118 Fun Facts About Baseball Rules

In MLB, 60 feet, 6 inches is the distance from the back point of home plate to what?

The pitching rubber has sat there since 1893, when the pitcher's box was scrapped for a slab he must keep his back foot on, five feet farther from the batter than before.

How long is each side of the square formed by baseball's bases, known as the diamond?

90 feet was fixed by a convention of New York clubs in 1857 and has never moved since, even while the pitcher was being pushed farther and farther from the batter.

On a Little League diamond for 12-and-unders, which distance is 60 feet?

Base to base is 60 feet, with the pitcher 46 feet from the plate; a transitional division with 70-foot basepaths bridges the jump to a full-size diamond.

The infield fly rule was written to stop infielders from doing what?

Dropping a pop-up on purpose let an infielder force out runners who had been obliged to hold their bases; with two outs the rule never applies, since no double play is left to steal.

What happens to the batter when an umpire calls 'infield fly'?

He is out anyway: the umpire's call alone retires him, which takes the force off the runners, so they may hold their bases or advance at their own risk.

Which batted ball is exempt from the infield fly rule, however easy the catch?

A popped-up bunt is exempt; on any other easy pop-up the umpire shouts the call while the ball is still in the air, so the runners know at once that they are free to stay put.

Who introduced the infield fly rule in 1895?

The National League wrote the rule in 1895 for one-out situations only, so for six more seasons infielders could still pull the same trick with nobody out.

When a pitcher is called for a balk with men on, what is the penalty?

Every runner advances one base, so a balk with a man on third sends him home without a pitch being thrown, and major league games have ended on exactly that: a game-ending balk.

Which Hall of Fame left-hander holds the MLB career record for balks, with 90?

Steve Carlton tops the opposite list too: while umpires called him for 90 balks, he picked off 144 runners, more than any other pitcher on record.

Which Oakland pitcher set the single-season record with 16 balks in 1988's 'Year of the Balk'?

Dave Stewart was the chief victim of a one-year crackdown: umpires were told to enforce the full stop in the set position strictly in 1988, balk calls soared, and the old wording was back for 1989.

Which pickoff move became a balk in 2013?

The third-to-first fake, a bluff toward third and a throw to first, had been legal for more than a century; a feint toward second, alone among the bases, is still allowed.

Who was MLB's first designated hitter, batting for the Yankees against Luis Tiant on the rule's debut day?

Ron Blomberg walked with the bases loaded, so the first designated hitter drove in a run without putting the ball in play, and his bat was sent straight to the Hall of Fame.

Which manager proposed a designated hitter as early as 1906?

Connie Mack's plan for a substitute to bat for the pitcher went nowhere in 1906; the American League finally tried it in 1973 as an experiment and never went back.

MLB's universal DH arrived in 2022 with a companion rule nicknamed for which star?

Shohei Ohtani inspired the rule, which lets a starting pitcher stay in the lineup as the DH after he leaves the mound; before it, he had to stop hitting, or move to another position, once he was relieved.

From 1976 to 1985, the World Series used the designated hitter under what arrangement?

Only in even-numbered years: both clubs used a DH in every game one October and neither did the next, until 1986 brought the rule of following the home park's league.

If a club moves its designated hitter into the field mid-contest, what happens?

The team loses its DH for the rest of the game: the former DH keeps his place in the order, and the pitcher has to bat in the spot of the fielder who came out.

MLB's pitch timer allows a pitcher extra seconds in which situation?

With runners on, a pitcher got 20 seconds in 2023 and 18 from 2024, against 15 with the bases empty; a pickoff throw or step-off resets the clock, which is why he is allowed only two per batter.

What is the penalty when a pitcher violates the pitch timer?

An automatic ball is charged if the pitcher has not started his motion when the clock runs out; the timer was tried in the minor leagues first, where it cut about 26 minutes from the average game.

Since 2018, MLB has put a per-game cap on which kind of stoppage?

Mound visits were unlimited before 2018, bar one old rule that still stands: a second visit by a manager or coach to the same pitcher in one inning means the pitcher has to come out of the game.

MLB's 2023 limit of two pickoff attempts per batter revived which tactic?

Stolen bases: a third pickoff throw that fails now hands the runner the next base for free, and steal attempts climbed wherever the limit was used, first in the minors and then in the majors.

MLB enlarged its bases in 2023 mainly to do what?

Prevent collisions, the league said: the bases grew from 15 to 18 inches square to give fielders and runners more room around the bag, which also brought the bases a few inches closer together.

Under MLB's 2023 shift limits, where must every infielder be standing when the pitch is thrown?

Inside the infield boundary, with two of them on each side of the diamond: the limits were meant to let more ground balls go through for hits, and a team can no longer post an infielder in the outfield either.

In MLB extra innings, each half-inning now begins with an automatic runner standing where?

Second base: the scorer treats the runner as if he had reached on an error, so a pitcher who lets him come home is not charged with an earned run.

The automatic extra-innings runner is dropped for which MLB games?

The postseason plays on without it: the runner exists to shorten regular-season games, while an October game still goes on for as many innings as it takes to find a winner.

The automatic runner has been nicknamed after which commissioner, with a nod to a 1960s British band?

Rob Manfred's runner became the 'Manfred Man', a pun on the band Manfred Mann; the rule came in as a 2020 pandemic stopgap and outlived the emergency, turning permanent in 2023.

Which player is normally placed on base as the automatic runner?

Whoever bats just before the leadoff hitter is placed on base; a manager may send out a pinch-runner instead, but the man he replaces is then out of the game for good.

Jerome Holtzman, who devised baseball's save statistic, held which job?

A sportswriter: 'save' had been loose front-office talk in the 1950s for finishing off a win until the newspaperman gave it firm criteria, and baseball made his statistic official in 1969.

A reliever can earn a save in a blowout by doing what?

Pitching three innings or more to finish a win earns a save whatever the score: Wes Littleton was credited with one in 2007 for closing out the Texas Rangers' 30-3 rout of Baltimore.

On an uncaught third strike, the batter may run to first if it is unoccupied, or in which other situation?

There are two outs: with fewer and a runner on first, a catcher could let the third strike go and turn an easy double play, so in that case the batter is simply out.

The uncaught third strike rule makes which pitching oddity possible?

Four strikeouts in an inning: the pitcher is credited with a strikeout even when the batter reaches first safely, so the inning carries on, and many big-league pitchers have done it.

Under the 1845 Knickerbocker Rules, what ended a game?

Reaching 21 runs, then called aces, won the game, so long as both sides had batted the same number of times; the nine-inning game took over in 1857.

Which practice did the Knickerbocker Rules outlaw when retiring a baserunner?

Throwing the ball at the runner, known as soaking or plugging, was how outs were made in older bat-and-ball games; the Knickerbockers demanded a tag or a throw to the base instead.

Before rule changes in 1929 (AL) and 1931 (NL), a fair ball bouncing over the outfield fence was what?

A home run: the record books never separated these bounce homers from the rest, and the leagues changed the rule to stop what The Sporting News called trick home runs.

Despite their name, where do the foul poles actually stand?

In fair territory: the poles stand on the foul lines, which are themselves fair ground, so a drive that strikes one on its way out of the park is fair, and the batter trots home.

A batted ball that lodges in the ivy on the outfield wall at Wrigley Field is called what?

A ground rule double, so long as the ball stays in the vines: if it drops back out it is in play, which is why an outfielder throws up his arms instead of digging for it.

A batter hit by a pitch loses his free base if the umpire rules what?

He didn't try to avoid it: the pitch then counts as a ball, and a batter struck by a pitch inside the strike zone gets a strike instead of a base, however hard he tried to dodge.

Ron Hunt set a modern record in 1971 by doing what 50 times?

Getting hit by pitches: Hunt, who liked to say he gave his body to baseball rather than to science, fell one short of the all-time mark, Hughie Jennings's 51 in 1896.

When MLB introduced instant replay in 2008, what was the only kind of decision open to review?

Home run boundary calls only, such as whether a fan had interfered. A manager could not ask for a look, either; that was up to the umpire crew chief until challenges arrived in 2014.

Where are MLB replay reviews actually decided?

New York City: the umpires at the ballpark only put on headsets, while a fellow umpire on replay duty at MLB's Replay Command Center studies the video and makes the ruling.

Whose fly ball triggered MLB's first official replay review, in 2008?

Alex Rodriguez's drive down the left-field line at Tropicana Field was ruled fair and gone; the umpires took two minutes and 15 seconds to look, and the ruling was upheld.

An MLB replay ruling of 'call stands' means what?

No clear proof either way: a call the video shows to be right is 'confirmed', while 'stands' means the pictures could not settle it, so the umpire's ruling survives by default.

By rule, every new baseball is rubbed with what before an MLB game to take off its gloss?

Mud: before each game dozens of new balls are rubbed by hand with a mud that coach Lena Blackburne found in the 1930s at a New Jersey spot his company still keeps secret.

How many stitches are on a regulation baseball?

108 stitches, every one sewn by hand with a single 88-inch length of waxed red thread; the raised seam they leave is what a pitcher grips to make the ball break.

By rule, an MLB bat must be what?

A single piece of wood, and solid: a cork filling is banned, though the rules do allow the hitting end to be hollowed into a cup up to an inch and a quarter deep.

Whose 1983 homer against the Yankees was disallowed, then restored on protest, over pine tar on his bat?

George Brett stormed out of the dugout when umpire Tim McClelland called him out; the league president upheld Kansas City's protest, and the Royals won when play resumed 25 days later.

Which competition can end a game early on a ten-run lead?

The World Baseball Classic stops an early-round game at a ten-run lead once the seventh inning is done, or fifteen after the fifth, but switches the rule off for the last rounds, where every game is played out.

In Japan's NPB, a regular-season game still level after 12 innings ends how?

As a tie, and ties are left out of the winning percentage, so a team with fewer wins but more ties has finished above a rival with more victories.

In which month does an MLB active roster grow from 26 players to 28?

September: from the 1st every club carries 28 players; for decades before the change, a team could call up anyone on its 40-man roster for the final month.

Where are October's two extra MLB umpires stationed?

The foul lines, in left and right field: the extra pair are there to judge drives that land near the lines and whether an outfielder caught the ball or trapped it.

Who became the first woman to umpire a regular-season MLB game, in August 2025?

Jen Pawol worked the bases for two Braves-Marlins games in one day and the plate the next, and the cap she wore in her debut went straight to the Hall of Fame.

Game 3 of the 2013 World Series ended on a disputed umpire's call against which Red Sox third baseman?

Will Middlebrooks had fallen reaching for a wild throw when Allen Craig tripped over his legs; Craig was thrown out at the plate, but the umpires gave him the run and St. Louis a 5-4 win.

In baseball's rules, who commits 'obstruction'?

A fielder without the ball who impedes a runner commits obstruction, and the umpire then puts the runner on the base he would have reached; the mirror offence by the batting side is interference.

If the catcher's mitt touches the bat during a swing, what is the batter awarded?

First base, though his manager may turn it down: if the swing produced something better anyway, the batting team can choose to keep the play instead of the penalty.

MLB widened the batter-runner's lane toward first in 2024 to take in which strip of ground?

The dirt inside the foul line now counts as part of the lane; a batter-runner who strays onto the infield grass and gets in the way of the throw to the bag is still out.

Whose fly ball did 12-year-old fan Jeffrey Maier deflect over the wall for a disputed homer in the 1996 ALCS?

Derek Jeter's fly tied Game 1 in the eighth inning; umpire Rich Garcia called it a homer, conceded after watching the replay that the fan had interfered, and the Yankees won in the eleventh.

With two strikes, a foul ball becomes strike three only if the batter did what?

Bunted it: a foul bunt was made a strike in 1894, years before ordinary fouls counted at all, and it is still the exception that lets a foul ball complete a strikeout.

What can a defense gain by appealing for a 'fourth out' after an inning's third out?

Wiping a run off the board: the third out does not end the right to appeal, so if a runner who scored missed a base, the defense can claim that out instead and his run is cancelled.

Leading 8-6 in the ninth in 1998, Arizona intentionally gave which slugger a free pass with the bases loaded?

Barry Bonds was waved to first with two outs, forcing in a run, and Arizona's gamble paid off when the next Giants batter lined out to end the game.

Since 2017, how does an MLB team issue an intentional walk?

The manager signals the umpire and the batter takes his base; a century earlier baseball had tried to discourage the tactic, with a 1920 rule pinning the catcher in his box until the pitch was thrown.

Since 2020, MLB's three-batter minimum has all but ended which bullpen role?

The lefty specialist, summoned to retire a single left-handed hitter, must now face three batters or finish the half-inning; the rule was written to cut pitching changes and shorten games.

After 1968's 'Year of the Pitcher', MLB cut what from 15 inches to 10?

Mound height came down for 1969, and the strike zone was squeezed with it, its upper limit dropping from the top of the shoulders to the armpits.

Legend blames a surveyor's error, but why did baseball really move its pitchers five feet back in 1893?

To boost hitting: the rule-makers were reining in overpowering pitchers, and the tale that a surveyor's slip produced the distance is only a myth.

Since 1900, home plate has been which shape?

A pentagon: until 1900 home plate was a plain 12-inch square, and the rule change turned it into the five-sided slab, 17 inches across, that pitchers have aimed at ever since.

In Little League, what bars a pitcher from catching later that day?

Throwing 41 pitches or more rules a player out of catching for the rest of the day, and it cuts both ways: one who has caught four or more innings may not take the mound.

From 2026, which umpire calls can an MLB pitcher, catcher or batter challenge by tapping his cap or helmet?

Balls and strikes go to a camera check when the player taps his head straight after the pitch, and a team keeps its challenge whenever the call is overturned.

Which of these outcomes gives a batter a plate appearance without an official at-bat?

A walk leaves a hitter's batting average untouched for that reason; in 1887 alone, walks were scored as hits, an experiment that was dropped after one season.

Whose season-ending injury on a 2011 play at the plate led MLB to bar runners from barrelling into catchers?

Buster Posey, the Giants' star catcher, broke a leg bone when Florida's Scott Cousins ran into him in May 2011; since 2014 a runner who leaves his path to hit the catcher is called out.

Until 1893, what unusual shape were bats allowed to have under an 1885 rule?

Flat on one side was legal for eight seasons, in an era when the rules shifted almost every year: until 1887 a batter could even tell the pitcher to throw high or low.

With two strikes, a foul tip held cleanly by the catcher gives the batter which result?

A strikeout is the result, because a foul tip counts as a swing and a miss rather than a foul. The ball even stays live, so runners may try to advance.

If an umpire is certain a batter was hit on purpose, which step may follow without any warning?

Eject the pitcher: no warning is needed when the umpire is sure. When he only suspects intent, he warns the pitcher and both managers instead.

What is the call when a batter's own grounder bounces up and hits him inside the batter's box?

Foul, and he bats on, because he has not left the box. Once outside the box, a batter touched by his own fair grounder before any fielder reaches it is out.

Under MLB's collision rule, what may umpires rule when a catcher without the ball blocks the plate?

Runner is safe: a catcher may block the plate only while holding the ball or fielding a throw. The same rule, adopted for 2014, stops runners leaving their path to hit him.

On a checked swing by a left-handed batter, the man behind the plate asks which colleague for help?

The third-base umpire gets the appeal because he looks straight across at a left-handed batter's bat. For right-handers the plate umpire points to first instead.

What do umpires rule when a baserunner is struck by a fair grounder before it passes any infielder?

Runner out, ball dead is the ruling, a form of interference. Oddly, the batter is still credited with a base hit, so getting hit costs an out and pads a teammate's average.

A batter swings at an inside pitch, misses, and is struck by it anyway, so what is the call?

Dead-ball strike: the swing counts before the bruise, so there is no free base, and with the ball dead no runner may advance on the pitch.

When a team bats out of order and the defense appeals just after the wrong man's turn, who is out?

The skipped batter is called out, even though he never came to the plate. Umpires stay silent about the mix-up, and once the next pitch is thrown the wrong man's turn stands.

Which unwritten leeway for infielders turning two ended when MLB made it reviewable in 2016?

The neighborhood play let a middle infielder take the out at second just by being near the bag, so he could dodge the slide. Replay now checks that his foot really touched it.

Which long-standing right have MLB managers lost in the 2020s when umpires misapply a rule?

Protesting the game is no longer allowed. Before the ban a club could ask the league to overturn a rules mistake, though only 15 protests are known to have been upheld and resumed.

Which 1979 Chicago promotion wrecked the field so badly that the White Sox had to forfeit a game?

Disco Demolition Night ended with a crate of records blown up on the field and thousands of fans storming the turf. The league handed Detroit the unplayed second game by forfeit, 9-0.

In 1993, a fly ball bounced off which Texas Rangers outfielder's head and over the wall for a homer?

Jose Canseco lost Carlos Martinez's drive as he crossed the warning track against Cleveland, and it hopped off his head and out. A fair fly that a fielder deflects over the fence still counts in full.

When a Randy Johnson fastball struck and killed a dove in mid-flight, what did the umpire call?

No pitch was the call, so it counted as neither a ball nor a strike. The freak collision came in a spring training game against the Giants, with Calvin Murray at bat.

Robin Ventura's bases-loaded shot over the wall in the 1999 NLCS went into the books as what?

A single is all Robin Ventura got, because jubilant Mets teammates mobbed him before he reached second. Only one run scored, so a 7-3 win became 4-3.

Why did umpires rule no fan interference when Steve Bartman deflected a foul fly in the 2003 NLCS?

The ball was in the stands, past the plane of the wall, so umpire Mike Everitt saw no interference. Had Bartman reached over the field, batter Luis Castillo would have been out.

If rain halts a tied MLB game for the night after six innings, what becomes of that contest?

Suspended and resumed: once five innings are in the books a tied game is official, so it is picked up on a later date from the exact point where it stopped.

A slugger clears the fence but misses a bag on his trot, so how can the defense still retire him?

An appeal play does it: the defense must point out the missed base, because umpires say nothing unprompted. Wait until after the next pitch and the homer stands.

Which Giants rookie turned a winning hit into a force out in 1908 by failing to touch second?

Fred Merkle, 19 and the youngest player in the league, never advanced from first as the winning run crossed. The game was ruled a tie, and the Cubs won the makeup to take the pennant.

A runner touches home just before an unforced teammate is tagged for the third out, so what is the ruling?

The run counts, because the third out was a tag on a runner who was not forced and the scorer beat it home. Had that out been a force, no run could score however early he arrived.

Which ambidextrous pitcher inspired a rule making switch-pitchers pick an arm before each batter?

Pat Venditte met switch-hitter Ralph Henriquez in a 2008 minor league game, and the pair kept swapping sides in a stand-off. The rule now makes the pitcher commit first.

Unlike MLB hitters, NCAA batters have been free since the 1970s to swing bats made of what?

Aluminum bats reached the college game in the mid-1970s, and the ball jumps off them faster than off wood. Wood is still legal, but college hitters overwhelmingly pass it up.

In NCAA baseball, what automatically follows a runner's malicious crash into a fielder making a tag?

An ejection is automatic, with no warning first. College umpires may also call an automatic double play on a runner who slides to take out the fielder relaying the throw.

Since 2023, NCAA rules have confined which part of homer celebrations to the dugout?

Celebratory props may no longer leave the dugout. The same package of changes let umpires start video reviews of malicious contact without waiting for a coach to ask.

Under NCAA rules, a player taken out of a game may return to it after being cleared from what?

A concussion evaluation is the exception to baseball's no-return rule. Any eligible player who has not yet appeared may fill in while the check is done.

Which piece of field equipment do NCAA rules require in every baseball game from 2027 onward?

A double first base gives the runner a second, coloured bag in foul ground while the fielder uses the white one. Bases 18 inches square also became legal, though 15 stays standard.

Which college conference experimented with a pitch clock in 2010, long before MLB adopted one?

The SEC gave pitchers twenty seconds in 2010, and the NCAA made a clock mandatory with the bases empty a year later. MLB waited until 2023.

College baseball's 20-second timer for pitchers and batters goes by which official name?

The action clock covers more than the delivery: since 2023 a college pitcher with men on base may reset it only once per batter, by stepping off or faking a throw.

NCAA rules let one starter fill which two roles at once, staying in one after leaving the other?

Pitcher and designated hitter can be the same college player, who may stay on to bat after being relieved on the mound, or keep pitching after a pinch hitter replaces him.

Division I homers jumped more than 44 percent in 2015 after the NCAA switched to a ball with what?

Flat seams replaced the raised-seam ball of 2014, and homers rose from 0.39 a game to 0.56, while the batting average crept up only from .270 to .274.

Which bat standard, required by the NCAA since 2011, makes college bats perform more like wood?

BBCOR, short for Bat-Ball Coefficient of Restitution, lowered the top exit speed a barrel may produce, so a metal bat now feels closer to a wooden one.

In baseball's rulebook, the official titled umpire-in-chief is the one stationed where?

Behind home plate stands the umpire-in-chief, who judges every pitch and wears a mask, chest protector and leg guards much like the catcher's.

Which manager owns MLB's career record for being tossed by umpires, a mark once held by John McGraw?

Bobby Cox passed John McGraw's long-standing total in 2007. He was even thrown out of a World Series game, in 1996, something nobody repeated until 2019.

Which umpire's missed call with two outs in the ninth cost Armando Galarraga a perfect game in 2010?

Jim Joyce called Jason Donald safe when replays showed the throw had beaten him to the bag. Joyce tearfully admitted the mistake that night, and both men were praised for their grace.

Before the first pitch of a regular-season MLB game, who decides whether rain should postpone it?

The home club makes the call until the lineup cards are handed over. From that moment the umpires alone decide whether to delay or stop play.

Which deaf outfielder is credited by some with inspiring umpires' hand signals for safe and out?

Dummy Hoy gets the credit in baseball lore, though historians are unsure. Umpire Silk O'Loughlin used hand signals in the 1906 World Series because he had a sore throat.

By which pattern does an MLB umpiring crew swap positions after each game?

Clockwise is the pattern, so each umpire in a crew of four takes the plate every fourth game. Bill Klem was the last to work the plate every day, for 16 years.

Which country-singing umpire broke Bill Klem's record for MLB games worked in 2021?

Joe West, nicknamed Cowboy Joe for his sideline as a country singer-songwriter, passed Klem's 5,375 games and retired with 5,460 over a record 43 seasons.

Hall of Fame umpire Bill Klem was notorious for ejecting anyone who called him by which nickname?

Catfish mocked his jowly looks, and Klem once tossed a player for drawing one in the infield dirt with his foot. The nickname he liked was the Old Arbitrator.

Which showman became MLB's first African American umpire when he joined the American League in 1966?

Emmett Ashford set his heart on the job after hearing, while on Navy duty, that Jackie Robinson had broken the color barrier. He reached the majors at 51.

Which umpire is the only person enshrined in both the Baseball and Pro Football Halls of Fame?

Cal Hubbard was an NFL tackle, mostly with the Green Bay Packers, before umpiring in the American League from 1936 to 1951. The College Football Hall of Fame has him too.

A baserunner trapped between two fielders who toss the ball back and forth is said to be in what?

A pickle, or rundown, ends when the runner is tagged or slips safely onto a base. Fielders throw past him to the base he is heading for, forcing him to turn again.

On a fly ball caught in the outfield, a runner on third may dash for home only after doing what?

Tagging up means staying on the base, or going back to touch it, until a fielder first touches the ball. Leave early and the defense can throw to that base for the out.

With the bases loaded, a catcher taking an infielder's throw on a grounder need only do what?

Step on the plate and the runner from third is out, because with the bases full every runner is forced to advance. A quick throw to first can then turn two.

Which fielder stands between an outfielder and the target base to shorten or redirect a long throw?

The cutoff man can relay the throw onward or cut it and catch a trailing runner instead. Coaches drill outfielders to hit him rather than gamble on one long heave.

A double play that goes from third baseman to second baseman to first baseman has which nickname?

Around the horn also names the infielders' ritual of tossing the ball around the infield after an out with nobody on, the pattern this double play copies.

How do scorers record a double play that goes from shortstop to second baseman to first baseman?

6-4-3 uses the scorekeeper's position numbers: shortstop is 6, second baseman 4 and first baseman 3. It is among the most common ways to turn two.

Once a grounder's batter is out at first, how must the defense retire a runner heading to second?

Tag him with the ball: once the batter is out, the force is removed and stepping on the bag does nothing. That is why infielders like to take the lead out first.

On a fly ball drifting between two outfielders, which one has the authority to call the other off?

The center fielder is the captain of the outfield, with the right to wave off either corner man whenever he has the better chance at the catch.

In which risky bunt play does the runner on third break for home as the pitcher begins his windup?

The suicide squeeze leaves the runner stranded if the batter misses the bunt. In the safety version he waits at third until bat meets ball.

Which bunt defense sends the shortstop to cover third while both corner infielders charge the plate?

The wheel play is named for the way the infielders rotate like a wheel: the second baseman covers first, and the aim is to cut down the lead runner at third.