Feb. 9, 1920

Attempting to provide hitters with help, Major League Baseball outlaws the spitball and all other "freak deliveries" that involve defacing or applying a foreign substance to the ball. This includes resin, talcum powder, paraffin, and the shine and emery ball. A pitcher caught cheating will be ejected and suspended 10 days.

The owners, though, provide an exception: A grandfather clause will allow a handful of spitball artists to continue using the tactic for the 1920 season. After this year, all "freak" pitches will be banned without exception.

Baseball also adopts writer Fred Lieb's proposal that a game-winning homer with men on base be counted as a homer even if its run is not needed to win the game. Two other changes: The intentional walk is banned and everything that happens in a protested game will go in the records.