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Originally Posted by voiceoflg
Since I have been given some great history lessons here, I thought I'd ask a question that has been slightly bugging me for years. I know the hands are not an extension of the bat, though I have heard that growing up and recently, sadly, by fellow broadcasters. How did that idea get started? Were the hands ever an extension of the bat in the ancient rulebooks?
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It was a misunderstanding -- similar to that game of "Telephone" we all played as kids. Abner Doubleday was asked about the rule and said, "The hands are apart from the bat." A no-nothing sportswriter (who, btw, has been reincarnated as Joe Morgan) heard it as "The hands are a part of the bat." The rest is history.