# 5 ways getting to first base withing hitting the ball **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 14, 2000, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-ways-getting-to-first-base-withing-hitting-the-ball/10621 "2000-04-14T20:02:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Coachnovo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@Coachnovo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coachnovo)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-ways-getting-to-first-base-withing-hitting-the-ball/10621/1 "2000-04-14T20:02:00Z")
From a previous message, you stated there are 6 not 5 ways to get on first base without hitting the ball: 1-Hit by pitch 2-3rd-strike passball 3-a walk 4-catcher’s interference 5-if a ball, pitched to the batter or thrown by the pitcher from his position on the pitcher’s plate to a base to catch a runner, goes into a stand, or player’s bench, or over or through a field fence or backstop, or is touched by a spectator 6-on ball four or strike three, when the pitch misses the catcher and lodges in the umpire’s mask or paraphernalia what about an illegal pitch?? ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-ways-getting-to-first-base-withing-hitting-the-ball/10621/2 "2000-04-14T20:08:00Z")
I stated no such thing. * * * That movie taught me some important lessons in life. 1. I can build a robot that loves me. 2. I can reanimate my dead girlfriend by jamming bits of metal and silicon into her skull. Both are lessons I use on a daily basis… ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-ways-getting-to-first-base-withing-hitting-the-ball/10621/3 "2000-04-14T20:22:00Z")
Me either. ---
**Author:** ![Coachnovo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@Coachnovo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coachnovo)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-ways-getting-to-first-base-withing-hitting-the-ball/10621/4 "2000-04-14T20:47:00Z")
Cecil stated this; here is the page: [www.straightdope.com/classics/a1\_299.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_299.html) ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-ways-getting-to-first-base-withing-hitting-the-ball/10621/5 "2000-04-14T20:51:00Z")
I may be wrong on this, but I thought that only on-base runners advanced on an illegeal pitch, not the batter. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-ways-getting-to-first-base-withing-hitting-the-ball/10621/6 "2000-04-14T22:45:00Z")
If, by illegal pitch, you mean a balk, only the baserunners advance. The batter does not. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-ways-getting-to-first-base-withing-hitting-the-ball/10621/7 "2000-04-14T22:51:00Z")
Does illegal pitch imply something like a spitball? If that were the case, the punishment is that the pitcher gets ejected and suspended, but the batter stays where he is. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-ways-getting-to-first-base-withing-hitting-the-ball/10621/8 "2000-04-14T23:44:00Z")
But if there are no baserunners, isn’t a batter credited with a ball when the pitcher commits a balk? With 3 balls, and then a balk, wouldn’t this get the batter on first? * * * Sala, can’t you count?!? I said NO camels! That’s FIVE camels! ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-ways-getting-to-first-base-withing-hitting-the-ball/10621/9 "2000-04-14T23:51:00Z")
A balk is, in a nutshell, an illegal move by the pitcher in an attempt to deceive a runner on base. It really has nothing to do with the pitch to the batter. If a pitcher balks, but still delivers the ball and the batter gets a hit, the offense actually has the option of taking the result of the play and ignoring the balk. This doesn’t happen too often as normally the umpires call time and award the runners one base. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-ways-getting-to-first-base-withing-hitting-the-ball/10621/10 "2000-04-14T23:55:00Z")
Nope, the balk wasn’t it. Pitcher can’t commit a balk with no runners. But I did find it. [Here](http://www.majorleaguebaseball.com/u/baseball/mlbcom/headquarters/rules5.htm). When a pitch, on ball 3 or strike 2 lodges in an umpire’s mask or pads, the batter is allowed first base. Connor * * * Sala, can’t you count?!? I said NO camels! That’s FIVE camels! ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-ways-getting-to-first-base-withing-hitting-the-ball/10621/11 "2000-04-14T23:57:00Z")
Oh good lord. Good going, Connor, on stating the already-stated… ::sulks out of room:: ---
**Author:** ![Sake\_Samurai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sake\_Samurai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sake_Samurai)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2000, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-ways-getting-to-first-base-withing-hitting-the-ball/10621/12 "2000-04-14T23:57:00Z")
1. **Yawwn** while stretching your arm out in a movie theater, cleverly wrapping it around her shoulders. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2000, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-ways-getting-to-first-base-withing-hitting-the-ball/10621/13 "2000-04-15T16:19:00Z")
If I’m a pinch runner, I can get to first base without hitting the ball 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2000, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-ways-getting-to-first-base-withing-hitting-the-ball/10621/14 "2000-04-17T12:38:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Coachnovo: > **5-if a ball, pitched to the batter or thrown by the pitcher from his position on the pitcher’s plate to a base to catch a runner, goes into a stand, or player’s bench, or over or through a field fence or backstop, or is touched by a spectator** a) For #5, you’re describing an overthrown ball to which runners advance one base. I’ve never heard of the batter advancing on an overthrow! b) What’s the deal with a batter refusing to take his base and denying he was hit? Why can a batter do this? * * * “They’re coming to take me away ha-ha, ho-ho, hee-hee, to the funny farm where life is beautiful all the time… :)” - Napoleon IV ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2000, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-ways-getting-to-first-base-withing-hitting-the-ball/10621/15 "2000-04-17T12:54:00Z")
Damn! I thought this thread would be about dating advice! * * * “I must leave this planet, if only for an hour.” – Antoine de St. Exupéry Are you a turtle? ---
**Author:** ![VATech22](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/df788c/32.png) [@VATech22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VATech22)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2000, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-ways-getting-to-first-base-withing-hitting-the-ball/10621/16 "2000-04-18T08:40:00Z")
This may sound smart a\*\*ed but a pinch runner could make it to first without ever hitting the ball. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2000, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-ways-getting-to-first-base-withing-hitting-the-ball/10621/17 "2000-04-19T04:38:00Z")
## For the record, The Indianapolis Star tells me that Chuck Finley recently became the only MLB pitcher to strike out four batters in one inning for the second time in his career. The item didn’t say how it happened the first time, but on this occasion, the third whiffer reached base on a passed ball. Finley struck out the next batter. AskNott "Measure twice, cut once. Dang! Measure again, cut again. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2000, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-ways-getting-to-first-base-withing-hitting-the-ball/10621/18 "2000-04-19T04:49:00Z")
Actually Chuck Finley has recorded four strikeouts in an inning THREE times in his career. No one else has done it more than once other than Finley. Not that this has anything to do with the OP.