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third strike
Greetings, I have The Rules of Baseball-An Anecdotal Look at the Rules of Baseball and How They Came to Be by David Nemec (NY: Lyons & Burford, 1994). Apparently, a rule change in 1880 established that the batter is out when a third strike is legally caught by the catcher. On page 93 it reads, "In 1858 a rule was first introduced to allow a batter to run on a missed third strike. Until 1880, though, a batter was considered out if the catcher snagged his third strike either on the fly or the first bounce." Nemec provides that the reason for the early rule was the lack of catching gear. Beginning in 1880, catchers moved up to catch the third strike. By 1902, the rules mandated that catchers play within 10 feet of home plate at all times.
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