Why are there 4 balls and 3 strikes?
That created a bit of a pace problem, so in 1858, called strikes were implemented with one caveat: batters would receive one "warning" call for the first hittable pitch they let pass. So, effectively, it would require four strikes to make an out. Even with the called strikes, the game was still slow. Why do you get 4 balls and 3 strikes? At the time, only every third “unfair pitch” was called a ball, meaning that a batter could only walk after nine pitches out of the strike zone.
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