Editing Sacrifice fly (section)

==History==
Batters have not been charged with a time at-bat for a sacrifice hit since 1893, but baseball has changed the sacrifice fly rule multiple times.<ref>
{{Cite book|title=The Reliable Book of Outdoor Games|first= Henry |last= Chadwick | publisher=F. M. Lupton |year=1893 |isbn=9785872410195 |pages=62}}</ref> The sacrifice fly as a statistical category was instituted in 1908, only to be discontinued in 1931. The rule was again adopted in 1939, only to be eliminated again in 1940, before being adopted for the last time in 1954.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Jerome Holtzman on Baseball - A History of Baseball Scribes |last=Holtzman |first=Jerome |publisher=Sports Publishing |year=2005 |isbn=9781582619767 |pages=198 |language=en}}</ref> For some baseball fans, it is significant that the sacrifice-fly rule was eliminated in 1940 because, in 1941, Ted Williams was hitting .39955 on the last day of the season and needed one hit in a doubleheader against the Philadelphia A's to become the first hitter since Bill Terry in 1930 to hit .400. He got six hits, finishing with an official .406 average, the last player in over 80 years to bat .400 or more in the [[American League|American]] or [[National League (baseball)|National League]]. In his book ''Baseball and Other Matters in 1941'' author Robert Creamer, citing estimates, points out that if Williams' 14 at-bats on sacrifice flies that year were deducted from the 456 official at-bats he was charged with, his final average in 1941 would have been .419.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Baseball and Other Matters in 1941 |last=Creamer |first=Robert W. |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |year=2000 |isbn=9780803264069 |pages=272 |language=en}}</ref>