I've been doing LL since 1985 & FED & NBC since 2001. I have always ruled that if a batter leans into a pitch the batter DOES NOT automatically get 1st. In fact if a batter just stands there and makes no attempt to not get HBP I normally call dead ball & strike/ball and the batter stays. I'll tell the batter "If you don't make some attempt to get out of the way I'm not giving you 1st!" I have yet to get much flak out of my ruling on this. I can understand a ball coming right down the middle of the batter's box giving the batter 1st but if I judge that the batter could have possibly got out of the way and just stood there and took it for a free trip to 1st I won't tollerate that.
IMO one of the most dangerous things to do is to have batters intentionally get HBP just to get 1st and about the only way to stop this is not give them 1st.
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