April 17, 1889: Four Balls for a Walk

April 17, 1889: A new season begins in what would later become known as Major League Baseball. Each of the 2 leagues then in operation, the National League and the American Association, institutes a rule lowering the number of called balls required for a base on balls, or a "walk," to 4.

The Russian-born comedian Yakov Smirnoff worked his learning about baseball into his routine: "You have four balls, and you walk? If you have four balls, you walk proud!"

No, a walk wasn't always four balls. The original "Knickerbocker Rules" of 1845 did not specify a base on balls at all. They did, however state that if a batter missed three pitches, and the last one was caught, the batter was out. If the last pitch wasn't caught, the ball was in play, and the batter had to run. In 1858, the strike zone was invented and the called strike was added, and the strikeout rule has remained relatively unchanged since.

In 1887, the number of strikes for an out was changed to four, with the intent of increasing offense. But, like some other changes in baseball history, it changed things a little too much, and it was changed back to three the following season.

The National Association of Base Ball Players created the called ball in 1863, originally as a sort of unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty: "Should the pitcher repeatedly fail to deliver to the striker fair balls, for the apparent purpose of delaying the game, or for any other cause, the umpire, after warning him, shall call one ball, and if the pitcher persists in such action, two and three balls; when three balls shall have been called, the striker shall be entitled to the first base; and should any base be occupied at that time, each player occupying them shall be entitled to one base without being put out." Note that this rule in effect gave the pitcher 9 balls, since each penalty ball could only be called on a third offense.

In 1869, the rule was modified so that only those baserunners forced to advance by the batter going to first base could advance. In other words, if there were a runner on second base, but not one on first base, the batter would take first, but the runner on second had to stay put. This rule has remained in effect ever since.

From 1871 through 1886, the batter was entitled to call "high" or "low," i.e. above or below the waist; and a pitch which failed to conform was "unfair." Certain pitches were defined as automatic balls in 1872: Any ball delivered over the batter's head, that hit the ground in front of home plate, was delivered to the opposite side from the batter, or came within one foot of him.

In 1880, the National League changed the rules so that eight "unfair balls" instead of nine were required for a walk. In 1884, the NL lowered the number of balls required for a walk to six. The American Association followed suit in 1886, but the NL bumped it back up to seven.

In 1887, the NL and the AA agreed to abide by some uniform rule changes, including, for the first time, a strike zone which defined balls and strikes by rule rather than the umpire's discretion, and decreased the number of balls required for a walk to five. In 1889, both leagues agreed to four balls for a walk. Therefore:

1845-62: Not applicable

1863-79: 9

1880-83: 8

1884-85: 6 in the NL, 8 in the AA

1886: 7 in the NL, 6 in the AA

1887-88: 5

1889-present: 4

In 2017, Major League Baseball approved a rule change allowing for a batter to be walked intentionally by having the defending bench signal to the umpire. The move was met with some controversy.

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April 17, 1889 was a Wednesday. Only 2 games were played, both in the AA. The St. Louis Browns, the team that would become the Cardinals, beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-1 at American Park in Cincinnati. And the Kansas City Cowboys beat the Louisville Colonels, 7-4 at Eclipse Park in Louisville, Kentucky. The NL began its season on April 24.