The most sacrifice bunts made in professional baseball is 514 by Masahiro Kawai (Japan) during a career spanning 20 years, playing for the Yomiuri Giants in Japan between 1984 and 2003. Kawai scored his 512th sacrifice bunt surpassing Eddie Collins' US Major League Baseball record of 511, during the Central League Championship Season game against Yokohama BayStars at Tokyo Dome on 20 August 2003. Kawai went on to score two more before retiring on 14 September 2003. A sacrifice bunt involves hitting the ball softly and short. This is usually done to advance base runners. The batter squares his body to the pitcher and lays the bat out horizontally. Upon contact with the pitch, the batter absorbs the energy of the ball, resulting in the ball falling to the ground with little or no momentum. This is done for the sole purpose of moving a base runner to the next base, with the batter fully expecting to be out.