Official Baseball Rules

Official Baseball Rules for Atom 1

Youth baseball leagues divide players according to age to ensure competitive balance and proper skill development. Boys and girls 9 years old typically play Atom I ball. Because of their young age, Atom I players compete using rules and field...

2009 Official Baseball Rules

John Thorn, Major League Baseball's official historian, credits William Rufus Wheaton, not Abner Doubleday or Alexander Cartwright, with creating the first set of rules. Albert Spalding was the first to publish the rules for the mass market in...

Official Baseball Rules for Machine Pitch

Machine pitch baseball is a type of youth baseball designed to give young players consistent pitches to hit. In youth baseball involving players 6 through 8 years old, many leagues give the youngsters a chance to throw the first three or five...

Who Invented the First Set of Official Baseball Rules?

Despite the fact that baseball is considered to be America's pastime, the sport may have origins across the Atlantic. The actual origins of baseball are somewhat mysterious in nature, with the trail growing cold around the early 1800s. In fact,...

The Official Rules of Baseball

Baseball is often referred to as America's pastime, a game played and watched by millions throughout the United States. During the 21st century, baseball has grown in worldwide popularity with many Latin countries as well as Japan and Mexico...

Baseball Official Rules

Every year Major League Baseball releases a rulebook that outlines how to play the game. There are detailed instructions on how to organize a game, set up a field, play and score the game. Each rule is designed to solve unusual or difficult plays...

Official Baseball Hitting Rules

The hitter is the center of all the action in baseball. It's where the play starts and where one team can live or die by a single pitch. Because hitting is such a fundamental part of the game of baseball, many rules govern what is and isn't...

Official Baseball Scoring Rules

Baseball is a team sport developed in North America and played internationally--with professional leagues existing in the United States, Europe and Asia. Baseball traditionally has been a statistics-dominated pastime for fans in the United States,...

Dixie League Baseball Official Rules

Dixie League Baseball is a youth baseball league based largely in the Southeastern United States. In addition to providing an outlet for youngsters who are 12 years of age and younger to play competitive baseball, it is also designed to give...

The Official Rules for a Baseball Strike Bunt

Bunting is a baseball strategy that involves putting the ball into play off the bat without using a full swing. A bunted ball usually rolls slowly toward the pitcher, first baseman or third baseman. A bunt is subject to most of the same rules as a...

Official Rules for Baseball Sliding

In baseball, sliding refers to a runner’s attempt to reach a base safely by sliding along the ground. The official rulebook of Major League Baseball, or MLB, provides specific rules regarding sliding in competition. These rules provide a...

Official Game Rules for Baseball

The Official Rules of Major League Baseball provide a standard for competitive baseball in the United States. The organization's rulebook describes the game's format, players, scoring and rules. Learn these rules to be able to follow competitive...

Short Version of Official Rules for Scoring in Baseball

Keeping score at a baseball game is traditional for fans, sportswriters and team officials. It is an easy way to keep track of what happened in a ball game that you attended or watched on television. While greater detailed scoring is the norm as...

Official Rules for Little League Baseball

Little League baseball is an introduction to the game for many young players. While many aspects of the game look the same when it is played by children, there are many rule differences as well to make the game simpler than the one played by...

Official Little League Rules on How to Play Baseball

Little League baseball is a youth baseball organization that has various leagues and levels of play from the ages of 9 to 18. The most well-known level is Little League, which is a league for 11 and 12 year old players. Little League plays with...

What Is the Strike Zone in Little League Baseball?

It is at the Little League level of baseball that players actually begin to learn about the strike zone. Before entering Little League, which is for youth 9 to 12 years old, players typically participate in a league in which a machine or a coach...

How to Calculate Baseball Averages

Baseball pits nine offensive players against nine defensive players over a minimum of nine innings. The team with the most runs at the end of the final inning wins. Sounds simple enough, but baseball also is a game of statistics and averages. To...

Why Do We Use a 13-Foot Radius in Baseball for Bases?

A Major League baseball field has about 90,000 square feet of playing surface between the foul lines. Within those lines, the rulebook outlines various measurements, such as the distance between the bases, pitching mound distances and the...

Rules & Etiquette for Baseball

Major League Baseball formulates the rules and proper etiquette of professional baseball in the United States. The MLB rules illustrate the legal playing procedures of baseball, as well as how players and coaches should conduct themselves...

Baseball Rules on Scuffing

Any tampering with a baseball violates the rules. To scuff a ball, the player marks one side with an abrasive material, creating an unusual turbulence that will force the ball to dramatically swerve, or drop, in one direction. Throughout the...

How to Measure for a Baseball Helmet

Most baseball leagues, including college baseball and the major leagues, require players to wear helmets while batting and running bases. A helmet protects the player from balls that may be flying 100 mph toward him. It is important to get a...

The Baseball Rules on Skipping a Base

In baseball, a base runner travels counterclockwise around the diamond, from home to first base to second base to third base and back to home. As spelled out in the Official Baseball Rules, published by Major League Baseball, he has to touch each...

Wilson Baseball Glove History

Wilson Sporting Goods Co., established in 1913, makes the Wilson baseball glove. The firm has have been at the heart of the sports industry for more than a century, and it sells its sports equipment in more than 100 countries, according to the...

Super Series Baseball Rules

Super Series Baseball is one of several youth-oriented baseball organizations in the United States. Super Series Baseball provides the sport guidelines for tens of thousands of teams around the nation and sanctions more than 700 baseball...

Baseball Regulations for Caps

Baseball caps have become ubiquitous in society, with their use extending far beyond baseball diamonds. In organized baseball, though, the caps are a required part of the team uniform. They also serve a purpose by helping shield a player's eyes...

Babe Ruth Baseball Bat Size Rules

Babe Ruth Baseball is a sports organization for youths ages 4 through 18 years old, with affiliated leagues throughout North America serving more than 1 million youth baseball players. League play is divided into two major divisions: the Cal...

Baseball Rules: Passing a Baserunner

Major League Baseball oversees the rules for professional baseball, and these rules are adopted by most amateur and youth baseball leagues. MLB rules forbid one player from passing another when running around the bases, and breaking this rule can...

The Rules for Softball and Baseball

Baseball and softball share core rules and regulations. Both sports have a pitcher, catcher and a batter on the field simultaneously. The object of both sports is to advance runners along the basepaths to score runs at home plate. However, a...

What Are the Dimensions of a Wooden Baseball Bat?

Baseball bats have evolved along with the sport of baseball, changing over the decades from simple the and varied wooden sticks of the late 1800s to the modern bats used in Major League Baseball today. The rules of the game govern the materials,...