Talk:Baseball pocket billiards

History

The citation from the New York Times is incorrect I think. Notice the comma in the article between baseball and pocket billiards? It says: "... volley ball, indoor baseball, pocket billiards, trap shooting..." not "baseball pocket billiards".

I think that whole section and references to it should be removed based on this. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 47.54.60.15 (talk) 20:05, 11 March 2019 (UTC)

Name

Why the long-form "baseball pocket billiards" instead of "baseball pool"? — SMcCandlish [talk] [contrib] ツ 03:51, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

Every source indicates that the game itself is called baseball pocket billiards. In other words, it's like cowboy pool; wheras you would call nine ball, nine ball and identify it as a pool game, cowboy pool is called "cowboy pool"; so too with this but with pocket billiards. I have no confirmation of why the name developed in this way but I can guess: the name needed to be distinguished from the national pastime, so it needed to be referred to always (except maybe inside the pool room) with a disambiguator. Baseball pool doesn't work because baseball pools, that is gambling pools, are common as dirt (do a google or newspaper search and you'll see what I mean).--Fuhghettaboutit 13:46, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

I belatedly concur; even the current BCA rulebook uses "baseball pocket billiards", even though it abandoned "pocket billiards" for "pool" over a dozen years ago for most of the rest of the game names. — SMcCandlish [talk] [cont] ‹(-¿-)› 12:40, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

Define "foul"

The article tells you what the penalty for a foul is, but nowhere does it say what counts as a foul. I'd assume that scratching the cue is a foul, but is that all? What about failing to pocket the called ball in the called pocket? Failing to pocket any ball? Or failing to hit any ball? Obviously these are all errors of increasing degree, but which count as fouls? For that matter, what counts as a "ball"? Are there strikes or outs? The rules need to be explained a bit better here. Lurlock (talk) 17:10, 17 March 2010 (UTC)

@Lurlock: Wow, you posted this a long time ago! I just never noticed. The way it works is that the General Rules of Pocket Billiards apply to all games unless specifically contradicted or varied by a particular game's rules (as of a few years ago, just called the "General Rules"). Fouls, thus, are taken from the general rules and defining them in a list separately for each game would be redundant (though we should always define special foul penalties that are idiosyncratic to a particular game). A good summary is provided in the glossary, as linked through the word "foul" in the article. (Note that there are quite a few other actions that result in fouls but are uncommon and not listed there.) Regarding your specific queries, the answer to each comes from the general rules. I know you were just setting them up as an example list to make a point, but if you'd like to know, it is generally never a foul in any pool game to simply miss a shot and/or to not pocket any ball. Rather, missing a shot is almost always simply a loss of turn/ends one's inning. That is the case here and is evident in the article: "Each inning continues until a player misses a ball or commits a foul", which by context forecloses missing a ball being also defined as a foul. The only thing you mention that would be a foul is failing to hit any ball. This is because in every game you must strike an object ball on each shot and then get a rail with some ball (or pocket some ball) or it is a foul. So, if you never touch a ball, or touch one but nothing thereafter strikes a rail or is pocketed, a foul is committed. True in eight ball, nine ball, one pocket, straight pool, etc. I suppose the article, and most articles, however, could contain a statement that the general rules apply etc, which would of course include fouls. The issue is difficult because pool really is rather different than many other games. I know of no other where it is the case (and it is necessary) to have a superset of rules that predominate, with each game providing their carve outs to define a separate game in a larger class of rules.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 01:13, 31 December 2013 (UTC)