All action in baseball begins with the ball in the hands of the pitcher as he stands on the mound and prepares to throw a pitch toward home plate. The pitcher can throw a variety of pitches, but he must start his delivery with at least one foot on a 24-by-6-inch slab called the rubber.
Standard Distance
Major League Baseball mounds have a pitching rubber in the center. The front edge of the pitching rubber is 60 feet 6 inches from home plate. The same distance is used in college, high school and Babe Ruth League baseball. Babe Ruth baseball is primarily for players age 16 and older, though some regions may allow 15-year-olds to compete.
Pony League
Pony Leaguers are usually between the ages of 13 and 15. Pony League players are considered to have enough experience to play on bigger diamonds than Little Leaguers, but they are not physically mature enough to compete on regulation-size fields. Pony League fields place the pitching rubber 54 feet from home plate. The rest of the field is proportionately smaller. The distance between bases is 75 feet.
Little League
Little League and other youth baseball leagues use a pitcher's mound that is 46 feet from home plate. In most cases, youth baseball leagues will place the pitching rubber on top of the raised mound, but there may be certain fields that do not have raised mounds and the pitcher throws from a flat surface. The distance between the bases in Little League is 60 feet.
Historical Changes
The pitching rubber in the center of the pitcher's mound has been at is current distance of 60 feet 6 inches since 1893. In the earliest recorded historical references, the pitching mound was 45 feet from home plate in 1858. That distance was moved back to 50 feet in 1881 before the final change was made.
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