baseball- first base

Factual Questions
1

What are the 7 ways to get on first base in baseball? Or is it 8?

2
  1. Base hit
  2. Walk (base on balls)
  3. Reach base on an error
  4. Fielder’s choice
  5. Get hit by a pitch
  6. Run to first after catcher drops third strike
  7. Get awarded first base for fielder’s interference

Those are the ones I can think of- if I’ve missed any, some genius will gleefully point them out!

3
  1. Hit a home run, stop and stand on first base while waving to fans for a moment, then continue on your merry way around the diamond.
4
  1. Sitting in the movie theatre, raise both arms high in the air, as though you’re enjoying a good yawn and stretch, and bring your arm down around your date’s shoulders.

Oh, wait. It said baseball, didn’t it?

Okay, how’s this?

At the baseball stadium, raise both arms hign in the air, as though you’re …

5

From the original Straight Dope book, Page 299:
Rule 7.05 (h): If the pitcher, throwing to a base to catch a runner, or pitching to the batter, throws the ball “into a stand or bench, or over or through a field fence or backstop.”
Rule 7.05 (i) If a pitch, on ball four or strike three, passes the catcher and gets stuck in “the umpire’s mask or paraphernalia.”

6

Pinch runner

7

Does a balk just advance the runners already on base? or does the batter get awarded first base too?

8

The batter doesn’t go to first base on a balk. All baserunners advance one base, but the batter doesn’t go anywhere.

9

I think that the baserunner gets awarded 1st base if the pitcher blows on his hand while standing on the rubber (without permission from the umpire). Am I right? If so, why do pitchers throw 4 pitches when they’re intentionally walking somebody? Shouldn’t they just blow on their hands?

10

Jackknifed Juggernaut, it is the option of the pitcher to choose to throw balls or strikes. And it is the option of the batter to choose whether or not to swing.

Even in the circumstance where the pitcher is throwing the ball 30 inches wide of the plate for an intentional walk, he must still deliver the ball four times, because the batter has the right to attempt to swing at that ball and hit it.

I believe there have been a couple of cases where sluggers being intentionally walked stepped towards the pitch-out ball, swung and connected, and got home runs out of it. Some SABERmetrician Doper may have specifics on this; I have only the memory of its supposedly having happened.

11

Polycarp, your response doesn’t really address Jackknifed’s question. And yes, batters (not just sluggers) do sometimes step out and whack an intentional ball. It’s not that uncommon, although it’s usually for a base hit, not a home run. (Think about trying to hit a home run off the end of your bat with arms stretched out and on your tip-toes.) It happened at least twice in the 2002 season.

As for the OP, the saying is “What are the seven ways a batter can reach base without getting a hit?” They are:

  1. Walk
  2. Hit
  3. Fielder’s choice
  4. Error
  5. Catcher drops ball on third strike
  6. Catcher’s interference
  7. Pinch runner
12

#2 should be “Hit by pitch,” of course.

13

chriszarate the question says without getting a hit, so your # 2 should be “hit by pitch”.

I think astorian had it right

14

Guess I should of previewed.

Sorry, chris

15

What about stealing first from second? Not that you’d want to, but it’d be legal, wouldn’t it?

16

It is illegal to deliberately run the bases backward.

From Rule 7.08(i)

17

A couple years ago, that original column was updated: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/000818.html

It turns out those are not different ways to get to first base. Instead, they are restrictions on the movement of the batter-runner (a player between the time his at-bat is done until he is put out or the play ends).

18

That should be a general rule.

19

What the heck does “Fielder’s choice” mean? And I thought a balk just counted as a ball?

20

A fielder’s choice means that in the opinion of the official scorer, the batter would have been out if the fielder would have attempted a play on the batter. In this case, the fielder had an easier play to get an advancing runner thus getting the out that way.

A “fielder’s choice” ruling ensures that a batter doesn’t get credited with a base hit undeservedly.