Ask Hal: Answers to Fans' Most Interesting Questions About Baseball Rules, from a Hall-of-Fame Sportswriter

“Very few writers (or broadcasters for that matter) know the rules of the games they cover as Hal Lebovitz did.” — Bob Costas

A fun and fact-filled collection of baseball Q&As from a legendary sportswriter and rules expert.

Think it couldn’t happen on a baseball field? It probably did! Just ask Hal. Hal Lebovitz reigned as a leading expert on baseball rules for more than four decades. From 1957 until his death in 2005, Hal answered readers’ questions about sports in his popular “Ask Hal” newspaper column. Baseball provided the most frequent questions—and often the most curious and confounding ones. But Hal was never stumped.

Many questions came from real situations—Little League, church-league softball, major league games—even the World Series. (National TV broadcasters even called him at home live during the World Series for opinions about on-field rulings) Some came straight from fans’ vivid imaginations. Either way, there was always an answer, and Hal had it.

This book collects the best and most entertaining questions and answers about baseball rules from four decades of “Ask Hal.” Flip to any page and you’ll find a question that might spark a lively debate at any dinner table or settle a bet at the local tavern. How many can you answer? A book for fans who love to “know it all.”

Hal Lebovitz was inducted into the writer’s wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000. He was a sportswriter for more than six decades. He got his first job covering high school sports for the Cleveland News in 1942 and soon became a beat writer covering the Cleveland Browns and Cleveland Indians. He was hired by the Plain Dealer in 1960 to cover baseball and was that paper’s sports editor from 1964–1982. “Ask Hal, the Referee,” his popular column on sports rules, began in 1957 and also appeared in the Sporting News. A former college athlete, he also coached baseball, basketball, and football and officiated all three sports, including a stint as a referee traveling with the Harlem Globetrotters. His sportswriting continued to appear regularly until his death, at age 89, in 2005.