Help a broadcaster out (re: baseball myths)

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by voiceoflg

"Hands a part of the bat" and "ball hitting an umpire is immediately dead" are two that was said and I cringed.

While the former is patently absurd and ridiculous, the latter is true of an umpire working in the B or C position (in the infield), but not when working in A (beyond first base behind F3). The reason for this is in A the ball is kept alive because it has passed an infielder other than the pitcher (i.e. F3). In B or C, the ball has not yet passed a fielder other than the pitcher, and is immediately dead when it hits an umpire. The batter is credited with a single and all runners forced to advance do so.