Baseball Rules and Regulations
This category is for questions regarding the rules and regulations of baseball which includes asking about rules on safe and out calls, error calls, home run calls and much more.
Asked in Baseball Rules and Regulations
How many outs in one season?

162 games per team per season... 3 outs per inning, 9 innings a
game sometimes 8.5, sometimes more... This math is based on if each
game was played to a full 9 innings and no more, which is really
not likely the case... but your question is complicates, so also is
your answer haha.
3 x 9 = 27
which means there is27 outs per game
27 x 162 = 4374
which subsequently means there is 4374 outs per season
multiply that by 30 teams in the league
4374 x 30 = 131220
131220 outs per season in all of mlb, if each game was played to
a strict 9 innings
Asked in Baseball, Baseball History, Baseball Rules and Regulations
Who hit grand slam home runs in consecutive at bats?

In MLB, 7 players have done it.
1) Jim Gentile, 1961 Baltimore Orioles
2) Jim Northrup, 1968 Detroit Tigers
3) Frank Robinson, 1970 Baltimore Orioles
4) Robin Ventura, 1995 Chicago White Sox
5) Fernando Tatis, 1999 St. Louis Cardinals
6) Bill Mueller, 2003 Boston Red Sox
7) Josh Willingham, 2009 Washington Nationals.
and Moises Alou did it in the same inning off the same
pitcher.
Asked in Baseball Rules and Regulations
Why is home plate a pentagon rather than a square?

Home plate began its baseball career in the nineteenth century
as a twelve-inch square, set down like a diamond, with the two
sides forming the beginning of the foul lines. Home is the compass
by which a baseball field is set. Those foul lines extend up the
foul poles and on into infinity. It's the diamond of home plate
that starts them running. In the winter of 1899 the Rules Committee
extended the bottom of the plate (that is, the side facing the
pitcher), creating the foundation of the home plate pentagon/house.
That year's Spalding Guide tells us the committee felt the pitcher
was handicapped by having to "cut the corners" of the old
twelve-inch square. The umpire also found it difficult to judge
which pitched balls caught those corners. The guide adds that by
making the front of the plate square with a width of seventeen
inches, the pitcher is able to see the width of the plate better
and the umpire can judge balls and strikes with less difficulty.
Moreover, the front of the plate was squared off towards the
pitcher to help prevent injury to the batter. Before the change, if
the ball hit the edge of the plate, it would skip off at an acute
angle. With a perpendicular edge facing the trajectory of the
pitch, any ball hitting the edge would be deflected upward instead
of skew. the two foul lines form the back edge of the plate
Asked in Baseball, Baseball History, Baseball Rules and Regulations
How can you have eight batters in one inning without scoring a run?

#1
You cannot get 8 batters in 1 half inning, the most batters
(roster spots) you can get to the plate in 1 half inning is 7
(although everyone here says 6, that is incorrect) -- in a half
inning you can have 7 batter slots in the line up come up by:
- 3 runners on, reaching in any manner (3 batters)
- 2 batters get out (5 batters total)
- batter puts ball in play everyone advances a base, including
the guy from 3rd to home (6 batters)
- batter is announced (making his appearance official), then
without throwing a pitch, the defense team appeals a call (say the
guy didnt touch home) -- ump calls him out
there you have it -- 7 batting slots in the lineup make official
batters (because if a 7th batter is a pinch hitter, even though he
never sees a pitch he is officially in the game, and takes the
roster spot of the player he was subbed in for), no runs scored
#2
You can only have a maximum of 6 batters appear who receive
official plate appearances in a half inning without scoring a run.
As stated above, you get 3 runners on in any manner, and then the
next 3 batters get out without anyone scoring (i.e strikeouts),
this would be 6 batters total receiving a plate appearance. In the
scenario above, the pinch hitter or the 7th 'batter' would not
receive any official stat other then "+1 in games played"
Discussion behind this
answer
To give a solid answer to this question we would need to define
what a "batter" is, is a player officially a batter when he is
announced to the plate, once he receives a pitch, once his "plate
appearance" is complete", ect?
With pinch hitters, you could theoretically have any number of
players bat in an inning (up to the roster limit of a team, I
suppose).
If it is one full inning and not a half inning, then you can
simply by getting a couple runners on base
if you are a good team and your batters are good you can
sometime go threough the line up once witch is nine players and
maye one ore two or more the second time you run through your line
up .
Asked in National Football League (NFL), Board Games, Baseball Rules and Regulations
What is the wild card race?

In baseball the AL and NL each have 3 divisions (East, Central,
West) -- those division winners all qualify for the playoffs, then
you take all the other teams in the league, whichever team has the
best record is the wildcard -- the AL and NL each have 4 teams make
the playoffs (3 division winners and the wildcard) -- The wildcard
CANNOT play the winner of their division in the 1st round (LDS) --
in the event that 2 or more teams qualify for the wildcard, they
will play a 1 game playoff game against each other, the winner of
that game will be the wildcard --- the wildcard is the #4 seed
regardless of their win-loss record and will play the #1 seed
(unless that happens to be a team from their division, in which
case they would play the #2 seed in the Division Series)
A "wildcard race" references the end of the regular season when
teams that do not win their division are going for that #4 seed
(the wildcard team)
Beginning in the 2012 season, there will always be a one-game
playoff, regardless of the records of the competing teams.
Asked in Baseball Rules and Regulations
Why do baserunners run counterclockwise?

Well, I do not know the whole detail to this question but can
give some insight. The reason why baseball players run the bases
counter clockwise along with NASCAR, INDY, horse racing, dogs,
running counter clockwise etc., has a lot to do with the American
Revolution. Early Americans hated the British so much they wanted
to do almost eveything opposite to their rules. In England and
Europe, they run car and horse races clockwise, and I think Cricket
runs clockwise as well, although they do not have a diamond like
American Baseball. Hope that helps!
Asked in Baseball, Baseball History, Baseball Rules and Regulations
Why does Major League Baseball not have any female players?

Ostensibly because there are no female players good enough to
play there.
There is no rule, written or unwritten, that says women are not
allowed to play professional baseball. Competition is such that
certainly if any woman player was good enough to help a Major
League team, there would be at least one team willing to incur
whatever negatives might come about as a result of adding a female
player to the roster.
Although there are not any females that have been signed to
major league teams, females have played on minor league teams. The
most memorable being Jackie Mitchell, who, in an exhibition game
struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Unfortunately will not have
the chance to strike out Barry Bonds or to hit against Gregg
Maddux. Major League Baseball banned the signing of women to
contracts on June 21, 1952. (Note: the ban was repealed in
1992)
The other reason you won't see any women in baseball is because
with the emerging popularity of softball most women choose to
engage in this sport as it is more encouraged for them.
Asked in Baseball Rules and Regulations
If a ball gets stuck on a player is it an out?

The ball is dead and all runners advance one base.
I just wanted to add onto this answer. When this happens the
ball is a live ball until the runs advance a base. i.e if the ball
never touches the ground and gets stuck in a jersey it would could
as a lineout/fly out and the batter would be out, then it is a dead
ball... if somehow it happens on a ground ball a force out can be
made, but a batter cannot be tagged out
Asked in Baseball, Baseball Rules and Regulations, Count Basie
Can a batter be substituted in the middle of a count?

Yes he can. He is credited with an AB (at bat), rather than on
OAB (Official at bat), for statistical purposes, since he did not
begin the at bat with a 0/0 count.
count.
Clarification:
I just wanted to add on the answer above:
1. If a player comes in to pinch hit with any two-strike count
and strikes out, this is the only scenario in which the original
batter is charged with the strikeout and the AB, the pinch hitter
is charged with neither an AB or the K
Asked in Baseball, Baseball Rules and Regulations
On a third strike why can you foul tip the ball many times but if you try to bunt and nick the ball you are out?

It's important to know that there are different types of bunts.
There's bunting for a base hit, swinging bunts and, most commonly
used, sacrifice bunts. The limited foul attempt rule is in effect
for all bunts. However, for the first two aforementioned types, the
batter is trying to get on base; thus, is wary of the ball/strike
count and will rarely attempt a bunt with a two strike count. The
only instance the rule comes into play is when a player is asked to
lay down a sacrifice bunt in order to advance a base runner.
A sacrifice bunt is viewed as the simplest way to put the ball
into play. A batter performs a sacrifice bunt by holding the bat in
the strike zone until the ball meets the bat. Due to the apparent
simplicity, the umpire, in attempt to move the game along, will not
allow an unlimited amount of foul attempts. Answer Actually, when
you foul tip a ball on the third strike you're out!
And a foul tip is when the batter skims the ball and the ball
goes into the catchers glove.
Clarification
The first answer given is completely wrong. The umpire makes no
assumption on the reasoning behind why a batter is bunting. A
sacrifice bunt can be performed with 0 strikes just as a bat for a
hit can be performed with 2 strikes - the rule applies to both of
these. A "swinging bunt" is not defined in the Rules; it is a term
used to describe when a batter swings, but the ball only goes a few
feet, much like a bunt.
When there is any "swinging motion" whether a full swing, half
swing, check swing or "swinging bunt", the 2 strike bunt rule does
not apply. This has been a rule as long as baseball has been
around. A logical reason for it would be to level the playing field
for pitchers and batters alike -- it wouldn't be very fair for a
pitcher if a batter were given chance after chance to lay down a
bunt until successful. The same reason is behind the 2 strike
caught foul tip on a swing rule.
Asked in Baseball, Softball, Baseball Rules and Regulations
If a player reaches base on a passed ball and later scores is it an earned run or unearned?

The only way a runner can reach on a passed ball is if he
strikes out, and the 3rd strike gets away from the catcher. Since
the batter struck out, he should not have reached based, although
no errors are charged the run if he later scores is an unearned
run
See MLB Rule 10.18 Earned Runs. No earned run if batter reaches
on passed ball.
A wild pitch is the pitcher's fault and contributes to the
earned run.
Asked in Baseball, Baseball Rules and Regulations
In baseball what is OPS?

OPS stands for "On-Base Plus Slugging" this is a great tool to
compare players on their overall offensive contribution. In order
to be among the league leaders in OPS, a player must hit for
average, display a great batting eye (to collect walks), and hit
for power. An OPS over 900 is considered quite good, and an OPS
over 1000 is sure be among the league leaders.
To calculate this you need to first know a players On-Base
Percentage and their Slugging Percentage --- then you simply add
those 2 together
Calculating On Base Percentage:
OBP = (Hits+Walks+HBP)/(ABs+Walks+HBP) or --
(Hits+Walks+HBP)/Plate Appearances
Calculating Slugging Percentage:
Slugging % = Total Bases/At-Bats --- to calculate Total Bases
you assign the following (Single=1, Double=2, Triple=3, HR=4)
Asked in Baseball, Softball, Baseball Rules and Regulations
How do you determine percentages in stats such as batting average and ERA?

Batting average is hits divided by at bats (hits + outs +
reached on error).
ERA is earned runs divided by innings pitched, then multiplied
by nine (in other words, the average number of earned runs given up
over nine innings).
For more info: baseball-almanac
reaching on error counts as an out so. Remember BB(walks), sac
bunts, sac flies and HPB do not count as plate appearences.