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Rule Origin??

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Lloyd K. Phillips

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Aug 7, 1994, 10:37:18 PM8/7/94
to
I have been searching for the origin of one of the strangest
rules in the game. When a third strike eludes the catcher with first
base open, the batter can run to first and is safe if he beats the
catcher's throw. I have been able to locate the origin of the infield
fly rule and the raised pitcher's mound, but any help on this topic is
appreciated. Please respond via post so that all readers of this
newsgroup can equally enlightened.
Many thanks.

Kyle Phillips
gt3...@prism.gatech.edu

--
Lloyd K. Phillips
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
uucp: ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!prism!gt3362a
Internet: gt3...@prism.gatech.edu

Allen Flick

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Aug 8, 1994, 11:12:16 AM8/8/94
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Lloyd K. Phillips (gt3...@prism.gatech.edu) wrote:
: I have been searching for the origin of one of the strangest

: Kyle Phillips
: gt3...@prism.gatech.edu

--

Origins of rules is not anything I'm expert on, but I can tell you this:
Major League Umpire, Jim Evans, AL #3, who runs one of the 3 umpire schools
is also an author of 2 very interesting publications.

First, he has an cross reference/index to the rules as published by
The Sporting News, which is the key rule book used by the major leaguers.
This Xreference is the same physical size as TSN edition of the rules
and a little thinner. Sold thru his school's office for (I think) $3.95.

The second is a much more expensive publication, of which I have only seen.
Too expensive for me right now, and I can't think of its title, but it
covers the history of the rules of the game, and, I think, also does a
cross reference on at least 12 baseball rules (in TSN edition) that
contradict each other.

Some day, when I have the $$ available, I plan to get this book.

Evans' school is the Academy of Professional Umpiring. Its office is in
Austin, TX, and can be reached at 1-512-346-9555.

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Eric Smith

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Aug 8, 1994, 12:07:36 PM8/8/94
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gt3...@prism.gatech.edu (Lloyd K. Phillips) writes:

> I have been searching for the origin of one of the strangest
>rules in the game. When a third strike eludes the catcher with first
>base open, the batter can run to first and is safe if he beats the
>catcher's throw. I have been able to locate the origin of the infield
>fly rule and the raised pitcher's mound, but any help on this topic is
>appreciated. Please respond via post so that all readers of this
>newsgroup can equally enlightened.
> Many thanks.

This must be one of the oldest rules of baseball. According to Total
Baseball II, which lists rules starting with the twenty rules of the
1845 Knickerbocker Baseball Club of New York, one of those rules stated,
"Three balls being struck at and missed, and the last one caught,
is a hand out; if not caught is considered fair, and the striker
bound to run." This was long before almost all of the rules which we
are familiar with today. For example, another of these rules stated
that the game would end when one side had scored 21 runs ("counts", or
"aces"), after each side had batted an equal number of innings ("hands").

In 1858 several baseball clubs, including the old Knickerbockers,
established the National Association of Base-Ball Players, and in the
process greatly expanded and refined the rules. Those rules were
divided into thirty-seven "sections", of which section 12 (under
"How batsmen are put out") states, "Or if three balls are struck at
and missed, and the last is caught either before touching the ground
or upon the first bound."

In 1880 the National League changed the strikeout rule to the following:
"The batter becomes a runner immediately when three strikes have been
called by the umpire. The batter is out when the umpire calls three
strikes and the catcher momentarily holds the ball before it touches
the ground, or any other object other than a fielder, provided the
fielder has not caught it in his hat."

-----
Eric Smith
er...@netcom.com
CI$: 70262,3610

Michael McCoy

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Aug 8, 1994, 9:22:40 AM8/8/94
to
>Lloyd K. Phillips (gt3...@prism.gatech.edu) wrote:
>: I have been searching for the origin of one of the strangest
>: rules in the game. When a third strike eludes the catcher with first
>: base open, the batter can run to first and is safe if he beats the
>: catcher's throw. I have been able to locate the origin of the infield
>: fly rule and the raised pitcher's mound, but any help on this topic is
>: appreciated. Please respond via post so that all readers of this
>: newsgroup can equally enlightened.
>: Many thanks.

>: Kyle Phillips
>: gt3...@prism.gatech.edu

Well, I can't cite an origin, but it seems to me the logic of it comes from
the idea that any out must involve cleanly catching the ball or tagging an
offensive runner (or the base in case of a force). That's why on a strikeout,
the *catcher* gets the put-out.


Michael McCoy
mmc...@crs.loc.gov
202-707-6539
--------------------------
"Be ashamed to die until you have won one victory for humanity."
--Horace Mann

"One must imagine Sisyphus happy."--Camus

All statements, opinions, wisdom and drivel contained herein is
purely personal and in no way shape or form reflect the views
of any institution I'm aware of.
---------------------------

Rod Stutt

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Aug 12, 1994, 4:36:57 AM8/12/94
to

In a previous article, gt3...@prism.gatech.edu (Lloyd K. Phillips) says:

> I have been searching for the origin of one of the strangest
>rules in the game. When a third strike eludes the catcher with first
>base open, the batter can run to first and is safe if he beats the
>catcher's throw. I have been able to locate the origin of the infield
>fly rule and the raised pitcher's mound, but any help on this topic is
>appreciated. Please respond via post so that all readers of this
>newsgroup can equally enlightened.
> Many thanks.
>
>Kyle Phillips

Seems like this may go back to cricket. The number of strikes
was not important and the batsman would defend the wicket for an
indeterminate number of bowls (pitches, throws). If the ball
was caught by the wicket-keeper the batter was out. If the ball
was dropped, he could run. This used to be true for all
pitches, now it's only true for the third strike. One supposes
that this was an effort to speed up the game.

Marc Sanfacon

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Aug 17, 1994, 2:01:29 PM8/17/94
to
In a previous article, gt3...@prism.gatech.edu (Lloyd K. Phillips) says:

>catcher's throw. I have been able to locate the origin of the infield
>fly rule and the raised pitcher's mound, but any help on this topic is

OK, I'll bite... I can guess the origin of the infield fly rule
but what about the raised pitcher's mound? Just to give the pitchers
more of an advantage because they sucked so bad?

--
/* Marc Sanfacon Stratus Computer, Inc. */
/* (508) 460-2673 (FAX 460-8219) 55 Fairbanks Blvd. M1-2-EN2 */
/* sanf...@hw.stratus.com Marlboro, MA 01752-1298 */

ken emery

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Aug 17, 1994, 4:48:11 PM8/17/94
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In article <32tpg5$k...@acmex.gatech.edu>,
Lloyd K. Phillips <gt3...@prism.gatech.edu> wrote:

<interesting stuff about origin of the pitchers mound removed>

> Since, the mound has been a fixture in the game--and probably an
>ally of the lone warrior on the mound. I have been unable to find out
>if the pitching rubber was invented in conjunction with the mound, or if
>it came later to insure that the pitcher had a firm object to push off
>of--or to insure that pitchers couldn't cheat by throwing from the front
>side of the mound and shortening the distance to the plate.
> If anyone knows where the pitching rubber originated (or why),
>then feel free to share the secret. Otherwise, blame Skip's baseball
>buddy if the above info is myth rather than truth.

The pitching rubber was instituted in 1893 at the same time as the
distance was changed from 50' to 60'6". With the 50' distance
pitchers had to stay in a "box" whose dimensions measured 4' by 6'
(I think that is correct). They had an article about this in one of
"The Diamond" magazines last year (I forget the issue). They had a copy
of the original drawings used to layout the new field (in 1893) in which
the "rubber" was specified (I think they used the term "slab" at that
time).

bye,
ken emery

Eric Smith

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Aug 18, 1994, 6:24:22 AM8/18/94
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gt3...@prism.gatech.edu (Lloyd K. Phillips) writes:

> During the next night's game, Skip said that a baseball junkie
>had called WTBS with the answer: before the turn of the century, the
>pitcher's area had been on the same level as the rest of the playing
>surface (a la Cricket, I think). In some of the wetter areas of the
>country, however, there developed serious problems because the pitching
>area became muddy. Due to heavy rains, and the fact that it took more
>punishment than any other area of the field, the pitchers could get no
>traction, and they became literally mired in the mud. No one knows
>precisely who originated the idea, but by the turn of the century
>practically all baseball fields sported mounds. The raised surface
>allowed water to run off rather than settle, and the packed dirt
>resisted wear better. Thus was the pitcher's mound born.


> Since, the mound has been a fixture in the game--and probably an
>ally of the lone warrior on the mound. I have been unable to find out
>if the pitching rubber was invented in conjunction with the mound, or if
>it came later to insure that the pitcher had a firm object to push off
>of--or to insure that pitchers couldn't cheat by throwing from the front
>side of the mound and shortening the distance to the plate.
> If anyone knows where the pitching rubber originated (or why),
>then feel free to share the secret. Otherwise, blame Skip's baseball
>buddy if the above info is myth rather than truth.

According to the evolution of the rules given in Total Baseball, the
pitcher's position was specified in 1858 as a "line four yards in length,
drawn at right angles to a line from home to second base, having its
center upon that line." In 1863 this line was replaced by a box (similar
to the batter's box), defined by "two lines, twelve feet in length, with
the front line forty-five feet and the back line forty-eight feet distant
from home base." The size of this box changed over the years (e.g. in
1867 to six feet by four feet, in 1869 six feet square, in 1879 four feet
by six feet, etc.). In 1893 this rule was introduced: "The pitcher's
boundary shall be marked by a white rubber plate 12 inches long and
4 inches wide so fixed in the ground as to be even with the surface at
the distance of 60 feet 6 inches from the outer corner of home plate,"
and the pitcher was required to be in front of the plate with one foot
in contact with it when delivering the ball. In 1895 the pitcher's plate
was enlarged to 24 by 6 inches.

The first notion of a pitcher's mound shows up in 1903 with this rule:
"The pitcher's box shall be no more than 15 inches higher than the
baselines and home plate. The baselines and home plate shall be on a
perfect level, and the slope from the pitcher's box towards the
baselines and home plate shall be gradual." In 1904 the phrase "pitcher's
box" was replaced by "pitcher's plate." The 15 inch height seems to have
been standard until 1969, when it was lowered to 10 inches.

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