Rules and Scoring
When a batter receives an intentional base on balls, he is entitled to take first base without being put out. Receiving an intentional base on balls does not count as an official at bat for a batter, but does count as a plate appearance and a base on balls. A ball that is thrown intentionally for the purpose of giving up an intentional base on balls is called an intentional ball. A base on balls counts as an intentional base on balls if and only if the final pitch thrown in the at bat is an intentional ball, even if not all the pitches are intentional balls.
Before the 1920 season, catchers typically stood far to the side of the plate to receive intentional balls. In an effort to increase scoring and attendance and end the so-called dead ball era, major league baseball team owners (at the annual rules meeting in Chicago on February 9, 1920) attempted to ban the intentional base on balls by instituting a penalty that an intentional ball be counted as a balk (which would award each runner the next base). Veteran NL umpire Hank O'Day argued successfully against the proposal and the owners succeeded only in mandating that "the catcher must stand with both feet within the lines of the catcher’s box until the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand", a rule still in force today, although it is never enforced.
Read more about this topic: Intentional Base On Balls
Famous quotes containing the word rules:
“For 350 years we have been taught that reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man and writing an exact man. Football’s place is to add a patina of character, a deference to the rules and a respect for authority.”
—Walter Wellesley (Red)