The term 55-footer is used in Baseball, which describes how the pitch hits the ground before the ball reaches the home plate. The exact distance from the mound to the home plate is 60 feet, so the 55-footer would apply to a near catch of the player's glove. This usually happens when there are breaking balls, curveballs, and sliders, which can confuse the catcher. Because of this, the ball would often bounce off in front of the home plate at nearly 60 feet.
How Does 55-Footer Happen?
55-footer can happen during the wild pitch, but this could also result from loss of control. Many players tend to lose control of the ball or they're creating too many breaks on the ball, that's why the opposing team can't easily catch them successfully. From the early 1900s until the early 1960s, the pitcher's plate was allowed to be 15 inches above the home plate's level, but things changed in 1969 when the plate was lowered to 10 inches, in response to the Year of the Pitcher's campaign in the preceding year.
The Field Dimensions
Ballparks are not exactly alike with each other, but there are some parts of the field that must be uniformed. According to the Major League Baseball rulebook, the minimum distance should be 325 feet between the nearest fence and the home base, while some other parks have 400 feet. From the home base to the infield, it should be measured as 60 feet, so it's tolerable to hit the ball at a fair distance. The pitcher's plate should be 24x6 inches of whitened rubber and another 10 inches above the home plate's level.
Controversy Behind the Minimum Park Dimension
As mentioned, in the response of the campaign called "Year of the Pitcher," the height of the home-plate was lowered to 10 inches, instead of 15 inches. In 1958, the Brooklyn Dodger's was put into a big controversy because of the minimum park dimensions. When the Dodgers player at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, they were tagged in controversy simply because the Coliseum wasn't designed to hold any baseball games. This park specification only has 250 feet from the home plate, instead of 325 feet. It's only fortunate that this specification wasn't enforced strictly between teams, as long as the players should never violate any baseball rules.
