Baseball Field Guide main content

Steroids:
Against the rules?

Name a substance banned by the rules of baseball. Steroids? Nope. Cocaine? Nope. Hint: Major League Baseball's official rules mention only one substance.

Give up? It's licorice! MLB Rule 3.02 states that no player shall discolor or damage the ball with "soil, paraffin, licorice, sand-paper, emery-paper or other foreign substance."

Drugs, alcohol, tobacco and other substances are not mentioned in the rule book at all. But fear not – a completely separate document called the Major League Constitution (a contract between MLB and its leagues) covers steroids, salaries, and many other things.

Pictures are worth...

Wherever it makes sense we explain the rules with illustrations in the Baseball Field Guide. It's clearer and faster than words alone.

19 Ways to Balk

Look - we added to the site an excerpt from page 68 of the Baseball Field Guide, a quick list of 19 ways a pitcher can be charged with a balk. Click the button at left, or here.

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MLB Outfields !!

Check this link! You know that every outfield in Major League Baseball is different, right? We placed all 30 outfields in a QuickTime animation to show exactly how they vary.

Click here!