Why is the pitchers mound not in the center of the baseball diamond?

Answer 1

This is because the rules of Baseball say the mound is a distance from homeplate that is less than halfway the distance between homeplate and 2nd base.

The distance is the same between each base in order (the same from home to 1st, 1st to 2nd, 2nd to 3rd, 3rd to home.) This results in the distance between homeplate and 2nd equal to the distance between 1st and 3rd.

If you draw a line between homeplate and 2nd, and a line between 1st and 3rd, the lines will intersect in the center of the baseball diamond. However, the center point will be behind the pitcher's mound.

You can use the Pythagorean Theorem to prove the distance from the mound to home is less than the center point, but that is another question. (Hint: The distance squared from home to first plus the distance squared from first to second divided by 2).