What is a home run in baseball?
Two kinds of home runs
The most common home run is a fair ball hit over the outfield fence. The batter and any runners on base all score, so a home run can score one run or several. This is why a grand slam with the bases loaded scores four runs.
An inside-the-park home run happens when the batter reaches every base and scores before the defense can get the ball back to the plate. These are less common and often depend on fast running and a long hit that stays in the park.
- Over the fence in fair territory
- Inside-the-park: the batter scores before the fielder holds the ball
- Every runner on base also scores
- Counted as a hit and as runs batted in
What a home run means for the score
A home run is one of the most valuable hits in baseball because it guarantees the batter scores. It can quickly change the momentum of a game, and it often counts toward the batter's statistics for power.
Official scorers decide close calls, such as whether a ball would have been caught or whether a runner missed a base. Those decisions can affect whether a hit is recorded as a home run.
Common mistakes
- Assuming a home run must go over the fence; inside-the-park home runs also count.
- Forgetting that runners already on base score too, which affects the total runs.
