Bunt hits batter!!!

Originally Posted by WayneG

Thanks for the replies but it I guess I wasn't specific enough in what I was asking.

I was the plate umpire. When the ball hit in front of the plate and came straight up, I saw the batter-runner run into the ball. When I saw contact I called foul to kill the play. I wasn't sure if the player had stepped out of the box when contact was made. I asked for my partners assistance to determine if he had indeed stepped out before contact was made. He basically said he had at least one foot out when contact was made. He as the BU was not overrulling me but assisting me in making my judgement. I changed my call.

The main question I have is, where does it say that both feet must be out of the box before the runner is considered out of the box? When hitting, only one foot is required to be completely out of the box to be called out when striking the ball. Is there a different standard as a runner? It's probably addressed in the case book but I lent mine to a partner umpire so I can't look it up. I can't find the standard in the rule book. Thanks for everyone's feedback.

It doesn't - as long as he has one foot IN THE BOX, he is considered to be IN THE BOX. The only exception would be if the batter HIT THE BALL with one foot COMPLETELY outside of the box, by definition.