Baseball’s stature¹ in the history of the United States is perhaps reflected more clearly in a simple dictionary rather than in the seven-centimetre-thick baseball encyclopaedia².
　　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。

　　There, you can find the word Ruthian, meaning "of mammoth³ proportions", as in a home run by Babe Ruth back in the 1920s. There, you can find Lou Gehrig’s disease, as the incurable⁴ degenerative illness amyotrophic lateral⁵ 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.
　　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。

　　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 legendary⁶ 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.
　　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。

　　American baseball became a full medal sport in Barcelona in 1992.
　　美式棒球于1992年巴塞罗那奥运会上成为正式比赛项目。

About Baseball (Olympic sport since 1992)
棒球概述（1992年成为奥运会正式比赛项目）