A library has been written on the history of baseball. Though a variety of hypotheses exist, the mystery remains of why the pitcher's mound is set 60 feet, six inches from home plate. The official Rules of Baseball do not mention a mound until 1904, when a regulation passed concerning the height of the "pitcher's box." But nobody has been able to pinpoint the origin of the pitcher's mound.
Background
In the early days of baseball through 1880, a pitcher could stand no closer than 45 feet from home plate and was required to stay within a pitcher's box. The distance was increased to 50 feet in 1881 in an attempt to give batters a better chance to hit and get out of the way of wild pitches. It was moved again in 1887 when a new rule required a pitcher to keep his back foot on a line that was 55 ½ feet from the plate. Then in 1893, baseball required the pitcher deliver the ball with his back foot anchored on a rubber slab and lengthened the distance to 60 feet, six inches, where it has remained to present day.
Tales
Daniel Adams, the first chairman of the Committee on Rules and Regulations, claimed to have set the original 45 foot distance. A common contention about the precise distance of 60 feet, six inches is that it was the result of either a measuring error or slopping handwriting. Roger Kahn writes in "The Head Game: Baseball Seen from the Pitcher's Mound" that the distance was supposed to be an even 60 feet and was written as 60.0, but the handwriting looked more like 60.6. The correction was never made, and baseball left it at that distance. Kahn also writes that the mound itself actually resulted from groundskeepers adding dirt to the pitcher's box after rainstorms to help the pitcher's footing, and "soon pitchers were requesting extra dirt even on dry days."
Effect on Game
The jump in distance from the mound to the plate immediately changed the balance between pitching and hitting. It took pitchers years to catch up at the new distance, resulting in the 1890s having very high team and individual batting averages. The year after the distance change, Hugh Duffy of the Boston Nationals set the all-time record for a single season batting average at .440. However, as pitchers adapted and the height of the mound grew, balance was restored by the turn of the century. In 1907, right-hander Walter Johnson emerged with a fastball like nothing hitters had seen before. Said Ty Cobb of Johnson, "The first time I faced him, I watched him take that easy windup; and then something went past me that made me flinch. I hardly saw the pitch, but I heard it."
Youth Pitching
In Little League Baseball, the distance between the mound and home plate is 46 feet. On "Pony" fields, home plate is usually located about 54 feet away. This adjustment at each graduation between leagues prepares young players for the maximum distance of 60 feet, six inches in high school baseball and beyond.
References
- Baseball Library: Baseball Rules Chronology
- 19CBaseball: The Pitcher's Area
- "Baseball: A History of America's Game"; Benjamin G. Rader; 2008
- "The Head Game: Baseball Seen from the Pitcher's Mound"; Roger Kahn; 2001
- "Managing Little League (Little League Baseball Guides)"; Ned McIntosh; 2008
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