re: Lost the game on a dropped third strike!

quote:

---

I never even understood what the purpose was of having that rule

---

Saw it yesterday watching recorded Mysteries at the Museum with the wife:

It was always a part of the rules. Catchers used to stand several feet beyond the bag and catch the ball off the bounce.

Someone came up with the curve ball. Always struck out the guy, but off the bounce it would fly way off to the right and not get caught.

So they moved the catcher forward to catch the ball without a bounce. This beat the shite out of his hands, so he made an early catching glove out of old leather gloves.