Many of those rules, formalized by Alexander Cartwright on September 23 , 1845 , were derived from earlier sources, but their compilation by the Knickerbocker Club provided a basis for modern adult organized baseball, in contrast to the various schoolyard ball games that had been around for generations previous.
As with , these early rules are notably spare, combining underlying "givens" as to the way the game is played with flexibility for circumstances. For example, the number of players on each team is not specified, nor is the number of Innings , nor the distance between the Pitcher and Home Plate .
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 '' Website Below '':
. 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, or 89 feet between bases. The rules currently specify the same method for marking off the bases, only at 127 feet 3-3/8 Inch es, which works out to 90 feet between bases.
. 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. 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 is now nine innings, but there are many circumstances where baseball games, and their variants such as Softball , are shorter (or longer) than nine.
. 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 .
. 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.
- " For It's One, Two, Three Strikes, You're Out! " is an ancient rule. The added detail, that a Batter can try to run to first on a missed third strike, also exists today, except that if there are less than two outs and first base is occupied, the batter is automatically out. This is to supersede 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 or the concept of a "ball" or a " Base On Balls ". That developed as over-cautious pitchers would throw the ball wide and delay the game. The number of balls constituting a base on balls was tinkered with through the years (to as high as 9) until the count of 4 was settled upon in 1889 .
. 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 sometime in the 1870s . 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.
. 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. 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 obviously much-softer ball.
. Three hands out, all out.
- Three outs per half-inning, another ancient rule. 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.
. But one base allowed when a ball bounds out of the field when struck.
- "Ground rule single!" Outfield s were assumed to be boundless, in general. The only " Home Run " was a literal dash around the bases, on a ball hit between outfielders.
A list of the 20 rules
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