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Originally Posted by TussAgee11
Bat hitting ball twice is same interp as ball hitting batter. If batter is in box, he's okay, as long as contact was not intentional. You won't find it in the rulebook. As UmpTTS said, its just old language that never got changed when when the plate was moved into fair territory.
Barring anything intentional on the batter's part, its a foul ball unless a whole foot is outside the box.
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In fact, the rulebook is susceptible to a contrary interpretation:
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Originally Posted by OBR6.05(h)
A batter is out when -- (h) After hitting or bunting a fair ball, his bat hits the ball a second time in fair territory. . . . If the batter-runner drops his bat and the ball rolls against the bat in fair territory and, in the umpire's judgment, there was no intention to interfere with the course of the ball, the ball is alive and in play;
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So this is another instance of the bare bones of the rule being fleshed out by authoritative interpretation. If the bat hits the ball (i.e., intentionally by a batter still in the box), batter is out; but if the ball hits the bat (no intent by batter and batter is still in the box), play on. This is kind of what the rule says for a dropped bat. And when batter leaves the box (one whole foot out of box), he and his undropped bat must avoid the ball (no intent required).