Omaha daily bee., 1920-02-10
CHANGE MADE IN
PLAYING Rules;
. SPIT BALL GOES
Freak Deliveries Abolished
Official Diamond for Boys
Is Adopted-19 Rules
Are Amended.

Chicago, Feb. o.-Chicago occn
pied the spotlight Monday In the
base ball world. Officials OF five
leagues were here Two league,
held their annual meetings and tho
joint rules committee of the Ma.
tional and American leagues met in
extended session to amend the play.
ing rules.
In all 10 rules were amended and
one added.
The intentional pass rule az
amended and adopted by the rule.
committee says:
at shall be illegal for the catcher
to leave his natural position inn
medately and directly back of this
the pitcher to Intentionally give =
base on balls to the batsmen. II
the catcher shall move out of posi-
ton prior to the time the bali leaves
the pitchers hand, all runners wha
may be on basses shall be en-
titled to advance one base"
The rule covering the home rus
says that when a player knocks
the ball into the crowds on fai,
ground. shall be given credit for
home run if he completes the cir
cult and all runners shall scors
ahead of him. In passing this rule,
the committee argued it would in
crease the number of home runs a
season and also work to the bat
ter's advantage. This rule applies
only to the last half of the ninth in
ming.
In explaining this rule, President
Heydler of the National league
said; IF the score should be 0 to
0, in the final half of the ninth in
ming and the bases were all oc-
cupied, and the batsman knocked
a ball into the stand, all runners
would score and the final score
would be to o.
Balk Rule Changed
The amendment dealing with the
"balk" reads:
ANY motion to pitch while stand
ing in his position without having
the ball in his possession; or re-
gardless of whether he makes any
motion to pitch or not, if the pitch
er takes a legal position on the
rubber without the ball in his pos
session, or if he takes a pitching
position off the rubber and feints
to deliver the ball to the bat, it
shall be called a 'balk"
Several additions are also added to
this rule, one of which declared that
the ball shall be declared a dead"
ball and no play can be made until
the runner or runners reach the base
or bases they are entitled to.
1t was agreed to amend the freak
delivery rule as follows:
"At no time, during the progress Of
the game shall the pitcher be al
lowed to (D apply a foreign sub
stance of any kind to the bali; t2)
expectorate either on the bali or his
glove; (3) to rub the bali on his
glove, person or clothing, or (D to
deface the ball in any manner or to
deliver what is called the 'shine
ball spit ball, mud bali or emery
ball For violation of this rule the
pitcher shall be ordered from the
game, and be barred from participa
ton in any championship contest for
a period of 10 days"
Junior Diamond
In adopting the foregoing rule
against freak deliveries, it was un-
derstood and agreed that all bona fide
spit ball pitchers listed by the club
owners and presented to the heads
of the two major leagues prior to
the starting of the season should
have only the season of 1920 to use
the so-called delivery, after which it
will not be permitted in the leagues.
Realizing the importance of re-
cruiting ball players for the big
leagues, one of those present pre-
sented the argument of smaller
diamond for boys under 1o years of
age. His Argument was based upon
the fact that boys today attempt to
play the national game on the regu-
ltion diamond and as result it is
impossible to develop.
The committee adopted rule es-
tablishing an official diamond for
juniors. The new diamond will be
80 feet between bases and the pitch
ing rubber so feet from the plate.
The rules as adopted by the COM
mittee will be ratified by the meet
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