Strike zone

The strike zone is defined as the volume of space above home plate and between the batter's knees and the midpoint of their torso.

A batter who accumulates three strikes in a single batting appearance has struck out and is ruled out (with the exception of an uncaught third strike); a batter who accumulates four balls in a single appearance has drawn a base on balls (or walk) and is awarded advancement to first base.

The idea is to give the pitcher a chance against some cranky umpires who compelled the twirlers to almost cut the plate in two before a strike would be called, even if the height was right.

"[6] Major League Baseball has occasionally redefined the strike zone to control the balance of power between pitchers and hitters.

[7] In the National League, Gibson posted a 1.12 earned run average, the lowest in 54 years, while Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Don Drysdale threw a record 58⅔ consecutive scoreless innings during the 1968 season.

[8][10] In 1985, the top of the strike zone was lowered to the midpoint of the batter's torso, as viewed from a vertical angle by the umpire.

The Official Baseball Rules (Rule 8.02(a), including Comment) state that objections to judgment calls on the field, including balls and strikes, shall not be tolerated, and any manager, coach, or player who leaves his dugout or field position to contest a judgment call will first be warned, and then ejected.

Some commentators believed the zone had changed so much that some pitchers, such as Tom Glavine, had to radically adjust their approach to pitching for strikes.

[13] In 2003, a frustrated Curt Schilling took a baseball bat to a QuesTec camera and destroyed it after a loss, saying the umpires should not be changing the strike zone to match the machines.

[15] Much of the early resistance from Major League umpires to QuesTec had diminished and the implementation of the new Zone Evaluation system in all the parks went largely unmentioned to fans.