I am BU in A.

Pitch comes in and batter pulls back but leaves hands out there. He was choking up on the bat, why I don't know, and all my P and I hear is "ting". We both called it a foul ball. (no it did not go fair!)

Well, now the batter steps out of the box shaking his hand. The ball obviously hit him on his pinky, probably broke it.

Should we have then awarded BR 1st base on a HBP?

Also, this was a right handed batter who got hit in his right pinky. He was the catcher who had trouble throwing the rest of the game.

Is that possible that you can get hit there and it still sound like the ball hitting the bat?

Imagine Right handed batter, right hand on top of left, choking up on the bat.

Well,
 

Sometimes we "just have to umpire."

Most calls in a game can be made by Granny in the top row of the stadium.

As umpires we are paid to call the other 5%.

As we know in baseball "hands are hands" and "bat is bat." you and your partner made a determination that the ball hit the bat. Good.

Stick with it . . .

We know that there are "no ties" on a play at first, the same goes for this specific issue. The pitch either hit the bat first or the hand first.

You guys used all the information at hand and simply made a call.

HBP
 

i think you answerd your question. if it obviously hit his finger, the only factor is, was it in the strike zone. if it was then its a strike/foul. if not its a hit batter advance to first.

Just curious...
 

By the law of physics, is it possible for the ball to hit the bat first and then hit THAT finger?

Is it possible to hit THAT finger and still have it sound like it hit the bat?

How did the pitch hit his right pinky?

Left pinky I can see, but the right one?

Maybe he took his left hand off the bat?

Anyway, batter continued his AB with a broken finger and caught the next 4 innings!

Sorry Catch!

Re: HBP
 

I dunno quiggley...Tee makes a good point here. Just because it hit the kid in the finger doesn't mean that in somehow didn't hit the bat first. If your instincts tell you foul ball, come up and sell it, especially if your partner comes up w/ it as well. Think about it, if you come up foul, and then all of a sudden the kid has a hurt hand, do you still really have enough knowledge to overturn both yourself and your partner? I don't think so. "Coach, from what both my partner and I observed, the ball hit the bat first."

Exact situation happened in a game I was at the plate last year. Bottom of 1st, visitors already up 8-0, and first pitch to home team's leadoff batter is inside. I hear "ting!", call foul, then the batter grabs his finger. It obviously hit him, but I stick with my foul call and tell the ballistic head coach, assistant coach, parent, and whoever came running out on to the field that it hit the bat first and he's gotta stay in the box. Do I know that it hit the bat first? Nope, but I made the call, and I'm gonna stick with it. Kid walks on the next 4 pitches.

The problem was that the coaches never forgot about it and questioned every one of me and my partner's calls throughout the game. Gave the head coach and his "staff" the stop sign in the third, then dumped an assistant after he came out to argue a call in the fourth. He called me an @$$ as he walked off the field (12 y.o. game), and headed to the parking lot.

That's why we get paid the big bucks.

Weird things happen with batters.

I know one who broke a finger on a swing and miss last year.

Theres no guarantee that just because you hear the sound and the pain that the ball hit the finger. Call it the way you believe it happened.

These questions have to be asked. If you were in A (or B, or C, or D, or E, or F, or anywhere but behind the plate), why did you call foul ball? Did the ball end up going past the front edge of 1st base? Did you make your call only after your partner came to you for confirmation? What would have happened if you had called foul and your partner had come up awarding 1st base on the HBP?

Might I suggest; throw your hands up and say "Dead ball". Then let your partner decide HBP or foul ball.

"Might I suggest; throw your hands up and say "Dead ball"."
------------------------------
Or, better yet, "TIME!"

As one of my instructors told me one time, the ball is not living, so it cannot become dead. Call Time

The rules disagree with you
 

The rulebook disagrees:

Rule 5 of OBR is filled with references to "live", "alive", and "dead" balls. Likewise FED rules have a chart devoted to "dead' and "delayed dead" balls.

The words "dead" and "live" ball appear in many places in the rulebook. Obviously, you have never cut open a baseball and found its beating heart.

If I ever handle a baseball that has a heartbeat. I/ll thank I/ll hang it up right there.

Mike