1. You can spit anywhere, literally anywhere, except on the ball.
2. Baseball is played on grass and dirt, but if the ball get’s dirty they replace it with a new one. About 70 baseballs are used in a game. This is an unspoken rule, but proof that to become an umpire you have to be diagnosed with OCD.
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3. Pitchers are aloud to use Rosin Bags, they help keep moisture off their hands and provide more traction and better grip on the ball. That being said, the umpire has the specific authority to instruct the pitcher to put the Rosin Bag in his pocket in the case of wet weather.
4. If the batter hits the catcher, it’s the catcher’s fault. Because, you know, he just head-butted that bat. Out of nowhere!
5. If the catcher doesn’t catch the ball the batter get’s a walk to first. I mean, it is their job... so.
6. There are Lots of weird pitcher rules. One is that they have to come to complete stand still before pitching to the batter.
7. Another strange pitcher rule. The pitcher can throw the ball to one of the bases if he thinks a runner is trying to steal a base. But he can't fake out the batter, he can't pretend to begin to throw the ball to first but then switch it up and throw to second last minute. Well, kind of, the actual phrasing, in the actual rulebook, it he cant switch it up after his body "has committed to the throw." When, exactly, the body commits to the throw is never really defined.
8. If the ball get’s stuck in the catcher’s mask the runners get to advance a base. Seriously though, they’ve broken tied games with this rule. This rule also applies to the umpire’s mask. The rule uses this wording: “lodges in the umpire’s or catcher’s mask or paraphernalia”. If you’re confused by the word paraphernalia here, you’re not alone.
9. Umpires can’t confer with players or spectators. They must get lonely sometimes, that's probably why they never smile.
10. A normal baseball game is 9 innings but if the score is tied at the end, they just have another inning, and another, and another, and another. Until the tie is broken. As a result the longest baseball game was in 1984. It was 8 hours and 25 minutes long and after 33 innings the Chicago White Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers.
11. If a batter is walked while the bases are loaded then he get a RBI, “Run Batted In” because all the base runners advance a base, including the player on third. Even though the bat didn’t make any contact with the ball.
12. Players can only catch the ball with their hand, or their mitt. You can’t use your hat or your shirt or anything that’s not your bare hand or the mitt. If the ball is caught, or even touched intentionally, by a player with anything other than their bare hand or glove, on their hand, all runners, including the batter, get to advance three bases.
13. This ones a but complicated, so stay with me. If the batter has two strikes and a runner steals home, and the pitcher hits the runner in the strike zone the batter is out. The run does not count if there are two out. BUT if there are less than two outs, it does. Go figure.
14. If a fielder deflects a fair ball into the stands, it counts as a home run. Ok, making complete sense so far… wait there’s more. Unless the deflection somehow happens within 250 ft, or closer, to the home plate. Then all runners can only advance to bases. How they could ever find themselves in that position in the first place.... is up to your imagination.
15. There’s no rules about the size of the baseball field. Yes, the diamond part of the field has to comply with specific measurements. But the outfield part… not so much. When you think about it the size of the outfield really affects likelihood and amount of homers which can really affect the score. See here's a layered outline of some MLB fields.
16. If a baserunner passes another baserunner while running the bases, the one passed is automatically out. Even if there's a home run and they're all going to end up in the same place anyway.
17. The runner must touch all the bases in order. Ok, ok, this makes sense considering the fact that you have to be one the bag to be safe. But even if they hit a home run. Yeah, they're not doing a victory lap, they have to do that. Even if you fall mid-lap, like Cub's Kyle Schwarber here. You have to get up and continue but everyone will laugh at you, it's all part of the rules.
18. An infield fly is when a ball stays in the infield that isn't a bunt or line drive. If the umpire makes the judgment that an infielder, catcher, or pitcher could catch it with ordinary effort (whatever that means) the batter is out, even if no one caught it, even if they did catch it and then dropped it. The ball is still in play so any baserunners who began to advance can still continue and the normal rules apply to them.
