Inside baseball (strategy)

Inside baseball is a strategy in baseball involving tactics that keep the ball in the infield. The strategy specifically did not rely on big hits and home runs and became the primary offensive strategy during the dead-ball era. The modern-day equivalent is small ball.

It was developed by the 19th-century Baltimore Orioles and promoted by John McGraw. In his book, My Thirty Years In Baseball, McGraw credits the development of the "inside baseball" to manager Ned Hanlon. In the 1890s, this type of play was referred to as "Oriole baseball" or "Baltimore baseball".