Nine balls for a walk. Four strikes for an out. Batters calling their own pitches. The umpire in an easy chair.

The baseball of the 1870s and 1880s was almost unrecognizable—a chaotic sport where rules varied from city to city, fielders caught balls barehanded, and honor determined close calls. Within three decades, this confusion consolidated into the game we know today.

First Inning Rules tells the story of that transformation.

Discover the forgotten rules that shaped America's pastime:

• The Bound Catch — When a ball caught on one bounce was an out, and why bare-handed fielders needed that extra margin
• The Fair-Foul Hit — How Ross Barnes hit .429 in 1876 with a trick so devastating they had to outlaw it
• The Umpire's Easy Chair — When officials were honored guests served the best food and the largest beer
• Nine Balls for a Walk — The decade-long journey from nine balls to four
• Four Strikes and You're Out — The disastrous 1887 experiment that produced a .435 batting average
• High Ball or Low Ball — When batters controlled the strike zone before every at-bat

Through thirteen essays and a sweeping conclusion, author Jim Stovall—who has watched baseball for eight decades, from Willie Mays's legendary catch in 1954 to a World Series night with his son in 2019—explores how the men who played and governed early baseball invented the modern game through trial, error, and endless argument.

Part of the First Inning Baseball series, which explores the pioneering teams and players who created modern baseball in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The rules before the rules. The game before the game. The first inning of baseball.