# 6 Ways to first base? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 15, 2003, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-ways-to-first-base/168765 "2003-04-15T00:12:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-ways-to-first-base/168765/1 "2003-04-15T00:12:35Z")
I’m watching a Happy Days replay last night, and Ritchie Cunningham was on a game show, answering baseball questions. He found out that the answers were being fed to the contestants and he was insulted…said ‘I don’t need the answers, I can get them myself…Why, I know 6 ways to first base without getting a hit!’ I’ve come up with 4. Anyone know the other 2? 1. Walk 2. Balk 3. Hit by a pitch 4. Dropped third strike 5. ??? 6. ??? ---
**Author:** ![dasgupta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@dasgupta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasgupta)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-ways-to-first-base/168765/2 "2003-04-15T00:26:01Z")
Actually, a balk doesn’t get the batter to first base, IIRC… it only advances all runners currently on base… thus the 6 methods are: 1. Base on Balls (walk) 2. Hit by pitch 3. Dropped third strike 4. Catcher interference 5. Error (not counted as a hit) 6. Fielder’s choice Woo! Long time lurker, first time post _wiggle_ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rabid\_Squirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Rabid\_Squirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rabid_Squirrel)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-ways-to-first-base/168765/3 "2003-04-15T00:27:48Z")
Cripes. After all the sex talk and TMI threads, who would have thunk that the OP was _really_ about baseball? How about overpitched/failure of catcher? ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-ways-to-first-base/168765/4 "2003-04-15T00:37:22Z")
Base hit is the seventh. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-ways-to-first-base/168765/5 "2003-04-15T00:42:15Z")
How about being put in as a pinch runner? ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-ways-to-first-base/168765/6 "2003-04-15T00:42:26Z")
_note to self_ read op closely. Make the seventh…pinch runner. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-ways-to-first-base/168765/7 "2003-04-15T00:53:02Z")
I don’t think the rules of baseball (as opposed to scoring rules) distinguish between hit, error and fielder’s choice. Here are the six as I understand it: 1. hit, error, or fielder’s choice 2. base on balls 3. hit batsman 4. dropped third strike 5. catcher’s interference 6. baserunner hit by batted ball ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-ways-to-first-base/168765/8 "2003-04-15T00:58:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dasgupta \* > **4. Catcher interference > 5. Error (not counted as a hit)** Since catcher’s interference is scored as an error (although a special category of error, because it does not count as a time at bat for the batter), one could argue that these two categories are redundant. The question often is posed as “five ways to get to first base without hitting the ball”, in which case catcher’s interference is a distinct category because it is the _only_ type of error which can accomplish that feat. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-ways-to-first-base/168765/9 "2003-04-15T01:33:18Z")
The semantics of this can create all sorts of number because there are four separate ways a batter can reach first on a dropped third strike: 1. Wild pitch (K + wp) - most common 2. Passed ball (K + pb) - less common 3. Throwing error by catcher (K + e2) - very rare 4. Dropped throw from catcher by first baseman (K + 2-e3) - I suppose it’s happened ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-ways-to-first-base/168765/10 "2003-04-15T03:44:47Z")
Hit and fielder’s choice are scored differently. FC does not increase the batter’s batting average, since if there had been no one on base he would have been out. All the ways of getting to 1st on a dropped 3rd strike are counted as the same thing, though. ---
**Author:** ![PHA\_for\_life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PHA\_for\_life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PHA_for_life)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-ways-to-first-base/168765/11 "2003-04-15T03:55:20Z")
i guess my opinion doesen’t really matter in this thread. i thought you were talking about first base as in on a date with a girl. sorry i couldn’t help ya out. ---
**Author:** ![brianmelendez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/65b543/32.png) [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-ways-to-first-base/168765/12 "2003-04-15T05:00:58Z")
Cecil speaks: [What are 5 ways to get to 1st without hitting the ball?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_299.html) ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-ways-to-first-base/168765/13 "2003-04-15T05:57:16Z")
However, all the flavors of getting on base through a dropped third strike do show that you can reach first base on an error without hitting the ball and without the error necessarily being catcher’s interference.