THE DIAMOND
A 90-foot square
The bases sit 90 feet apart, about 27.4 metres, with the pitcher 60 feet 6 inches from home plate.
Measure itA PLAIN-ENGLISH GUIDE
Baseball,
by the numbers.
Ninety feet, sixty feet six inches, and five ounces of cork, yarn and leather.
Measure the game
60′6″mound to plate
Baseball can look baffling from the outside. Most of it rests on a handful of measurements and one fairly new clock. Here they are in feet and metres, with the game’s surprisingly English beginnings, and every source linked.
Official rules, converted to metric.
At a glance
- The diamond
- The ball
- The clock
- Nine innings, three outs each
2:40 vs 3:04
Average nine-inning game
In its first season the pitch timer, 15 seconds with the bases empty and 20 with a runner on, cut the average major-league game by 24 minutes compared with 2022.
THE PITCH TIMER · 2023
< 0.5 seconds
A 90 mph pitch reaches the plate in
University of Florida researchers noted that batters have less than half a second to judge the pitch and swing, and that they reacted more slowly to curveballs than to fastballs.
THE BATTER’S VIEW · 1998
TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING
Long games,
split seconds.
A game takes hours, but every pitch
is decided in less than a second.
Both numbers explain the rhythm of the game: long pauses between pitches, then a decision made faster than a blink and a half.
MEASURE IT
Feet, inches,
and metres.
Pick a measurement to see what the Official Baseball Rules say, with a rounded metric conversion for readers who think in metres and grams.
Figures are for the major leagues. Youth and amateur leagues often use shorter distances.
THE BASICS
A square, a sphere and a stopwatch.
Three things set the shape of every game,
and all three are written into the rules.
THE BALL
Five ounces of craft
Yarn wound round a cork or rubber core, inside two stitched strips of horsehide or cowhide.
See the limits
THE CLOCK
A timer between pitches
Since 2023 the major leagues time the gap between pitches, and games got 24 minutes shorter.
What changed
YOUR FIRST GAME
Four things
to watch for.
Follow the count
The scoreboard shows balls and strikes. Four balls and the batter walks to first; three strikes and the batter is out.
Count the outs
Each team bats until it makes three outs, and a regular game runs to nine innings. Knowing the outs tells you how much is at stake.
Watch the runner on first
Steals are back in fashion. When a runner edges off first base, watch the pitcher, the runner and the catcher’s throw to second.
Read the R, H and E
The line score lists runs, hits and errors for each team. Runs decide the game; the other two tell you how it went.
HISTORY AND CHANGE
Five things you
might not know.
A prince played it in Surrey
A London newspaper of September 1749 reported Frederick, Prince of Wales, playing “Bass-Ball” at Walton in Surrey, nearly a century before the game was organised in America.
The oldest handwritten mention
William Bray of Surrey wrote about playing baseball in his diary for Easter Monday 1755. It is the earliest known manuscript reference to the game.
The Cooperstown story
In 1907 the Mills Commission reported that Abner Doubleday devised baseball at Cooperstown, New York, in 1839. The English references above are far older.
Bigger bases, shorter gaps
In 2023 first, second and third base grew from 15 to 18 inches square, shortening the run from first to second, and second to third, by 4.5 inches.
Running came back
With the new rules, major-league players stole 3,503 bases in 2023 with an 80.2% success rate, the most steals since 1987.
QUICK QUESTIONS
Baseball, answered.
Short answers to the questions newcomers ask most.
Did baseball start in England?
Its earliest known references are English. A 1749 London newspaper reported the Prince of Wales playing "Bass-Ball" at Walton in Surrey, and William Bray’s diary for Easter Monday 1755 is the earliest known handwritten mention. A 1744 children’s book probably mentions it even earlier.
How far is the pitcher from the batter?
The official rules set 60 feet 6 inches, about 18.4 metres, from the pitcher’s plate to the rear point of home plate. A 90 mph pitch covers that in under half a second.
How long does a baseball game last?
After Major League Baseball brought in a pitch timer in 2023, the average nine-inning game took 2 hours 40 minutes, down from 3 hours 4 minutes in 2022.
What do numbers like 6-4-3 or 5-6-3 mean in baseball?
They are scorekeeping shorthand for which fielders handled the ball, in order. Each position has a fixed number: 1 pitcher, 2 catcher, 3 first base, 4 second base, 5 third base, 6 shortstop, 7 left field, 8 centre field and 9 right field. So 6-3 is a ground ball to the shortstop, who throws to first for the out, and 5-6-3 runs from third base to shortstop to first base. Little League’s example, 6-4-3=2, reads: shortstop to second base to first base equals a double play.
How big and heavy is a baseball?
The rules allow a circumference of 9 to 9¼ inches (about 22.9 to 23.5 cm) and a weight of 5 to 5¼ ounces (about 142 to 149 grams).
Why were the bases made bigger?
From 2023 the three bags grew from 15 to 18 inches square, giving fielders and runners more room. In minor-league testing, base-related injuries fell by 13.5%. The larger bags also shortened two of the gaps between bases by 4.5 inches.
What should I check before buying a baseball glove?
Four things. Hand: the glove goes on the hand you do not throw with, so a right-handed thrower needs one for the left hand. Position: the rules give the catcher a mitt and let the first baseman use a glove or mitt; every other fielder wears a fielding glove. Size: the Official Baseball Rules measure a fielding glove on its catching side, from a fingertip through the pocket to the heel, and allow at most 13 inches long and 7¾ inches wide. Your league: those are major-league limits, and a pitcher’s glove may not be white or grey, so check your own league’s rule book too.
Sources
Where the facts come from
- Official Baseball Rules, 2026 edition (field and ball)Major League Baseball
- MLB announces rule changes for the 2023 seasonMajor League Baseball
- MLB game time drops 24 minutes to 2:40 with pitch clockAssociated Press, 2023
- Baseball was played by royalty in England in the 1700sSociety for American Baseball Research
- History of Doubleday Field and the Mills CommissionNational Baseball Hall of Fame
- Researchers find difference between reactions to different pitchesUniversity of Florida, 1998
- Scorekeeping (glossary)Major League Baseball
- What’s the Score?: The Basics of ScorekeepingLittle League
What changed
- : Added FAQs on what scorekeeping numbers such as 6-4-3 and 5-6-3 mean and on what to check before buying a baseball glove (Official Baseball Rules 3.04-3.07, 5.07). New sources: MLB scorekeeping glossary and Little League, The Basics of Scorekeeping.
A NAME THAT COVERS THE BASES
Interested in leasing doodlebaseball.com?
doodlebaseball.com is part of the DoodleSale portfolio. It isn't in an auction right now, but you can ask about leasing it.