# Baseball question: ERA and errors on pitcher **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 4, 2005, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-question-era-and-errors-on-pitcher/315543 "2005-08-04T12:19:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Loopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loopus/32/15343_2.png) [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-question-era-and-errors-on-pitcher/315543/21 "2005-08-06T02:01:59Z")
> [@Jinx](#): > > I’ve never heard of a batter getting to take a base for a wild pitch! The runners advance, but not the batter. Also, a dropped foul ball is not scored as an error. An error is in relation to the fielding of what would otherwise have been scored as a hit! > > Also, isn’t it the case that the batter does not advance to first on a pass ball unless the pass ball occurs after the third strike (but not caught by the catcher)? The “dropped third strike” rule applies anytime that first base is unoccupied and/or there are two outs AND the catcher fails to secure the pitched ball. A wild pitch can allow the batter to reach first as long as it is a strike (the batter can swing at a ball far out of the zone for a strike if we wants too). A dropped foul ball _is_ scored as an error if, in the official scorekeeper’s opinon, the player reasonably should have been caught it. I’m pretty sure, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-question-era-and-errors-on-pitcher/315543/22 "2005-08-06T02:04:08Z")
> [@Jinx](#): > > I’ve never heard of a batter getting to take a base for a wild pitch! The runners advance, but not the batter. Also, a dropped foul ball is not scored as an error. An error is in relation to the fielding of what would otherwise have been scored as a hit! > > Also, isn’t it the case that the batter does not advance to first on a pass ball unless the pass ball occurs after the third strike (but not caught by the catcher)? The rulebook says: > [@](#): > > 0.13 > An error shall be charged for each misplay (fumble, muff or wild throw) which prolongs the time at bat of a batter or which prolongs the life of a runner, or which permits a runner to advance one or more bases. , so a dropped foul ball is an error. The batter doesn’t automatically get first base on a wild pitch, but he can try: > [@](#): > > 6.09 > The batter becomes a runner when\_ (a) He hits a fair ball; (b) The third strike called by the umpire is not caught, providing (1) first base is unoccupied, or (2) first base is occupied with two out . The rule makes no distinction between a passed ball or wild pitch; it just says a “third strike not caught”. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-question-era-and-errors-on-pitcher/315543/23 "2005-08-06T02:05:16Z")
That first rule reference should be 10.13, not 0.13. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-question-era-and-errors-on-pitcher/315543/24 "2005-08-06T04:42:47Z")
Until about 1950, catchers were charged with errors on dropped third strikes where a batter reached. It was not ruled a wild pitch or passed ball. Mickey Owen’s famous dropped third strike in Game 4 of the 1941 World Series was immortalized in his NY Times obit as a “passed ball”, but it wasn’t. It was an error. The NY Times didn’t print my correction. Hence, I get all huffy about it here! ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-question-era-and-errors-on-pitcher/315543/25 "2005-08-06T04:55:47Z")
> [@Loopus](#): > > Errors aren’t often given to pitchers, mainly, I think, because they can’t reasonably be expected to make a lot of plays. Pitchers DO get a lot of errors, though, considering the number of plays they make; pitcher fielding percentages are generally quite low, in the range of .950 to .960. Pitchers as a group have the worst fielding percentages of any position except third basemen. Randy Johnson, of course, is arguably the worst fielding player to ever be a successful major league baseball player; going into 2005 his career fielding percentage was an astoundingly bad .899. No, that is not a typo. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baseball-question-era-and-errors-on-pitcher/315543.md?page=1)