A STORY FROM FEB 27 IN BASEBALL HISTORY – 1901 NL RULES INCLUDE PITCH CLOCK, SORT OF

The National League Rules Committee met on this date in 1901. Among the new rules:

  • Catchers must play within 10 feet of the batter.
  • A ball will be called if the pitcher does not throw to a ready and waiting batter within 20 seconds.
  • Players using indecent or improper language will be banished by the umpire.
  • A ball will be called when a batter is hit by a pitch.

Published by

Bill Grimes

I'm from Chicago. I worked in broadcast journalism for much of the 1970's and 80's. In 1990 I became a litigation consultant, retiring in 2017. Around 2005 I recall flipping through the sports section of the newspaper coming across "On this day in baseball history Willie Mays hit his 600th home run." I enjoyed the one-liners, but I wanted more. I wanted a story. I took my news reporting skills and started researching and telling baseball stories, one for every day of the year. TodayinBaseball.com is the result.