Once Upon a Strikezone

I’m writing a piece on umpires but this isn’t it. I was fishing around the official website and I stumbled across a great page that gave a rundown on the history (from the beginning to current day) of the strike zone.

Originally, when baseball was first played, the dynamic of hitting was a different situation all together; enough so that I’m going to have some fun explaining it—plus it will help make some pitching points later.

If the strike zone were to magically revert back to its original 1876 form, we’d have players striding up to the plate (originally referred to as the batsman) and he’d tell the umpire he wanted either a high, low or fair pitch. The umpire would signal the batter's order to the pitcher and he’d pitch the pitch.

A high pitch was from the waist to the shoulders.


A low pitch was from a foot above the ground to the waist


A fair pitch was from a foot above the ground to the waist.


All pitches had to over the plate.

Can you imagine if Albert Pujols could walk up and ask for location of a pitch today?

They played for 11 years with those rules. I guess the pitcher still had the chance to get the baseball over the plate however he wants--meaning fastball, change-up, curve ball, etc. Its not like they were letting the batsman call the actual pitch, just the location.

Currently, since I’m sure you’re all sorts of curious by now, a strike is any pitch coming across the plate and is anywhere from the bottom of the knees to the top of the shoulders. Today's batter is forced to rely on a patience, personal superstition or a pitch-tipping delivery to get their pitches. Or some sort of a magical combination of all three.