[DownTownTonyBrown]

BlueUmp, you are being a little arrogant and adding to people's words... creating situations that weren't there...

Perhaps you need to reread some posts.

Your words: "For it to be a strike (call this oversimplification) the batter has to "make an attempt" to hit the ball."

I'm not sure what you intended by the parenthetical, but the statement is exactly correct.

Rich stated: "It is only a strike if the umpire judges that the batter attempted to hit the ball... If the bunter just stands there, he didn't attempt to hit the ball. He does NOT have to draw the bat back... There is no "crossed theplate" or "broke the wrists either.

Rich's statements are also exactly correct. You may want to ensure the myths are not perpetuated but Rich didn't even state, or acknowledge, them as myths. He just said there is no such thing. And that is correct.

LMan tried to clarify by stating that an attempt means moving the bat forward toward the oncoming ball... That may be good and I would slightly add to that statement - moving the bat in any direction (up, down, in, out) toward the ball and its flight path, should be considered an attempt.

And finally Tee gave the nearly exact location in the casebook to find the answer. Checkout 7.2.1 Situation B. That scenario uses words like "in front of the batter's body" and "any movement of the bat toward the ball."

I will add that we should also look at Rule 10-1-4 Note concerning check swings. "...the umpire may note whether the swing carried the barrel of the bat past the body of the batter, but final decision is based on whether the batter actually struck at the ball."

It was a simple question and hopefully 'just another ref' will gleen the necessary information and return with more questions.