Editing Strikeout (section)

==History==
Early rules stated that "three balls being struck at and missed and the last one caught, is a hand-out; if not caught is considered fair, and the striker bound to run." The modern rule has changed very little. The addition of the called strike came in 1858.

In 1880, the rules were changed to specify that a third strike had to be caught on the fly. A later adjustment to the dropped third strike rule specified that a batter is automatically out when there are fewer than two out and a runner on first base. In 1887, the number of strikes for an out was changed to four, but it was promptly changed back to three the next season.

The rule that a third strike (only) must be caught originates in the concept that a third strike is not an automatic out, but rather puts the ball in play. The rule was described at least as early as [[Johann Christoph Friedrich GutsMuths]]' 1793 book {{Lang|de|Gymnastik für die Jugend}} (Gymnastics for Youth) and has remained in effect since. After the third strike, the ball being in play, the batter (now a runner) must be put out. This is almost always done immediately after the strike is made, by the catcher (putouts on strikeouts are still credited to the catcher),<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.mlb.com/glossary/standard-stats/putout |title=Putout (PO): Definition |publisher=Major League Baseball |accessdate=March 30, 2021}}</ref> but if the ball is not caught on the fly by the catcher, the batter/runner must be put out by the same means as any other runner who puts a ball in play which is not caught on the fly—by soaking (hitting the runner with a ball thrown by a fielder, now long obsolete), or by being tagged out, or by leaving the baseline, or by [[force out]] at first base.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hershberger |first1=Richard |date=Spring 2015 |title=The Dropped Third Strike: The Life and Times of a Rule |url=https://sabr.org/journal/article/the-dropped-third-strike-the-life-and-times-of-a-rule/ |journal=Baseball Research Journal |publisher=SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) |volume= |issue= |pages= |doi= |access-date=March 30, 2021}}</ref>