Keyser: Why are baseball games nine innings long?
From Hannah Keyser at Mental Floss on April 14, 2015, with SABR member John Thorn:
If you are frustrated by the exhausting length of modern baseball games—or if you are thrilled that these contests last the full nine innings—you can thank an all-but-arbitrary decision made in the nascent stages of the sport. Gone the other way, America’s Pastime would end after just seven innings.
Prior to 1857, games were not just of indeterminate time length but also an indeterminate number of innings. According the 8th Rule in the Knickerbockers’ handbook—largely considered to be the first rule book from which modern baseball stems—”The game to consist of twenty-one counts, or aces; but at the conclusion an equal number of hands must be played.“
Playing until 21 runs wasn’t such a bad plan during the riotous offense of the 1840’s and ’50s, but after the 12-12 tie of 1856—the game had to be called on account of darkness after 16 innings—it was clear a change was in order.
“I believe that as the skill level of play increased, the certainty of one club or the other reaching 21 runs diminished. Most of the runs were un-earned as we would call them today,” says Major League Baseball Official Historian John Thorn.
Read the full article here: http://mentalfloss.com/article/62877/why-are-baseball-games-nine-innings-long
Originally published: April 14, 2015. Last Updated: April 14, 2015.