Knickerbocker Rules

Last updated November 06, 2024

The Knickerbocker Rules are a set of baseball rules formalized by William R. Wheaton and William H. Tucker of the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club in 1845. They have previously been considered to be the basis for the rules of the modern game, although this is disputed. The rules are informally known as the "New York style" of baseball, as opposed to other variants such as the "Massachusetts Game" and "Philadelphia town ball".

Dispute

Modern scholarship has cast doubt on the originality of these rules, as information has come to light about the New York clubs that predated the Knickerbockers, in particular the rules devised by William R. Wheaton for the Gotham Club in 1837. Baseball historian Jeffrey Kittel has concluded that none of the Knickerbocker Rules of 1845 was original, with the possible exception of three-out innings.^[1] Nonetheless, the Knickerbocker Rules are enormously significant for baseball historians because they are the earliest extant rules from which the evolution of modern baseball can be lineally traced, and whether or not they can claim to be "first," certainly describe the kind of game played by the New York-area amateur clubs from which the modern game developed.

Rules

Several of the rules are still around in some form today, while others are in direct contrast to current rules. A few of the more interesting examples are shown below. The list as presented, except for the commentary, is taken directly from the "Rules" as published in the 1860 Beadle's Dime Base Ball Player, edited by Henry Chadwick ( website below ):

4th. The bases shall be from "home" to second base, forty-two paces; from first to third base, forty-two paces, equidistant.

If a pace is taken to be 3 feet, that works out to 126 feet (38 m) diagonally across the square that makes up the infield, or 89.1 feet between consecutive bases (the corners of the square). The rules currently specify the same method for marking off the bases, only at 127 feet 3-3/8 inches, which works out to 90 feet (27 m) between bases. On the other hand, all contemporary sources, such as Noah Webster's dictionary, define a "pace" as 2-1/2 feet, which would make the bases approximately 75 feet apart. The first rule which definitively established the basepaths at 30 yards (90 feet) was enacted by the Convention of 1857.

8th. The game to consist of twenty-one counts, or aces; but at the conclusion an equal number of hands must be played.

These original terms are recognizably card-playing jargon. The winner was the first team to score 21 "aces" (now called "runs," a cricket term), after an equal number of turns at bat or "hands". This rule, in combination with Rule 15, determined the length of the game in general. The game is now defined to be a certain number of "innings," another cricket term.^[2] In theory, a baseball game could be completed after just one inning, as long as one team scored the requisite 21 runs.
The standard game length of nine innings was introduced in 1857. However, there are many circumstances in which baseball games, and variants such as softball, are shorter (or longer) than nine.

9th. The ball must be pitched, not thrown, for the bat.

The ball had to be literally "pitched," like a horseshoe. Overhand pitching in baseball was not allowed until 1884, although the progression from underhand to overhand was gradual, and pitchers stretched the limits of the rule by increasing speed and developing movement from the underhand position.^[3]
Note, however, that there was not yet a rule specifying precisely where the pitcher had to stand and deliver the ball.

10th. A ball knocked out of the field, or outside the range of the first and third base, is foul.

In most (but not all) versions of early baseball or town-ball, as in rounders and cricket, there was no foul territory and every batted ball was "fair" no matter its direction.
A ball knocked between the baselines and beyond the field was not initially a home run but a foul, to be ignored (after finding the ball). This was largely a moot issue, as the early ball fields had very deep fences (if any) and an over-the-fence knock was an unlikely event.
Foul balls were not initially "strikes." Many years later, when it became clear that a batter might hit foul balls endlessly in an effort to get a good pitch to hit, the pitcher was given a break by a rule (NL 1901, AL 1903) that declared any foul ball to be a strike unless there were already two strikes on the batter. After the bunt came into existence as a strategy, it became clear that a batter could bunt indefinitely to try to get his pitch. To retain some balance, the rule was amended, in 1894, to declare any foul bunt a strike.
Note the colloquial term "knock", suggestive of the sound made when bat meets ball, and which is still used as a synonym; for example, a "base hit" is sometimes called a "base knock."

11th. Three balls being struck at and missed and the last one caught, is a hand-out; if not caught it is considered fair, and the striker bound to run.

"For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out!" is an ancient rule. The added detail, that a batter ("striker") can try to run to first on a missed third strike, also exists today, except that if there are fewer than two outs and first base is occupied, the batter is automatically out. This is to preclude the catcher dropping the ball on purpose to set up force plays — the same idea behind the infield fly rule.
Note the lack of reference to the strike zone, called strikes, or the concept of a "ball" or a "base on balls." Those adjustments developed over time to counter "ungentlemanly" strategies, and hurry the game up:
- Patient batters would refuse to swing at any pitch they did not like, and delay the game. The concept of the "called" strike - originally an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for persistent refusal to swing, after being duly warned - was introduced in 1858.
- Over-cautious pitchers would throw the ball wide, and delay the game, or alternatively throw at the batter in an effort to intimidate. The called "ball" was introduced in 1863, as a parallel to the called-strike rule: a penalty the umpire could impose, after a warning and multiple offenses, for a persistent failure to deliver "good balls," along with a limit on how many the pitcher could deliver before the batter was automatically awarded first base. The number of balls constituting a "base on balls" was initially three. It was tinkered with through the years (to as high as 9) until the count of four was settled upon in 1889.
- Note that this meant that many pitches had no effect at all; it would be years before the modern view took hold in which every pitch results in either a swing, a called strike or a ball. Through the 1860s and into the '70s many umpires were reluctant to impose the penalty calls, with their implication of unsportsmanlike conduct, and some were criticized for being overzealous with them.
- The strike zone did not come into being until 1887; before that season, it was left to the umpire's judgement whether a pitch was "good" or "unfair."
Foul balls were also not considered strikes initially, as discussed under rule 10.

12th. If a ball be struck, or tipped, and caught, either flying or on the first bound, it is a hand out.

Catching a fair ball on the first bounce counted as an out until the 1865 season. Catching a foul bound for an out persisted until 1883. This was before gloves were used (or allowed), and obviously it was easier to catch that hard ball on the first bounce. This also provided the game with some balance, as the underlying assumption in Rule 8 is that many runs were likely to be scored. Also, the catcher played well back of the plate, for safety reasons, the various protective gear not having been developed yet.

13th. A player running the bases shall be out, if the ball is in the hands of an adversary on the base, or the runner is touched with it before he makes his base; it being understood, however, that in no instance is a ball to be thrown at him.

The important part of the rule is not allowing a player to be put out by hitting him with the ball. This was sometimes called "soaking" or "plugging" the runner. One schoolyard version of the game, kickball, using a large inflated ball, still allows players to be put out by hitting them (below the head area) with this much-softer ball.
Note that under this rule a runner could be put out by tagging the base he was attempting to reach whether he was "forced" or not; an 1848 amendment limited this practice to first base only. The modern force-out at the other bases appeared in 1854.

15th. Three hands out, all out.

Three outs per half-inning, a novel rule. Earlier forms of townball and related games were either "all out, all out" as in cricket, or "one-out, all out" (any putout ends the team's at-bat). Referring again to card-playing terminology, a "hand" is now called an "at-bat", or more generally, the progression of a specific batter and/or runner, at bat and/or around the bases.
This is a fundamental difference from baseball's cousin, cricket, in which all of the batsmen take their respective turns at bat in a single innings.

16th. Players must take their strike in regular turn.

Specifies that the batting order is fixed. Another ancient rule that still applies to the modern game.

18th. No ace or base can be made on a foul strike.

States that the batter and baserunners do not advance on a foul ball (a foul having been defined in Rule 10). Another rule that still applies to the modern game.

20th. But one base allowed when a ball bounds out of the field when struck.

Outfields in the early days were assumed to be boundless, in general. The only "home run" was a literal dash around the bases, on a ball hit between outfielders. However, since there was often only minimal foul territory, with spectators practically standing on the foul lines, it was not uncommon for fair balls to bounce into the crowd; and in such cases the rule is still in effect, although invoked very rarely given modern seating arrangements.
This rule was superseded, with respect to the far playing boundary, not later than 1876: a ball which cleared the outfield fence in fair ground, whether on the fly or on the bounce, was now a home run. The so-called "ground rule double" (it is not, properly, a ground rule), awarding two bases when the ball bounces over the outfield fence, was introduced in 1929 (AL) and 1931 (NL).
However, to this day one base is awarded if a defensive error sends the ball out of play.

Notes

The Encyclopedia of Baseball, published by MacMillan, 1969, and subsequent editions
Official Baseball Rules, various years
The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, edited by Paul Dickson
Baseball guides and annuals

Related Research Articles

Baseball statistics include a variety of metrics used to evaluate player and team performance in the sport of baseball.

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding team, called the pitcher, throws a ball that a player on the batting team, called the batter, tries to hit with a bat. The objective of the offensive team is to hit the ball into the field of play, away from the other team's players, allowing its players to run the bases, having them advance counter-clockwise around four bases to score what are called "runs". The objective of the defensive team is to prevent batters from becoming runners, and to prevent runners' advance around the bases. A run is scored when a runner legally advances around the bases in order and touches home plate.

In baseball, a home run, homerun or homer 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.

In baseball, the strike zone is the area of space through which a pitch must pass in order to be called a strike even if the batter does not swing. The strike zone is defined as the volume of space above home plate and between the batter's knees and the midpoint of their torso. Whether a pitch passes through the zone is decided by an umpire, who is generally positioned behind the catcher.

Rounders is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams. Rounders is a striking and fielding team game that involves hitting a small, hard, leather-cased ball with a wooden, plastic, or metal bat that has a rounded end. The players score by running around the four bases on the field.

Softball is a popular variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches permitted. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hancock.

A bunt is a batting technique in baseball or fastpitch softball. Official Baseball Rules define a bunt as follows: "A bunt is a batted ball not swung at, but intentionally met with the bat and tapped slowly within the infield." To bunt, the batter loosely holds the bat in front of home plate and intentionally taps the ball into play. A properly executed bunt will create weak contact with the ball and/or strategically direct it, forcing the infielders to make a difficult defensive play to record an out.

Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catcher is also called upon to master many other skills in order to field the position well. The role of the catcher is similar to that of the wicket-keeper in cricket.

The question of the origins of baseball has been the subject of debate and controversy for more than a century. Baseball and the other modern bat, ball, and running games – stoolball, cricket and rounders – were developed from folk games in early Britain, Ireland, and Continental Europe. Early forms of baseball had a number of names, including "base ball", "goal ball", "round ball", "fetch-catch", "stool ball", and, simply, "base". In at least one version of the game, teams pitched to themselves, runners went around the bases in the opposite direction of today's game, much like in the Nordic brännboll, and players could be put out by being hit with the ball. Just as now, in some versions a batter was called out after three strikes.

In baseball, a foul ball is a batted ball that:

In baseball, an out occurs when the umpire rules a batter or baserunner out. When a batter or runner is out, they lose their ability to score a run and must return to the dugout until their next turn at bat. When three outs are recorded in a half-inning, the batting team's turn expires.

Throughout baseball's history, the rules have frequently changed as the game continues to evolve. A few common rules most professional leagues have in common are that four balls are a base on balls, three strikes are a strikeout, and three outs end a half-inning.

A baseball field, also called a ball field or baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played. The term can also be used as a metonym for a baseball park. The term sandlot is sometimes used, although this usually refers to less organized venues for activities like sandlot ball.

Baseball and cricket are the best-known members of a family of related bat-and-ball games. Both have fields that are 400 feet (120 m) or more in diameter between their furthest endpoints, offensive players who can hit a thrown/"bowled" ball out of the field and run between safe areas to score runs (points) at the risk of being gotten out, and have a major game format lasting about 3 hours.

In the sports of baseball and softball, a batted ball is a pitch that has been contacted by the batter's bat. Batted balls are either fair or foul, and can be characterized as a fly ball, pop-up, line drive, or ground ball. In baseball, a foul ball counts as a strike against the batter, unless there are already two strikes on the batter, with special rules applying to foul tips and foul bunts. Fly balls are those hit in an arcing manner, with pop-ups being a subset of fly balls that do not travel far. Line drives are batted balls hit on a straight line trajectory, while ground balls are hit at a low trajectory, contact the ground shortly after being hit, and then either roll or bounce. Batted balls, especially line drives, can present a hazard to players, umpires, and spectators, as people have been seriously injured or killed after being struck by batted balls.

Pesäpallo is a fast-moving bat-and-ball sport that is often referred to as the national sport of Finland and has some presence in other places including Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, and Canada's northern Ontario. It is similar to brännboll, rounders, lapta, and baseball.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bat-and-ball games</span> Field games played by two opposing teams

Bat-and-ball games, or safe haven games, are field games played by two opposing teams. Action starts when the defending team throws a ball at a dedicated player of the attacking team, who tries to hit it with a bat and then run between various safe areas in the field to score runs (points). The defending team can use the ball in various ways against the attacking team's players to force them off the field when they are not in safe zones, and thus prevent them from further scoring. The best known modern bat-and-ball games are cricket and baseball, with common roots in the 18th-century games played in England.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vitilla</span> Variation of stickball played in the Dominican Republic

Vitilla is a popular variation of stickball played primarily in the Dominican Republic and areas in the United States with large Dominican populations.

In sports, the term diamond sports refers to recreational variantsof baseball, a bat-and-ball sport. The most popular and closely related sport to baseball is softball, with the two sports being administered internationally by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), alongside Baseball5.

References

↑ Kittel, Jeffrey. "Evolution or Revolution? A Rule-By-Rule Analysis of the 1845 Knickerbocker Rules" . Retrieved May 9, 2016.
↑ Griffin, John (January 25, 2022). "The Knickerbocker Rules: the first organized rulebook for what would become baseball". Pinstripe Alley. Retrieved August 28, 2024. The Knickerbocker Rules look very similar to the modern game of baseball in many ways, although using playing card jargon rather than the cricket names that later became the norm (e.g., aces instead of runs, hands instead of innings).
↑ Morris, Peter (2009) Catcher How the Man Behind the Plate Became an American Hero, Ivan R. Dee, Chicago.

External links

Knickerbocker Rules – a list of the 20 rules
Early evolution of the rules
Collection of early baseball rules

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Kittel, Jeffrey. "Evolution or Revolution? A Rule-By-Rule Analysis of the 1845 Knickerbocker Rules" . Retrieved May 9, 2016.

[2] Griffin, John (January 25, 2022). "The Knickerbocker Rules: the first organized rulebook for what would become baseball". Pinstripe Alley. Retrieved August 28, 2024. The Knickerbocker Rules look very similar to the modern game of baseball in many ways, although using playing card jargon rather than the cricket names that later became the norm (e.g., aces instead of runs, hands instead of innings).

[3] Morris, Peter (2009) Catcher How the Man Behind the Plate Became an American Hero, Ivan R. Dee, Chicago.

[1]

[2]

[3]