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Baseball’s magical 90 feet and other great sports measurements and dimensions

7. Baseball’s 60 feet, 6 inches pitching distance

GARY CAMERON/REUTERS
St. Louis Cardinals batter Yadier Molina hits a two-run RBI single off Washington Nationals starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg in the first inning of their game in Washington April 24, 2013. Strasburg, the Nationals ace pitcher, lost the game bringing his season won-loss record to 1-4.

  • By Ross Atkin Staff writer

This distance achieves the desired equilibrium between pitcher and batter. Whatever minor adjustments may have been necessary over the years have been made by altering the height of the mound or redefining the strike zone.

The oddball measurement surely is one of the quirkiest distances in all of sports because of those six inches. Just why they became part of the official distance is tied up in baseball’s evolution during the 1800s and the transition from a “pitching box” to a pitching rubber.

The oldest pitching distance of 15 paces or 45 feet dates to when pitching was done underhanded. As overhanded throws were allowed, the distance needed to move back to give batters more time to get a bead on faster pitches and avoid “monotonous strikeout games.” The pitcher’s rubber is a few feet closer to home plate than second base, with the 60 feet 6 inches measure from the rubber to where the first and third base foul lines intersect at home plate.

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

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