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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.
3,260 Questions
How big is a pitchers mound raised?
By regulation, the peak of the mound should rise 10 1/2 inches above home plate.
How many innings are in a double header?
7 in each game--- 14 innings total is you are playing official softball
Can you hit a ball that hits the ground first?
a golf ball because it is has a higher weight to cross sectional area ratio. ( weight to drag
) The inverse of this is why a bean will fall faster than a feather of the same weight.
Also a golf ball has divots that allow it to fly thru the air faster
What is the minimum number of plate appearances required for MVP?
To qualify for the batting title, a major league player needs 3.1 plate appearances per game played. In a standard 162 game season, that comes out to 502 plate appearances.
For a pitcher to qualify to the ERA title he needs one inning per game played.
What is the game played with a ball that is caught in a scoop like receptical?
Jacks or knucklebones are both names for a playground game that uses jacks and a ball to perform a variety of challenges. The basic game consists of a player tossing the jacks in the are and then trying to bounce the ball one time before catching them. Players start with one jack, and then make it more complex by completing the trick with increasing numbers of jacks.
There are many variants of the game, all depending the players skill.
Can the first baseman block the lead off runner attempting to return to the bag on a pick off play?
Yes, unless your specific league has rules against blocking a base, any base can be blocked if the fielder has the ball or is making a play on the ball. With this being said, you should also know the runner has the right to get to the base, so if you are a 1st baseman blocking the bag be prepared to get cleated or ran into (ran over) by the baserunner
Can a fielder use his hat to catch a ball?
Players may not use their hat to catch a ball. Assuming a catcher did do this in fair territory, all runners and the batters would be awarded 3 bases, if the ball is in foul territory it would be a foul ball. In either case the batter would not be out.
What is the rule for Little League when sliding head first to home for Junior Level of play?
There are two situations. (1) If the catcher (or any defensive player) has possession of the ball the runner (Rule 7.08(a)(2) the runner is out if "the runner does not slide or attempt to get around a fielder who has the ball and is waiting to make the tag." In addition, if the umpire judges that the runner was malicious and trying to injure the fielder (including the catcher) the umpire may eject the player.
However, if the catcher does NOT have possession of the ball and therefore is not waiting to make the tag, the catcher is guilty of obstruction (Rule 2.00, definition of obstruction). If the umpire makes this judgement, the runner would be awarded the base to the runner. This does not give the runner free license to slam into the catcher. Again, if the umpire judges the runner was malicious, the runner would be awarded the base (including scoring the run) and then the umpire may eject the player. In addition, if the umpire judges that the catcher was malicious and was malicious in their action (causing injury to the runner), the catcher may be ejected.
So the bottom line is that the runner and catcher are expected to avoid malicious contact.
When does infield fly rule apply?
If there are less then 2 outs and runners on 1st and 2nd or the bases are loaded. If a ball is popped up on the infield in fair territory the umpire will call "Infield Fly", the batter is out, and the runners are not required to advance, but can do so if they determine at their own risk of being safe or out. The ball is still a live ball in play, and it does not matter if the ball is caught or not.
The infield fly rule does not apply to bunted balls that are popped up
If the ball hits home plate and then the batter hits it is it a fair ball?
I believe, since home plate is in fair territory, the ball would be fair and the batter would be called out for making contact with a live, fair ball. The equivelent to runner interference with the ball on the base paths.
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The question is unclear. If a pitched ball hits home plate, it can then be hit by the batter (former Astros player, Enos Cabell, comes to mind). However, if the batter hits the pitch, and the ball then hits the plate and bounces up into the air, and the batter then hits it a second time, he's out. The rule says if the bat hits a batted ball a second time, the batter is out, which is different the the ball hitting the bat a second time.
What is the fielder behind the batter called?
In cricket, it's just a hit ball: the batsman can run if he wishes. To counter this, the defense will often put several defending players behind (called the slips) if they think the batsman will hit back there. In baseball, you must hit within the foul lines; hitting that ball behind is called a foul ball. This is called a strike (one of three), although a non-caught foul ball will not be called as the third strike.
Can a runner be call out for running out of baseline not avoiding a tag?
The runner can run 3 feet on either side of the base line. The base line is defined as a straight line from the runner to the base at the time the tag is attempted.
7.08
Any runner is out when --
(a) (1) He runs more than three feet away from his baseline to avoid being tagged unless his action is to avoid interference with a fielder fielding a batted ball. A runner's baseline is established when the tag attempt occurs and is a straight line from the runner to the base he is attempting to reach safely
How do you score a ground out with an rbi?
A batter gets an RBI if his groundout scored a runner. The only exception is if the batter hit into a double play, in which case no RBI is given. Of course if the runner scored on an error, and not on the groundout, there is also no RBI.
What is the difference btween pitching in the American League and pitching in the National League?
- The National League dates back to 1876. The American League was formed in 1901 as a competitor to the National League. Initially, the two leagues were independent of each other--there was no Major League Baseball. The two leagues met in the first World Series in 1903. From 1903 through 1960, each league had 8 teams, and the team that finished first in the standings in each league went to the World Series, except in 1904 when the Giants refused to participate in the Series. The World Series games were the only official games played between teams from the two leagues. The leagues also began playing each other in All Star games starting in 1933. The AL expanded to 10 teams in 1961 (Senators II who are now the Rangers and Angels) and the NL expanded to 10 in 1962 (New York Mets and Houston Colt .45s who are now the Astros.) In 1969, both leagues expanded to 12 teams as the AL added the Seattle Pilots (now the Milwaukee Brewers) and the Kansas City Royals while the NL added the San Diego Padres and the Montreal Expos (now the Washington Nationals.) Also, each league split into an East and West division and had the winners of its divisions play in a League Championshp Series to determine its representative to the World Series. In 1973, the AL adopted the Designnated Hitter while the NL did not. In 1977, the AL went to 14 teams by adding the Seattle Mariners and the Toronto Blue Jays. In 1993, the NL went to 14 teams by adding the Florida Marlins and Colorado Rockies. In 1998, both leagues expanded again with Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the AL and the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL. To keep an even number of teams in both leagues, the Milwaukee Brewers moved from the AL to the NL, giving the NL 16 teams to the AL's 14. This was the first time the NL had more teams than the AL. The leagues had separate league offices and umpiring crews until a few years ago. Now, the basic difference between the two leagues is the AL uses the designated hitter and the NL does not. The umpiring crews are consolidated under Major League Baseball and the league offices are no longer in existence.
- The AL has a designated hitter bat for the pitcher, but the NL has the pitcher bat for himself.
- The National League is the older of the two leagues constituting Major League Baseball. The League was founded in 1876. The American League was founded in 1900. The league originated from the National Association of Baseball (NA), which was the prevailing professional baseball league at the time.
- In 1900, a new league - the American League - was formed. The American League was well aware of the previous double-crossing tactics of the National League, and geared up for battle. The American League was successful in raiding National League stars. The newer league proved to be a better organized, better financed, and more determined than previous league rivals. The more established National League was forced to cooperate, and in 1903, the return to a two-league format allowed the resumption of postseason play with the World Series of 1903.
- Today the National League game still resembles the game as it was a century ago. The biggest difference between the two leagues is that the National League remained with the rule that the pitcher must be in the batting lineup. The American League adopted the Designated Hitter (DH) to fill in for the pitcher in the 1970s. This DH rule has led to differences in the style of play between the two leagues. The American League is generally more based upon power � with emphasis on the home run, while the National League is said to be more pitching-oriented, with more of a focus on an offensive running.
- Baseball [in the two leagues] is two different games, played with two different sets of rules," Buck said with an infectious smile. "The DH. It makes such a difference. It's phenomenal. "And the American League has these little tiny ballparks. It's like home run derby over there."
The conversation then shifted to the subject of the strike zones in the two leagues.
"If you think strike zones are tight [in the National League]...well, in the American League, [umpires] won't call big name hitters out on called third strikes," Buck opined. "The umpires in the American League are more inconsistent. They are unwilling to call your Griffeys and your McGwires out on third strikes. It's a different game."
This is a judgement call by official score keeper. If, in his opinion, the only reason the runner coming home from third was "safe" was because he out-ran the throw, then that would be considered an infield hit. It's the same situation as when a batter outruns the throw to first. If, however, the score keeper thinks the shortstop made a bad throw, or took to long to handle the ball, then it would be an error.
In general, throwing to the "wrong" base is not an "official" error. Bad judgement, perhaps, but not an error.
Is a batter out when hitting the ball foul with a foot touching home plate?
MLB Rule 6.06a states pretty clearly: "A batter is out for illegal action when (a) He hits a ball with one or both feet on the ground entirely outside the batter’s box."
The question would be whether the batter's feet are "entirely" outside the batters box. I suppose if his toes were touching home plate but the rest of his feet were not, then that would not be "entirely" outside.
In fastpitch sofball how many feet from homeplate is the pitchers mound?
For softball here is the distance for all age levels from themound to the plate. Ages 7-9: 30 feet Ages 10-12: 35 feet Ages 13- Highschool: 40 feet College level pitchers: 43 feet Men's League Fast Pitch is 46 feet
What is the call if a base runner goes into second base standing up on a ground ball?
You better hold at second. The pitcher will have enough time to check on you. He can pick you off at second or throw to third if you choose to run. So you take a lead of about one or two steps off the bag at second base.
He stays at first, the shortstop caught the ball and so the batter is out, therefore no one can run.
The runner can run from first once he/she has 'tagged up'. Tagged up means that the runner touched first base after the defensive player has caught the ball.
Batter hits the ball with one foot out of the batters box?
If the batter makes contact with a batted ball while in the batter's box, it is a "dead" ball and declared foul. ---------- True enough, sort of. If a batted ball touches the batter while he is still in the batter's box, then it is foul. However, if the batter hits the ball, and it comes to rest in the batter's box or the batted ball is touched by a defensivce player while it is in the batter's box, and the ball did not touch the batter, it is either fair or foul, depending on the position of the ball at the time it came to rest or was touched by a defensive player. The front portion of the batter's box is in fair territory, and if a batted ball comes to rest or is touched by a defensive player in that part of the batter's box, then it's a fair ball.
What happens if a player hits a home run but is unable to continue running bases?
The player must touch every single in order for the home-run to count. If they can't continue around the bases they will not be awarded the home-run. There have been times when this happened in softball and the girls picked the girl up and carried her around the bases so that she could still be awarded her home run.
A balk cannot be called if no one is on base. The essence of a balk is the pitcher is tiring to achieve an unfair advantage over the base runner. No runner, no advantage. If a pitcher, while no runners are on base, commits an action that would have been recognized as a balk if runners had been on base, the penalty for this is a ball. So yes, in theory, you could "walk someone without every throwing a pitch" --- (i.e), if you were on the mound and dropped the ball, that would be a "balk" and result in a ball.. The thing is, it does count on pitch count
