Little League Rule Book

http://www.littleleague.org/learn/rules.htm

For young players and parents unfamiliar with the rules of baseball, here are the basic rules

Batting, Outs, and Strikes

A youth baseball game usually consists of 6 innings. In each inning, each team will pitch and field whiles the other team bats. When batting team gets 3 outs, the other team bats.

 Outs

An offensive player is out when any of the following occur:

• They get 3 strikes.
• They hit a ball that is caught before the ball hits the ground.
• The ball is thrown to the first-baseman and the first-baseman touches the base with his/her foot while the ball is in his/her glove or hand.
• Any member of the fielding team tags a runner off a base with the ball or the glove containing the ball before the runner gets safely to a base.
• The base runner is forced out before arriving at the next base. (A player is forced to run when all bases behind him are occupied and the ball is hit by the batter.  The batter must run to first forcing the other to advance a base.)

 Strikes and Fouls

A batter may get a strike in 3 different ways:

• A swing and a miss at a ball.
• A ball thrown into the strike zone that is not swung at but called a strike by the umpire.
• A ball hit “foul”. (The ball’s hit outside the fair lines of the field)

 How to choose the proper baseball glove size for your child?

Little Leaguers should use smaller, not larger gloves. Resist the temptation to let your child use that old, well broken-in glove you used in high school or for Slo-pitch. Larger gloves may seem easier to use when you are just playing catch, but in a game it is different. In games, everything happens much faster, and your child will be trying to catch and field balls in all sorts of different positions.

 Below is a chart of recommended glove sizes. If your child is particularly large or small for his or her age, adjust the sizes accordingly, but we recommend a maximum of 11 ¼ ” in Little League.  The absolute biggest we would recommend would be 11 ½” for the bigger and stronger child.  But even then an 11 ¼” would be sufficient.  The table below probably covers 80% of the players in a given division.