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A baseball field, also called a ball field or a baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played. The terms "baseball field" and "ball field" are also often used as synonyms for ballpark.



Diagram of a baseball field.

Unless otherwise noted, the specifications discussed in this article refer to those described within the Official Baseball Rules[1], under which Major League Baseball is played. The starting point for much of the action on the field is home plate, which is a five-sided slab of whitened rubber, 17-inches square with two of the corners removed so that one edge is 17 inches long, two adjacent sides are 8½ inches and the remaining two sides are 12 inches and set at an angle to make a point. Adjacent to each of the two parallel 8 1/2-inch sides is a batter's box. The point of home plate where the two 12-inch sides meet at right angles, is at one corner of a ninety-foot square. The other three corners of the square, in counterclockwise order from home plate, are called first base, second base, and third base. Three canvas bags fifteen inches (38 cm) square mark the three bases. These three bags along with home plate form the four bases at the corners of the infield.

A subtlety about the bases is that all the base bags, along with home plate, lie entirely within fair territory. Thus, any batted ball touching those bases must necessarily be in fair territory while touching the bag or plate. While the first and third base bags are placed so that they lie inside the 90 foot square formed by the bases, the second base bag is placed so that its center (unlike first, third and home) coincides exactly with the "point" of the ninety-foot infield square. Thus, although the "points" of the bases are 90 feet apart, the physical distance between each successive pair of base markers is closer to 88 feet. This positioning of the second base bag creates an "offset" (of one-half of its bag width) from pure "alignment" with the first and third base bags - an anomaly which does not seem to have affected play over the years and generally goes unnoticed by players and fans.


First base

First base foul pole at Citi Field in Flushing, Queens.


There are nine ways a batter can reach first base. They are:



Second base



Third base



Home plate

Home plate of Třebíč baseball field



Additionally, the catcher covers home plate when a runner is attempting to score a run; he must tag the runner with the ball (or the glove with the ball inside) before the runner touches home plate, or in the event that the bases are loaded he may simply touch home plate while in possession of the ball to get the runner out. Professional catchers in the major leagues often have large body frames to maximally obstruct home plate from the runner's access. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the catcher is assigned the number 2.

Batter's box and catcher's box

David Ortiz (in gray) of the Boston Red Sox stands in the batter's box for left-handed hitters.




The catcher is the defensive player who is positioned to receive pitches - generally positioned within the catcher's box. The catcher's box is 43 inches wide, centered on and extending 8 feet behind the point of home plate. Rule sets vary as to the catcher's responsibility to remain in the catcher's box. Under Official Baseball Rules, the only specified penalty relating to the catcher's box is that when a batter is being walked intentionally, it is a balk if the catcher to steps outside the catcher's box before the pitcher releases the pitch.

Foul poles

1 of 2 foul poles at Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia.


Pitcher's mound





In Little League Baseball, the distance between the mound and homeplate is 46'. PONY Baseball caters to most of the same age ranges as Little League in their Shetland, Pinto, Mustang and Bronco divisions (covering ages 5 through 12 respectively) Each of these divisions features a different distance between the mound and home plate, as well as progressively longer baselines. This graduation of the field dimensions is meant to mirror the growth of the participants themselves as they mature physically. For example the Mustang division mound is 44' from home, and the Bronco division 48'. PONY baseball offers divisions for kids beyond the age of 12 in the Pony, Colt and Palomino divisions. The Pony division utilizes a 54' distance from the mound to home while Colt and Palomino use a major league dimensions of 60' 6" mound distance and 90' basepaths.

A pitcher's mound is difficult for groundskeepers to maintain. Usually before every game it is watered down to keep the dust from spreading. On youth and amateur baseball fields, the mound may be much different from the rulebook definition due to erosion and repair attempts. Even in the major leagues, each mound gains its own character, as pitchers are allowed to kick away pieces of dirt in their way, thereby sculpting the mound a bit to their preference. Mark Fidrych is an example of such a pitcher. The pitcher may keep a rosin bag on the rear of the mound to dry off his hands



Grass line


The grass line, where the dirt of the infield ends and the grass of the outfield begins, has no special significance to the rules of the game, but it can influence the outcome of a game. Dirt running paths between the bases (and, at one time, between the pitcher and the catcher) have existed since the beginning of the game, although they were not mentioned in the rule books until around 1950, and their specifications are flexible. In addition to providing a running path, the grass lines act as a visual aid so that players, umpires and fans may better judge distance from the center of the diamond. Occasionally the ball may take a tricky bounce off the dirt area or the edge between the dirt and the grass. World Series championships (including 1924, 1960 and 1986) have been decided or heavily influenced by erratic hops of ground balls. In artificial turf stadiums (such as those with FieldTurf in Major League Baseball), infield dirt is placed only around the bases and around the pitcher's and batting areas; thus the "grass line" is designated with a white line. The exception is at St. Petersburg's Tropicana Field, where, in spite of artificial turf, standard dirt basepaths are used.


The outfield is made from thick grass or artificial turf. It is where the outfielders play. The positions to play in the outfield are right, center, and left field. Outfields vary in size depending on the size of the overall field.

Warning track

The bottom of the picture shows part of the orange clay colored warning track at Fenway Park.





The idea of a warning track originated in Yankee Stadium, where an actual running track was built for the use of track and field events. When baseball people saw how the track helped fielders, it soon became a feature of every ballpark.



Outfield wall


Outfield wall is the wall that separates the outfield from the out of play zone. Certain ballparks give up more home runs depending on the height of their walls. Fenway Park's Green Monster is the tallest of these walls at 37 ft. Many ballparks have padding on the walls for the protection of outfielders trying to make plays.



Pitchers warming up in the bullpen

On-deck circles


Coach's boxes

The coach's boxes, located behind 1st and 3rd base, are where the 1st and 3rd base coach are supposed to stand, but often they don't stand on them and move closer into the field. That is permissible as long as they do not interfere with play. The coach's boxes are marked with chalk or paint. In early day's, the term "coacher's box" was used, as "coach" was taken to be a verb. As the term "coach" evolved into a noun, the name of the box also changed.





  • Prior to the mid-20th century, it was common for baseball fields to include a dirt pathway between the pitcher's mound and home plate. This feature, sometimes known as the "keyhole" for the shape that it makes together with the mound, was once as wide as the pitcher's box and resembled the "pitch" area used in the game of cricket. Sometimes this path extended through the batting area and all the way to the backstop. Once the rounded pitcher's mound was developed, the path became more ornamental than practical, and was gradually made thinner before being largely abandoned by the late 1940s. In recent years some ballparks, such as Comerica Park and Chase Field in the major leagues, have revived the feature for nostalgic reasons.


  1. ^ [1] Official Baseball Rules - Rule 1
  2. ^ James, B. New Historical Baseball Abstract.
  • Official Rules of Major League Baseball
  • The Baseball Encyclopedia, published by MacMillan
  • Glory Fades Away, by Jerry Lansch

External links



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