The Official Rules of Baseball Illustrated

by David Nemec

• ISBN13: 9781592288441
• ISBN10: 1592288448
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2006-04-01
• Publisher: Lyons Press

Summary

In The Official Rules of Baseball, Updated and Revised, David Nemec relates the history of the rules, explores how the rules have changed and why, and relates some of the many memorable episodes in baseball in which the rules have played a central role: the famed "Pine Tar Game," the beaning of Ray Chapman, and many more. The book is illustrated with over 50 black-and-white photographs of key moments in the evolution of baseball's rules. The Official Rules of Baseball, Updated and Revised will be required reading for anyone who wants to know the game well--and for the millions of fans who want to know it better.

Author Biography

David Nemec is a prolific baseball writer and historian of the game. His other books include The Baseball Challenge Quiz Book and Great Baseball Feats, Facts, and Firsts. He lives in San Francisco, California.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
Foreword	p. ix
Introduction to the 2006 Edition of The Official Rules of Baseball Illustrated	p. xi
Introduction	p. xiii
Objectives of the Game	p. 1
Definitions of Terms	p. 21
Game Preliminaries	p. 31
Starting and Ending a Game	p. 51
Putting the Ball in Play: Live Ball	p. 67
The Batter	p. 75
The Runner	p. 99
The Pitcher	p. 123
The Umpire	p. 139
The Official Scorer	p. 155
The Official Rules of Baseball	p. 181
Index	p. 259
About the Author	p. 269
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

Probably the most famous instance of an umpire awarding a runner home plate because of fan obstruction was the wild ending to the 1976 American League Championship Series that saw George Brett of the Kansas City Royals rifle a three-run homer into the seats at Yankee Stadium in the top of the ninth to tie the game 6-6, only to have Yankees fist sacker Chris Chambliss lead off the bottom half of the inning by belting a solo dinger off Kansas City reliever Mark Littell to clinch the pennant for the Yankees. In describing the pandemonium that ensued when Yankees fans, unable to control their exhilaration, began streaming onto the field almost the moment Chambliss's shot cleared the rightfield barrier, Thurman Munson later said, "By the time Chambliss got to third base all hope of reaching the plate was gone. He never did make it."

Though Kansas City made no protest and the umpires seemed inclined to let Chambliss's interrupted journey around the bases pass without comment, hours later the Yankees first baseman took time away from the team's pennant celebration to creep out of the clubhouse, accompanied by two policemen, and touch home plate to make his flag-winning run official.

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Excerpted from The Official Rules of Baseball Illustrated by David Nemec
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.