Thrown bat at pitch

[Jackie W.]

I haven't looked this one up yet(don't worry, I promise I will). An umpire told me of a situation where a batter hit a ball by throwing his bat at it as it crossed the plate. In other words, the bat was not in his hands when it made contact with the ball. He ruled it legal. It sounds fishy to me, but I'm not sure. Ever heard of this before?

[bluezebra]

I saw this a few times. Usually on a steal attempt. No problem. Nothing says the batter has to hold onto the bat. As long as it doesn't intefere with a fielder's attempt to field the ball.

Bob

[PeteBooth]

Originally posted by Jackie W.

I haven't looked this one up yet(don't worry, I promise I will). An umpire told me of a situation where a batter hit a ball by throwing his bat at it as it crossed the plate. In other words, the bat was not in his hands when it made contact with the ball. He ruled it legal. It sounds fishy to me, but I'm not sure. Ever heard of this before?

Jackie, the rules refer to the term batted Ball when defining a base hit, Fair/Foul etc. It doesn't say batted ball with batter holding onto bat. As long as the act of throwing the bat at the ball does not interfere with a play or attempted play it is legal.

One sees this all the time on a hit and run, when the defense guessed right and a pitch out has been called. Many times the batter will throw the bat at the ball to protect R1.

Pete Booth

[Jackie W.]

Pete,

You said that one sees this all the time, but I never have that is why I was curious. Anyway, thanks for clearing it up for me.

Jackie

[PeteBooth]

Originally posted by Jackie W.

Pete,

You said that one sees this all the time, but I never have that is why I was curious. Anyway, thanks for clearing it up for me.

Jackie my bad, my HS English Teacher taught us to stay away from the using the words "always" and "never".

The reason you do not see this much today, is because baseball has become more of a ME sport rather than a Team sport and the stolen base is a lost art.

Salaries have risen and it is better (according to the way arbritration works), for a player to hit those home-runs then to do the little things

When I played and was B1, and the hit/run was put on and F1 pitched out, I better make every effort to protect R1 otherwise that was my last at bat for that game.

As mentioned you do not see much of that today, which probably prompted your question.

Pete Booth