"But he didn't swing at it!"

[voiceoflg]

I've only been broadcasting high school baseball games eight years. But sometimes I hear something from the crowd that stops me right in my tracks. I had one today. No strikes and the batter checked his swing so that the knob of the bat was pointed to the pitcher. The ball hit the knob of the bat and went foul. The batter sold it as if he was hit with the pitch, but the PU said "foul ball" and raised his arms. The HC came out and discussed it politely and the batter later got back in the box.

Meanwhile a fan yelled "Foul ball? But he didn't swing at it!"

I remember stopping my sentence right there and tried to regain composure, chewing the inside of my cheeks to keep from openly laughing at the fan. I guess he doesn't think a bunt should be called foul when it goes in foul territory.

[DG]

I guess fan has never seen a batter duck at pitch behind his head and pitch hit the bat on his shoulder and go fair, or foul.

[treydawgmt]

I know this thread is a month old, but I hadn't seen it till now, and it made me think of a game last year. Batter ducks to not get HBP, ball hits bat and smacks him (pretty hard) on the helmet. I called foul, and kid, coach, and parents tried for a few minutes to tell me he didn't mean to hit it, and he got hit with the ball, so it must be HBP. Felt bad for the kid, especially since he got hit in the head later in the game by a thrown ball. Bad luck!