Free Republic

For the past two decades, umpires were working with a "buffer zone" that gave them 2 inches of leeway — on all sides of the plate, inside and outside the strike zone — when they were graded on how accurately they called balls and strikes. Now, however, that buffer zone has shrunk, from 2 inches on all sides to just three-quarters of an inch on all sides

According to ESPN's Jayson Stark, Major League Baseball is on the verge of making two rules changes that could only be described as ground-breaking. In a report filed on Friday, Stark says that the league's competition committee reportedly agreed to alter the strike zone and eliminate the four-pitch intentional walk during their meetings with owners this week. Those two changes could be implemented as early as the 2017 season. The strike zone is currently defined as the volume of space above home plate and between the batter's knees and the midpoint of their torso. Of course, if you asked most...

Pedro vs Andy

A town baseball field in Farmington, Connecticut may seem about as far away from the major leagues as you can get. But it's been witness to baseball history recently, reports CBS News correspondent Anthony Mason. The key to throwing a gyroball, says sportswriter Will Carroll, is a football-like spiral spin that's easy to learn but hard to master. Minor league pitcher Steve Palazzolo is learning to throw what some claim is the first new pitch in a generation. It's called the "gyroball." True believers claim it's almost un-hittable. "We know that a curveball curves and a slider slides and a...