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 ...

, a

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

is charged with a passed ball when he fails to hold or control a legally pitched ball that, with ordinary effort, should have been maintained under his control, and, as a result of this loss of control, the batter or a runner on base advances. A runner who advances due to a passed ball is not credited with a

stolen base In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

unless he breaks for the base before the pitcher begins his delivery.

History

A passed ball may be scored when a base runner reaches the next base on a bobble or missed catch by the catcher, or when the batter–runner reaches first base on an uncaught strike three (''see also''

Strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

). A closely related statistic is the

wild pitch In baseball, a wild pitch (WP) is charged against a pitcher when his pitch is too high, too short, or too wide of home plate for the catcher to control with ordinary effort, thereby allowing a baserunner, or the batter (on an uncaught third str ...

. As with many baseball statistics, whether a pitch that gets away from a catcher is a passed ball or wild pitch is at the discretion of the

official scorer In the game of baseball, the official scorer is a person appointed by the league to record the events on the field, and to send the official scoring record of the game back to the league offices. In addition to recording the events on the field ...

. Typically, pitches that are deemed to be ordinarily catchable by the catcher, but are not, are ruled passed balls; pitches that get by the catcher that are thought to have required extraordinary effort by the catcher in order to stop them are wild pitches. If the pitch was so low as to touch the ground, or so high that the catcher has to rise out of his crouched position to get to it, or so wide that the catcher has to lunge for it, it is usually then considered a wild pitch and not a passed ball. A run scored due to a passed ball is not recorded as an

earned run In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an erro ...

. However, a run scored due to a wild pitch is recorded as an earned run. Passed balls and wild pitches are considered to be part of the act of pitching rather than fielding. Thus they are kept as separate statistics and are not recorded as

error An error (from the Latin ''error'', meaning "wandering") is an action which is inaccurate or incorrect. In some usages, an error is synonymous with a mistake. The etymology derives from the Latin term 'errare', meaning 'to stray'. In statistics ...

s. There tends to be a higher incidence of passed balls when a

knuckleball A knuckleball or knuckler is a baseball pitch thrown to minimize the spin of the ball in flight, causing an erratic, unpredictable motion. The air flow over a seam of the ball causes the ball to change from laminar to turbulent flow. This chan ...

er is pitching. The physics that make a knuckleball so difficult to hit make it similarly difficult to catch. While teams with a knuckleballer on their pitching staff often employ a special "knuckleball catcher" who is equipped with a knuckleball mitt, similar to a first baseman's glove, it is still extremely difficult to catch.

Records

The MLB career record for passed balls allowed is 763 by

Pop Snyder Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

, while

Rudy Kemmler Rudolph Kemmler, born ''Rudolph Kemler'', (January 1860 – June 20, 1909) was an American Major League Baseball catcher for all or part of eight seasons. He played for seven different teams in the National League and American Association betw ...

set the single season record of 114 in 1883. The single season record in the modern era is 35, set by

Geno Petralli Eugene James Petralli (born September 25, 1959) is an American former professional baseball player. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball for the Toronto Blue Jays and the Texas Rangers from to . Early life and education Petralli grad ...

in 1987. The record for passed balls in a single game, six, was set by

Rube Vickers Harry Porter "Rube" Vickers (May 17, 1879–December 9, 1958) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball for the Brooklyn Superbas, Cincinnati Reds, and Philadelphia Athletics during the early 20th century. H ...

in 1902 and later tied by Petralli in 1987 and

Jerry Goff Jerry Leroy Goff (born April 12, 1964) is a former professional baseball catcher who played in Major League Baseball for the Montreal Expos, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Houston Astros. He was listed at and 207 pounds. In his last major league game, ...

in 1996. The record for passed balls in a single inning is four, and is jointly held by Petralli,

Ray Katt Raymond Frederick Katt (May 9, 1927 – October 19, 1999) was an American professional baseball player and coach. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball during the 1950s, and later became the longtime and highly successful head baseball c ...

, and

Ryan Lavarnway Ryan Cole Lavarnway ( ריאן לווארנוויי; born August 7, 1987) is an American-Israeli professional baseball catcher who is a free agent. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Oriol ...

, all three of whom were catching knuckleball pitchers.

References

External links

Baseball Rules
See section 10.13

at the Encyclopedia of Baseball Catchers {{Baseball statistics Catching statistics Baseball terminology

History

Records

See also

References

External links