[Leecedar]

First, to clarify what people have been asking about what I mean by 1" toward the batter's box...

If a right handed batter's foot is 12" long, and 11" of his left foot is directly between the pitcher's mound and home plate, that only leaves 1" of his left heel between home plate and the batter's box, not the 6" needed for any part of his foot to be in the batter's box.

And regarding whether or not he lifted his foot prior to hitting the ball... if his foot is on the ground completely out of the batter's box... and he doesn't put it back in, then you can't say he's in the batter's box. Otherwise, he could run wherever, down the 3rd base line, 1st base line, to the mound, and so long as he jumped in the air, and it's legal?

Sorry... since 99% of ALL hitters plant their front foot prior to hitting a ball, seeing if their foot is completely out of the box is a relatively easy call... if there's an awkward swing, it's not hard to see a big enough picture to glance at the batter's foot... most times.

And I do thank those of you who helped me out with letting me know the OBR regarding this... I do almost exclusively FED, LL and a ton of softball (I know, it's the dark side of the force on this board.) In all those except LL, touching the plate is included in the rule.

Lee