Expert: Tom Schott - 2/19/2009

Question
Hi Tom -
I have a baseball history question for ya: What are the origins of the terms
"balls" and "strikes"?
As in, why are pitches that are not thrown over home plate called "balls", and
why are ones that are thrown over the plate called "strikes"? (As opposed to
something else)

Thanks for your help!
Hannah

Answer
Hi Hannah,

 The term "strike" has been around since the very beginning, at the time of the first rule book, the Knickerbocker Rules, in 1845. The idea of a "ball," a pitch not in the strike zone, did not come about until the rules promulgated in 1864. Up until that time, batters could wait as long as they wanted for a pitch to hit. There's a case on record where a pitcher threw 68 pitches to guy in one at bat. Pitchers could easily exceed 100 pitches an inning. It was common in the early days of the game. The rules were changed to prevent this sort of thing.