Expert: Tom Schott - 5/8/2007

Question
I was wondering if there was a reason behind the number of innings in a baseball game?  Do you know if 9 innings are played for a specific reason, or did someone just pick that number?  

Answer
Heather,

Here is a response to this question I found at: http://www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?p=887128


In the early days of baseball games were played until a set amount of runs were reached. 9 innings became the rule on March 7, 1857 by the National Association. Best guess why from John Thorn [a renowned baseball statistician] is that it was to match players and innings. Why nine players? I don't know, again that became a rule in 1857, Before that teams would play with 8, 9, 10, or even 11.