Rule book or case book reference for “hands are part of the bat” myth
I saw a youth game today where the batter swung at strike three but was hit on the hand by the pitch. The umpire ruled foul ball. I had an NFHS rulebook and casebook with me, so after the commotion died down, I went looking for a rule or case book play that covered this scenario, but I couldn’t find one.
(Tip for newer umpires — Google searching a rule can be inadvisable. The AI summary might very well be wrong because there are lots of rules myths that are reinforced on the internet, and AI doesn’t distinguish well between widely believed myths and the actual rules.)
Umpire Bible lists “hands are part of the bat” as the number one rules myths in baseball, but that site doesn’t have an OBR or NFHS rulebook reference (edited to correct that Umpire Bible does have an OBR rules reference listed — Rule 5.09(a)(6), Definitions (person), Definitions (touch), Definitions (strike (e))