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KG Erwin -> RE: Question for KG or other baseball historians (8/6/2009 12:09:26 AM)
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Here's the "wiki answer" to your question:
"I'm almost positive that sometime in the mid to late 50's, maybe only in the American League, and for a short period - maybe only a year or so, that rule was instituted.
It was the result of several consecutive years when batters would try to wear the pitcher out with fouling the ball off instead of trying to get a hit. Unfortunately, the only substantiation I've ever been able to run across, was The Statler Brothers. That line is in their lyrics for 'Do You Remember These?' 'Four foul balls - yer out!'
Perhaps in the decade after the game was first started, perhaps; in softball leagues, perhaps; in the women's leagues during the 40's, perhaps; in local games in local communities by agreement to speed up the game, perhaps.
PS. I just checked on the Rules through the 20th Century and I can't find anything about four foull balls and your 'OUT'.
No, there has never been a rule concerning calling a batter out for fouling off pitches with the exception that the foul was due to a failed bunt attempt on a third strike. Actually, before 1901 in the National League and 1903 in the American League there was a rule called the No Foul Strike rule. This rule stated that foul balls were only counted as strikes in three instances: a failed bunt attempt, a foul tip, and if the umpire judged that the batter had not made an 'honest' attempt to hit the ball into fair territory. The third instance was very rarely used and only when the umpire deemed the batter to be fooled by the pitch and was swinging solely to make contact and not have the pitch by called a strike by the umpire."
I looked at the summary of rules changes on "Baseball Almanac" and I saw no mention of that change in the "foul strike" rule.
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