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 Changing the Rules Chronology of Changes to Major League Baseball Official Rules Table I: Rule Changes 1920-1929 |
| Table I: Rule Changes 1920-1929 | ||
| DATE | RULE CHANGE | Rule |
| 1920 | The abolition of the spitball, with a "grandfather clause": each team is allowed to appoint two spitball pitchers for the 1920 season. | 8.02 |
| 1920 | A ball that hits an umpire is in play. | 5.08 |
| 1920 | The umpire may suspend play at any time for an accident to a player or an umpire. | 4.12 |
| 1920 | After a thirty-minute rain delay an umpire may terminate a game. | 4.12 |
| 1920 | A player must appear in at least one hundred games to qualify as the league leader in Batting Average and Slugging Average. Before this there was no official rule, but it was generally accepted that a man had to play in sixty percent of the scheduled games to qualify. | 10.23 |
| 1920 | The category of RBI is added to scoring. | 10.04 |
| 1920 | A runner may not run the bases in reverse order "for the purpose of confusing the fielders or making a travesty of the game." | 7.08 |
| 1920 | The ball has its gloss removed before a game by the umpire | 3.01 |
| 1920 | Enter the "lively ball." Australian yarn, said to be stronger than its American equivalent, may be wound tighter, so the ball's bounce and hardness increase. | 1.09 |
| 1920 | No stolen base is to be credited when the defense makes no attempt to get the runner out. | 10.08 |
| 1921 | Another grandfather clause in the spitball rule: eight National League and nine American League pitchers are officially designated as spitball pitchers and allowed to use the spitter for the rest of their careers. | 8.02 |
| 1925 | Pitchers are allowed to use a rosin bag. | 8.02E |
| 1926 | Pitchers are not credited with a strikeout if a batter reaches first base because of a wild pitch on the third strike | 10.17 |
| 1926 | It is a ground-rule double instead of a home run if the ball is hit over the fence in fair territory if the fence is less than 250 feet from home plate. | 6.09 |
| 1926 | The cushioned cork-center baseball is introduced. | 1.09 |
| 1926 | The sacrifice fly rule is amended to exempt a batter from an at-bat when a runner advances from first to second or second to third as well as on scoring. | 10.09 |
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