Hit By Pitch?
 

I've had this situation the last two times I've had games as PU. Inside pitch, I hear what I think is the ball brushing against the batter's jersey or stomach. Each time, I award the batter first base, and each time the batter says the ball didn't hit him. If the batter insists that the ball didn't hit him, do you still put him on first base? May sound like a foolish question, but I'm not exactly sure how to handle this.

Put him on 1B. It is a liability issue. If he gets hit harder with the next pitch, the first thing he will say is "I shouldn't have been there in the first place. The pitch before hit me and the umpire didn't put me on 1B when he knew it hit me."

Don't take the chance. Put him on 1B.

Some hitters want on base, some want to hit. It most likely did not hit HIM, but if it hit his uniform send him to 1B.

"I hear what I think" sounds a bit vague. What did you see? On an inside pitch you should also see it hit him.

not necessarily...if you're one man, he check swings, runner stealing, catcher is in the slot...you might not see anything. i get what you're saying...but sometimes kids will just stand there too...some do a very poor job of selling what they should be selling. reverse your scenario for a moment...what if you think it doesn't hit him and he looks back and says..."that hit me"...do you send him to first? (rhetorical)

If you trust a BR who says it did not hit him, you'll have to trust a BR who claims a ball did hit him.

I agree with DG. It's YOUR call, not the batter's.

You see, you hear, you decide, you announce. That's your job.

Back when I was coaching, I recall an umpire who "let the batter decide" (his words, not mine) on an ambiguous HBP sitch. The pitch definitiely hit SOMETHING, but hard to tell whether the bat or the batter was first. Weird play. Ump put it on the batter to decide.

I was not favorably impressed. I may have said something deserving of ejection. (I believe it was along the lines of , "Well, if we're going to let the players decide, I don't see why we're paying for an umpire.")

I was not ejected.

Sometimes the players don't even know they've been hit (or their jersey has, which is the same thing - the shirt IS part of the "torso").

Sometimes they PRETEND they were hit when they weren't. Really.

Don't rush, use all your senses, decide what happened, and tell everyone.

JM

I do not have problems seeing the inside pitch hit the batter, but I sometimes miss the outside ones.:D

You mean you have a hard time seeing an outside pitch hit the other batter? :rolleyes:

During my Pre-game I will state to my crew "If you even think the batter has been hit then call it don't wait." When I am working the plate. I remind everyone that this is a game and we are not in the PROs yet. :rolleyes:

When I am not working the plate I always bring this up in Pre-game. :D

Yeah it happens a lot, the good hitters want to "hit". They don't want to walk. But, you saw it hit him, put him on. If you allow the BR to stay at bat, you are rewarding the BR. F1 might have wanted to put him on to get to the next batter who probably is "not" as good a hitter.

Actually I think most batters don't realize is it hits their jersery, it's still a HBP.

Thanks
David

I might add that it's only a HBP if the jersey is properly worn. That's up for your interpretation but if the jersey is excessively baggy, you should not reward the batter.

-Josh

....have them tuck it in before it gets that point. Look, if ball goes flying into a players shirt, there's little doubt it "hit" him. Have them tunk in those PJs before they step in.

With stuff like that, it's all about being preventative. Have him tuck it in, have him strap his batting gloves, anything that might cause controversy if he's HBP.

FED - OK

OBR, NCAA - no such limitation in the books.

Didn't OBR (long ago) give the batter the option to remain at bat?

I don't think you should let your baseguys call a HBP. That's the plate guys call. Foul balls @ the plate are a different story, but HBP??? Hard call from 90 feet away. Plate guys needs to get that himself.

There's no mention of that in Evans' book.

Since I do a lot of high school and under, I depend on my partners (only adults) to catch the bouncing hit or things that can be blocked. We go over an in-depth pre-game whenever possible. :eek:

Which doesn't mean it didn't used to be a rule.

As usual, Greymule is correct in his assessment of history.

Here is an excerpt from 19th Century Baseball speaking of Paul Hines, the first batter to be credited with a HBP and awarded first base in 1884. Prior to that, a batter did not get first base for getting plunked:

Also in 1879, the National League introduced, for one season only, the "Reached First Base" statistic. It included times reached via hits, walks and errors, but not hit by pitch because batter did not receive a base after being hit in 1879. Paul Hines, in 85 games, reached first base 193 times to lead the league-his sixth "first."

In 1882, Hines became the first player to wear sunglasses during a major league game, and on September 25 played in the first true doubleheader in National League history. The Grays split the two games with the Worcester Ruby Legs in the first instance of two games for the price of one.

His final five "firsts" came in 1884 and specifically the 1884 World Series. He was the first National Leaguer to bat in World Series history. During that at bat he became the first batter to be hit by a pitch (the game was played under American Association rules which allowed a batter to receive his base after being hit by a pitched ball).

Here is the link for the whole article/site:
http://www.19cbaseball.com/players-paul-hines.html