In baseball, a sacrifice hit is the act of deliberately striking the ball in a manner that allows a runner on base to advance to another base, while the batter is himself put out. The batter usually accomplishes it with a bunt.
The most common situation in which this is a desirable goal for the batting team is when there is one out, and runners are on first and second base. The manager will usually signal the runners to advance as soon as the pitcher winds up. A properly executed sacrifice hit in this scenario puts the ball into fair play a few feet in front of home plate, so the fielding team's only chance for an out is to put out the batter at first base. This avoids an inning-ending double play and results in the runners advancing to second and third base. A sacrifice hit may also be executed when there are no outs, or when there is a single runner on first or second base.
The first is the sacrificebunt, in which the batter puts the ball into play with the intention of advancing a baserunner, in exchange for the batter being thrown out.
The sacrificebunt is most often used to advance a runner from first to second base, although the runner may also be advanced from second to third base, or from third to home.
The bunt was introduced into the game by Dickey Pearce of the Brooklyn Atlantics in 1866, but was not common until the 1880s, and was not an accepted part of baseball strategy until the 20th century.
In baseball, a sacrifice hit is the act of deliberately striking the ball in a manner that allows a runner on base to advance to another base, while the batter is himself put out.
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