From Rule 5.05 (a) : The batter becomes a runner when
… … …
(6) A fair ball, after touching the ground, bounds into the
stands, or passes through, over or under a fence, or through
or under a scoreboard, or through or under shrubbery, or
vines on the fence, in which case the batter and the runners
shall be entitled to advance two bases;
(7) Any fair ball which, either before or after touching the
ground, passes through or under a fence, or through or
under a scoreboard, or through any opening in the fence or
scoreboard, or through or under shrubbery, or vines on the
fence, or which sticks in a fence or scoreboard, in which
case the batter and the runners shall be entitled to two bases;
Wow, I had no idea that was a sports term. I thought it was “ground” like “from the ground up”, like the most basic rules that everything else builds on.
Lol, never knew what those meant either. Thought it was like a kid losing a toy that rolled out of a park, or a cowboy that appeared out of nowhere.
Back in the day when horse race tracks charged admission(*), they also issued those (I’m being careful not to spoil your spoiler here) if weather caused the cancellation of a day’s card. If it did, you were given one of those, which was good for another admission and program on any other racing day. Under certain circumstances, the Daily Racing Form would also exchange your now-useless copy of its newspaper for one good on the day you chose to attend later.
Pretty sure the term you stated is originally from baseball though. Baseball can be frequently disrupted by weather; but it takes a lot to cancel the rest of a horse racing card. I imagine that racing borrowed the term from baseball.
(*) Most tracks no longer charge admission, so there is little to no need for what you describe any more. Still, us long-time horseplayers remember them from the old days.
The latter is incorrect: qualifying for the batting title was (and still is) based on plate appearances, not at-bats, of which he had more than enough to qualify.
As to all the IBBs in 2004, I did an informal study of how the guys behind him did afterwards. Normally an IBB is a Very Bad Idea, even with BB or even Babe Ruth coming up, but here the opposing managers actually knew what they were doing, as the followup batters (includes everyone who batted until the inning was over) performed absolutely abysmally, something like .200/.280/.340. BB usually batted 4th (note nowadays managers often hit their best hitters 1st or 2nd, a la Ohtani), ahead of these guys:
Bonds won the batting title, just as he did in 2002. Qualification is based on PLATE APPEARANCES, not at bats. He had 617 plate appearances, way over the minimum.
In theory you could win a batting title with one at bat, if you had 501 walks, hit-by-pitches, sacrifice flies, etc.
I’m not going to put this in question form but I came across a crazy stat today. Larry Fitzgerald had more tackles than drops in his career. In 17 years as a NFL receiver he only had 29 drops. He had 41 tackles.
Yesterday, Steelers kicker Chris Boswell kicked six field goals in the game against the Ravens. That’s the third time in his career that he’s done that (and the second time this season). Who holds the record for kicking the most field goals in an NFL game?