dropped third strike

[Rich]

Originally Posted by bob jenkins

It's been in the game from the beginning.

First, the batter became a runner on every "third" strike (or whatever the number was then).

When the catcher played well back of the batter, and the ball was softer and quickly became out-of-round, and no one used gloves, it was no sure thing that the BR would be out.

As the catcher moved to the current position, and used gloves, it became "boring" to have to make the play when the strike was caught. So, the rule was changed so that the batter became a runner only when the strike was uncaught.

Then, crafty catchers realized they could get two outs if they didn't catch the third strike in certain situations. So, the rule was changed to the current rule.

The NFHS rule used to read that the batter becomes a batter runner on every third strike and in another section it said the batter is out when a third strike is caught or when first is occupied with less than two outs.

May still say this, but I don't think so (and I'm not looking it up now).