balls.

Whether or not a pitch was "unfair" or the batter was being unreasonably picky was left entirely to the umpire's judgment. Well into the 1870s, umpires were reluctant to make such calls, since they were viewed as penalties for unsportsmanlike play. By the 1880s, they had become routine, and the modern view took hold, that every pitch results in either a swing, a ball or a called strike. The first rule leading to the creation of a defined strike zone was enacted by the American Association