In baseball, an intentional base on balls, usually referred to as an intentional walk and denoted in baseball scorekeeping by IBB, is a walk issued to a batter by a pitcher with the intent of removing the batter's opportunity to swing at the pitched ball. A pitch that is intentionally thrown far outside the strike zone for this purpose is referred to as an intentional ball.
Informally, it is often referred to as a "four-finger salute". This reference stems from the manager's holding up four fingers to signal an intentional walk to his pitcher or catcher.
Read more about Intentional Base On Balls: Rules and Scoring, Technique and Usage, Strategy, Records and Notable Occurrences, Intentional Walks With The Bases Loaded
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