Expert: Geoff - 7/8/2007

Question
the distance from the pitcher's rubber to home plate is 60'6"-- what is the distance from the pitcher's rubber to 2nd base?

Answer
Hi Rick,

Thanks for writing.

This feels more like a math question than baseball trivia but here goes!

Here's a link to a nice diagram of a baseball diamond:

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/stadium/baseball_field_construction1.shtml

It states that the distance from 2nd to home is 127 feet 3 3/8 inches.  I varified this by using the Pythagorean Theorem:  

For any right triangle, the square of the hypotenuse
is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides.

The square root of ((90 times 90) + (90 times 90)) = 127.28125

If you then subtract 60 feet 6 inches from 127 feet 3 3/8 inches you get the distance from second base to the pitcher's rubber:  66 feet 9 3/8 inches

Best Wishes,

Geoff