What are the dimensions of a baseball home plate?

Answer 1

Answer
Home plate is an irregular pentagon. The front is 17 inches wide, faces the pitcher, and defines the width of the strike zone. Then parallel sides 8.5 inches long connect to the foul lines. Finally 12 inch sides run down the foul lines, connecting where the foul lines meet.
It can be thought of as a 17 inch square with the parts that would be in foul territory removed.

It is probably more conceptually correct (though more geometrically difficult) to picture it as follows:

• Start with a standard 12 inch square base, whose back corner forms the meeting point of the 2 foul lines, and whose front corner points to the pitcher.
• The square has a 17 inch diagonal parallel to the pitching rubber. Draw another 17 inch line, parallel to this one, using the front corner of the square base as the line's center. Fill in the rectangle defined by these two 17 inch lines.

Thus you're left with a 17 inch by 8.5 inch rectangle facing the pitcher on a 12 inch square whose exposed sides point to first and third base. The rectangle defines the strike zone. The square defines fair territory and the placement of the bases.

Note: The figure described in the official rules of MLB, as well as above, is technically impossible. One of two things must be true to make it possible:

• the parallel sides of 8.5" are in reality approximately 8.5295" (the square root of 71.75)
• or the 12" sides that run along the foul lines are approximately 12.0208" (square root of 144.5)

The latter is more likely the case, as it would produce the angle measurements of 90º at the base and rear point and 135º at the sides.

Answer 2

It's a 17-inch square with two of the corners removed so that one edge is 17 inches long, two adjacent sides are 8 1/2 inches and the remaining two sides are 12 inches and set at an angle to make a point.

Answer 3

Overall size is 17" x 17". Details can be found at: http://www.sportsknowhow.com/pops/Baseball-pitchersmound-pro.html

Answer 4

same as baseball

Answer 5

17in. x 17in.

Answer 6

17 x 17 inches