A no pitch is an umpire's ruling in

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

in which a pitch thrown by a pitcher is neither a

ball A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but can sometimes be ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used f ...

nor a

strike Strike may refer to: People * Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

. This is typically the umpire's call whenever the pitcher released the ball after the umpire called timeout. However, there are other instances in which this can be called.

Major League Baseball rules

The call is not directly defined in the

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

rulebook. However, it is still mentioned in a comment under Rule 6.02(b): :A ball which slips out of a pitcher's hand and crosses the foul line shall be called a ball; otherwise it will be called no pitch. This would be a balk with men on base.

Occurrence

There are various reasons an

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

would rule a no pitch: *If any umpire calls time while a pitch is being delivered. *With nobody on base, the pitcher releases the ball and the ball fails to pass over home plate or a foul line. *While the pitch is being delivered, the ball is interfered with while in flight. *If an umpire believes the batter is not ready or if the batter is not in the batter's box, a no pitch may also be called. *A home plate umpire not in a ready position to call a ball or strike may call a no pitch. One of the most famous no pitch calls occurred when

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The f ...

pitcher

Randy Johnson Randall David Johnson (born September 10, 1963), nicknamed "The Big Unit", is an American photographer and former professional baseball pitcher who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (1988–2009) for six teams, primarily the Seattle M ...

hit a bird with a pitch. During a

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...

game on March 24, 2001, Johnson's fastball struck and killed a dove that swooped across the infield after Johnson released the pitch. MLB's chief umpire noted that under Rule 8.01(c), umpires can make calls in situations not covered by the rules using "common sense and fair play," and here a no pitch call "was the fairest thing to do." This no pitch call is so well known that there are more

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search results for "Randy Johnson bird" than there are for "Randy Johnson baseball."

References

{{reflist Baseball rules Baseball terminology Baseball pitching