Friendly discussion with another umpire in our association who has been umpiring for several years about bunting brings me here for advice and chapter and verse please. We umpire in a Pony league in So. Calif. from Mustang (9-10yrs) thru Colt (15-16 yrs). The question is about bunting what constitutes when a batter "offers". The only reference to "offering" that I can find is in 5.03 OBR with no explanation as to what is offering.
My partner says if a child squares to bunt but makes no additional motion to "go after the ball" and the pitch is wild, it's a ball. He feels you have to make some additional motion after squaring or else it is not a strike. I'm on the other side of the table. I believe taking the bat off his shoulder and squaring is the "traditional" method of offering and if he does not retract his bat, it doesn't matter if the pitch is caught by Aunt Millie in row 7, it's a strike.
I was susprised when I could not find any reference to the mechanics of bunting in any of my usual reference sites, accumulated reference materials and nothing beyond 5.03 in the OBR. Would appreciate some feedback here as well as references. We do a lot of training of young umpires in our league and it would help to have someplace authoritative to point to on this rather than just "tradition", thanks.
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Mon Oct 23, 2000, 11:01am
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