actually 5' even).

Patek made the all-star game once the same year Frank Howard did. You should see the photo. Looked like a Watusi standing next to a pygmy. Pat Border's DAUGHTER pitched in the minors.

Baseball's ONLY expectation is that you do SOMETHING well. Anything. And you can play. At the major league level.

Get a book or a web site of the rules. Easily available. Watch all the games you can. Check out chapter books at the library on history, biographies, and oddities. Watch the movies.

Oh, and remember, you haven't filled out yet. I knew a kid who was fully a foot shorter than me in 5th grade. He grew up to be a foot and 1/2 taller. It isn't size or strength, it's strength of character that counts. Always do the right thing and always try hard. You'll be fine.

The best way to get better and to learn the rules is by experience. You can watch the MLB and you can learn from them and you can learn about the rules just by watching. Try practicing with a friend to improve skills like catching and throwing. I like baseball because it is just fun to watch and play.

If you are getting yelled at for making mistakes just ignore them. By ignoring them you will show more class than them and you'll be better of it. Everyone makes mistakes so it is not like they haven't ever made one.

3 easy things that you can do to learn, love and get better at baseball. At least fielding.
1) Get a tennis ball, preferibly a baseball glove, but if not, bare-handed will do, and go and bounce the ball against a wall, and catch it, keep doing this, use any kind of angles that you can think of, it's fun and it will speed up your reactions. Next thing you know, you'll catch and throw without even thinking about it.
2) Watch as much baseball as you can, watch where the fielders back up one another, pay attention to the rules, etc.
3) If you want to know more about the history and why baseball is the way it is know, read Bill James book
"Historical Baseball Abstract". It has a history of the game, and the best players at each position as you wouldn't find anywhere else.

Being a student of the game and rules, like being a student of your favorite class, makes the sport fun. Even though the 1994 strike claimed the life of my mother, I kept studying and honing my knowledge and skills so that even though I can't physically go out and play the game any more, I can teach the youth in my community to love the sport and be good at it as I eventually got to be before my heart died (literally). Hopefully, if I did my job well, these 6 & 7 year olds will grow up and either teach the next generation or play in the Majors or both!

I had a lot of orthopedic surgery when I was younger too, and loathed gym class with a white hot loathing. Less pressure on me (somewhat) because I'm female, but still, I never was good at anything sporty. And I had no interest in watching sports either, until I became a baseball fan in my 30s.

I love stories, and that's how I got interested in baseball. There are a lot of great stories and interesting characters, a lot of humor in the sport. So I went to my first game with someone who loved the game. It was at Yankee stadium, which had a real feel of history and character to it, and I was won over.

Why I love the sport? It's got a rhythm and flow, and there's a lot of internal strategy going on that you never see (there are some good books about this, on how to watch the sport to see those hidden levels). This is all the stuff that people who call it boring hate. There's the murmur of the crowd, the sounds of a ballpark that are different from the sounds of other sports -- if I turn on the TV in the middle of a sporting event, I can tell right away if it's a baseball game.

It's a game that pros play that kids can also play, and even the pros range from short and thin to tall or large -- some of the best players can be guys who look like they'd more likely be sitting in front of the TV with a beer watching. I never got any good at it (I still have lousy ankles), but in my day I've gone to games from spring training to World Series, and y'know, I just love it.

You don't have to be good at it to enjoy it. And gym class just kind of sucks, unless you're one of the happy few with good hand-eye coordination and healthy joints or whatever. Gym class isn't forever, and someday, maybe even long after your last gym class, you'll find something that you like and excel at that's a sport or game or something like it. Or maybe you'll excel at some other field entirely, but it's easier to take joy in some kind of sport when the pressure of group performance is gone. (I found I have a pretty good eye for shooting and did some target shooting for a while.)

Good luck. I feel your pain. Running around a gym or a field isn't all there is to life, though, so try not to let the jerks get to you.

I agree with HugoWatch how the players back up one another. If you get the chance to go to a game, sit way at the top where you an get a visual of all. watch how the players move in any given play situation, runners on 1st, or bases loaded. if the ball is hit in the infield watch how the players move. Its like a well oiled machine. everyone knows where to go.
Take notes lots and lots of notes
Ask questions
record games and watch them over and over to see how everyone moves. Listen to the commentators. Alot of times they are going to tell you the scenario set up
Most of all be passionate about the game
I have loved baseball since grade school and am very passionate about the game. Its the only thing I remember my father and I doing together, my mother hated it, she wanted me to play with dolls..yuck!
good luck and keep asking questions