The Knickerbocker Rules are a set of baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 rules formalized by Alexander Cartwright

Alexander Cartwright

Alexander Joy Cartwright, Jr. is one of several people sometimes referred to as a "father of baseball". Cartwright is thought to be the first person to draw a diagram of a diamond shaped baseball field, and the rules of the modern game are based on the Knickerbocker Rules developed by Cartwright...

 in 1845. They are considered to be the basis for the rules of the modern game.

The rules

Several of the rules are still around in some form today, while others are in direct contrast to current rules. A few of the more interesting examples are shown below. The list as presented, except for the commentary, is taken directly from the "Rules" as published in 1848 (website below):

4th. The bases shall be from "home" to second base, forty-two paces; from first to third base

Third Base

is a 1978 Japanese film directed by Yōichi Higashi.-External links:...

, forty-two paces, equidistant.

• If a pace is taken to be 3 feet, that works out to 126 feet (38 m) diagonally across the square that makes up the infield, or 89.1 feet between consecutive bases (the corners of the square). The rules currently specify the same method for marking off the bases, only at 127 feet 3-3/8 inches, which works out to 90 feet (27 m) between bases.

8th. The game to consist of twenty-one counts, or aces; but at the conclusion an equal number of hands must be played.

• These original terms are recognizably card-playing
  Card game
  A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games...
  
   jargon. The winner was the first team to score 21 "aces" (now called "runs", a cricket
  Cricket
  Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
  
   term), after an equal number of turns at bat or "hands". This rule, in combination with Rule 15, determined the length of the game in general. The game is now defined to be a certain number of "innings", another cricket term. In theory, a baseball game could be completed after just one inning, as long as one team scored the requisite 21 runs.
• The standard game length of nine innings was introduced in 1857. However, there are many circumstances in which baseball games, and variants such as softball
  Softball
  Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
  
  , are shorter (or longer) than nine.

9th. The ball must be pitched, not thrown, for the bat.

• The ball had to be literally "pitched", like a horseshoe
  Horseshoes
  Horseshoes is an outdoor game played between two people using four horseshoes and two throwing targets set in a sandbox area. The game is played by the players alternating turns tossing horseshoes at stakes in the ground, which are traditionally placed 40 feet apart...
  
  . Overhand pitching in baseball was not allowed until 1884.
• Note, however, that there was not yet a rule specifying precisely where the pitcher had to stand and deliver the ball.

10th. A ball knocked out of the field, or outside the range of the first and third base, is foul.

• A ball knocked between the baselines and beyond the field was not initially a home run but a foul, to be ignored (after finding the ball). This was largely a moot issue, as the early ball fields had very deep fences (if any) and an over-the-fence knock was an unlikely event.
• Foul balls were not initially "strikes". Some years later, when it became clear that a batter might hit foul balls endlessly in an effort to get a good pitch to hit, the pitcher was given a break by an 1858 rule that declared any foul ball to be a strike unless there were already two strikes on the batter. After the bunt came into existence as a strategy, it also became clear that a batter could literally bunt all day to try to get his pitch. To retain some balance, the rule was further amended, in 1894, to declare any foul bunt a strike.
• Note the colloquial term "knock", suggestive of the sound made when bat meets ball, and which is still used as a synonym; for example, a "base hit" is sometimes called a "base knock".

11th. Three balls being struck at and missed and the last one caught, is a hand-out; if not caught it is considered fair, and the striker bound to run.

• "For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out!
  Take Me Out to the Ball Game
  "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" is a 1908 Tin Pan Alley song by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer which has become the unofficial anthem of baseball, although neither of its authors had attended a game prior to writing the song. The song is traditionally sung during the seventh-inning stretch of...
  
  " is an ancient rule. The added detail, that a batter ("striker") can try to run to first on a missed third strike, also exists today, except that if there are fewer than two outs and first base is occupied, the batter is automatically out. This is to supersede the catcher
  Catcher
  Catcher is a position for a baseball or softball player. When a batter takes his turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. This is a catcher's primary duty, but he is also called upon to master many other skills in order to...
  
   dropping the ball on purpose to set up force plays - the same idea behind the Infield Fly Rule.
• Note the lack of reference to the strike zone
  Strike zone
  In baseball, the strike zone is a conceptual right pentagonal prism over home plate which defines the boundaries through which a pitch must pass in order to count as a strike when the batter does not swing.-Definition:...
  
   or the concept of a "ball" or a "base on balls
  Base on balls
  A base on balls is credited to a batter and against a pitcher in baseball statistics when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls balls. It is better known as a walk. The base on balls is defined in Section 2.00 of baseball's Official Rules, and further detail is given in 6.08...
  
  ". Those adjustments developed over time to counter these strategies:
  • Patient batters would refuse to swing at any pitch they did not like, and delay the game. The concept of the strike zone and the "called" strike was introduced in 1858.
  • Over-cautious pitchers would throw the ball wide, and delay the game. The called "ball" (i.e. a pitch not a strike) was introduced in 1863, along with a limit on how many the pitcher could deliver, upon which the batter was automatically awarded first base. The number of balls constituting a "base on balls" was initially 3. It was tinkered with through the years (to as high as 9) until the count of 4 was settled upon in 1889.
• Foul balls were also not considered strikes initially, as discussed under rule 10.

12th. If a ball be struck, or tipped, and caught, either flying or on the first bound, it is a hand out.

• Catching a fair ball
  Fair ball
  In baseball, a fair ball is a batted ball that entitles the batter to attempt to reach first base. In order for a batted ball to be fair, it must be hit in such a way that it:...
  
   on the first bounce counted as an out until the 1865 season. Catching a foul bound for an out persisted until 1883. This was before gloves
  Baseball glove
  A baseball glove or mitt is a large leather glove that baseball players on the defending team are allowed to wear to assist them in catching and fielding balls hit by a batter, or thrown by a teammate.-History:...
  
   were used (or allowed), and obviously it was easier to catch that hard ball on the first bounce. This also provided the game with some balance, as the underlying assumption in Rule 8 is that many runs were likely to be scored. Also, the catcher played well back of the plate, for safety reasons, the various protective gear not having been developed yet.

13th. A player running the bases shall be out, if the ball is in the hands of an adversary on the base, or the runner is touched with it before he makes his base; it being understood, however, that in no instance is a ball to be thrown at him.

• The important part of the rule is not allowing a player to be put out by hitting him with the ball. This was sometimes called "soaking" the runner. One schoolyard version of the game, kickball
  Kickball
  Kickball is a playground game and competitive league game, similar to baseball, invented in the United States in the first half of the 20th Century. Kickball may also be known as kick baseball, base soccer, soccer-base, or soccer-baseball...
  
  , using a large inflated ball, still allows players to be put out by hitting them (below the head area) with this much-softer ball.

15th. Three hands out, all out.

• Three outs per half-inning, another ancient rule. Referring again to card-playing terminology, a "hand" is now called an "at-bat", or more generally, the progression of a specific batter and/or runner, at bat and/or around the bases.
• This is a fundamental difference from baseball's cousin, cricket
  Cricket
  Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
  
  , in which all of the batsmen take their respective turns at bat in a single inning.

16th. Players must take their strike in regular turn.

• Specifies that the batting order is fixed. Another ancient rule that still applies to the modern game.

18th. No ace or base can be made on a foul strike.

• States that the batter does not advance on a foul ball (a foul having been defined in Rule 10). Another rule that still applies to the modern game.

20th. But one base allowed when a ball bounds out of the field when struck.

• "Ground rule single!" Outfield
  Outfield
  The outfield is a sporting term used in cricket and baseball to refer to the area of the field of play further from the batsman or batter than the infield...
  
  s were assumed to be boundless, in general. The only "home run
  Home run
  In baseball, a home run is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to reach home safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team in the process...
  
  " was a literal dash around the bases, on a ball hit between outfielders.

Other references

• The Encyclopedia of Baseball, published by MacMillan, 1969, and subsequent editions
• Official Baseball Rules, various years
• The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, edited by Paul Dickson
• Baseball guides and annuals

External links

• Knickerbocker Rules - a list of the 20 rules
• Early evolution of the rules