In baseball, an inside-the-park home run is a rare play in which a batter rounds all four bases for a home run without the baseball leaving the field of play. It is also known as an "inside-the-parker", [1] "in-the-park home run", or "in-the-park homer".
The vast majority of home runs occur when a batter hits the ball beyond the outfield fence on the fly, which requires striking the ball with enough power at the correct flight angle to clear the outfield, allowing the batter to trot around the bases at leisure albeit at a decent pace to avoid infuriating the opposition. Though an inside-the-park home run is scored in the same manner, achieving the feat requires the batter to touch all four bases (in the order of first, second, and third, ending at home plate) before being tagged out by an opposing player, all while the ball remains in play.
Inside-the-park home runs typically occur when a fast baserunner either hits the ball to the portion of the field farthest from where the opposing team's fielders are positioned or when a sharply hit ball takes an unexpected bounce away from defenders. They can also be the result of weather conditions like wind gusts or fog that reduces defenders' ability to track a moving ball. Sometimes (such as Alcides Escobar's inside-the-park homer in the 2015 World Series), an outfielder could lose sight of the ball in the stadium floodlights or against a light-colored roof of a domed stadium. Since a play is usually not ruled an error unless a fielder touches the ball, these scenarios can result in a home run if the batter is able to circle the bases before the defenders can track down the ball and get it to home plate. [2] [3]
If the defensive team is charged with an error on the play, the batter is not credited with a home run, but rather as having advanced on an error. [4] At advanced levels of play, the batter scoring due to one or more errors by the defense is colloquially referred to as a Little League home run. [5]
Though never an everyday occurrence, inside-the-park homers were more common in the early days of Major League Baseball (MLB). MLB has never set the standard shape or size of the outfield, and many early ballparks featured outfields that were large, irregular, or contained odd angles in the outfield wall to accommodate the size of the property on which they were situated. This could result in a batted ball getting past outfielders to the far reaches of the playing field or bouncing off a wall in an unexpected direction, forcing defensive players to chase after it while the batter sprints around the bases. The smaller and more circumferential outfields of the modern baseball era reduce opportunities for the ball to take odd bounces, helping to reduce the number of inside-the-park homers while increasing the number of "regular" homers. Today, inside-the-park homers are rare, generally totaling ten to twenty per season.
Of the 154,483 home runs hit between 1951 and 2000, only 975 (0.63%; about one per 158) were inside-the-park. The percentage has dwindled since the increase in emphasis on power hitting, which began in the 1920s. Jesse Burkett, who played in the major leagues from 1890 to 1905, had 55 career inside-the-park home runs (of 75 career home runs). The leader in the live-ball era is Willie Wilson, who played in the major leagues from 1976 to 1994, and hit 13 inside-the-park home runs (of 41 career home runs). [6]
| League | Single game | Single season | Career | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | No. | Date | Player | No. | Year | Player | No. | |
| American League | 17 players tied most recent: Greg Gagne | 2 | October 4, 1986 | Ty Cobb | 9 | 1909 | Ty Cobb | 46 |
| National League | Tom McCreery | 3 | July 12, 1897 | Sam Crawford | 12 | 1901 | Tommy Leach | 49 |
| Major League Baseball | Jesse Burkett | 55 | ||||||
Source: [6]
| Date | Game | Player | Team | Opponent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 1, 1903 | 1 | Jimmy Sebring | Pittsburgh Pirates | Boston Americans |
| October 2, 1903 | 2 | Patsy Dougherty | Boston Americans | Pittsburgh Pirates |
| October 13, 1915 | 5 | Duffy Lewis | Boston Red Sox | Philadelphia Phillies |
| October 9, 1916 | 2 | Hy Myers | Brooklyn Robins | Boston Red Sox |
| October 11, 1916 | 4 | Larry Gardner | Boston Red Sox | Brooklyn Robins |
| October 10, 1923 | 1 | Casey Stengel | New York Giants | New York Yankees |
| October 3, 1926 | 2 | Tommy Thevenow | St. Louis Cardinals | New York Yankees |
| October 7, 1928 | 3 | Lou Gehrig | New York Yankees | St. Louis Cardinals |
| October 12, 1929 | 4 | Mule Haas | Philadelphia Athletics | Chicago Cubs |
| October 27, 2015 | 1 | Alcides Escobar | Kansas City Royals | New York Mets |
Baseball statistics include a variety of metrics used to evaluate player and team performance in the sport of baseball.
In baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run is usually achieved by hitting the ball over the outfield fence between the foul poles without the ball touching the field.
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In baseball and softball statistics, an error is an act, in the judgment of the official scorer, of a fielder misplaying a ball in a manner that allows a batter or baserunner to advance one or more bases or allows a plate appearance to continue after the batter should have been put out. The term error is sometimes used to refer to the play during which an error was committed.
In the game of baseball, the official scorer is a person appointed by the league to record the events on the field, and to send the official scoring record of the game back to the league offices. In addition to recording the events on the field such as the outcome of each plate appearance and the circumstances of any baserunner's advance around the bases, the official scorer is also charged with making judgment calls that do not affect the progress or outcome of the game. Judgment calls are primarily made about errors, unearned runs, fielder's choice, the value of hits in certain situations, and wild pitches, all of which are included in the record compiled. This record is used to compile statistics for each player and team. A box score is a summary of the official scorer's game record.
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In baseball, interference occurs in situations in which a person illegally changes the course of play from what is expected. Interference might be committed by players on the offense, players not currently in the game, catchers, umpires, or spectators. Each type of interference is covered differently by the rules.
The 1926 World Series was the championship series of the 1926 Major League Baseball season. The 23rd edition of the Series, it pitted the National League champion St. Louis Cardinals against the American League champion New York Yankees. The Cardinals defeated the Yankees four games to three in the best-of-seven series, which took place from October 2 to 10, 1926, at Yankee Stadium and Sportsman's Park.
This is an alphabetical list of selected unofficial and specialized terms, phrases, and other jargon used in baseball, along with their definitions, including illustrative examples for many entries.
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