All Things Bubba

Because how can you not love a baseball player named "Bubba"?

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Ground rule trouble


Came across this article the other day. It's quirky high school baseball fields.

While French’s Common can no longer host tournament games under MIAA rules, the first thing to know is there is no outfield fence at the park. Most of the two-story town hall acts as a wall, where the bounce is in play. A hit that lands on the roof is a double but if the ball hits a green pavilion on top, or clears the roof all together, it is a home run. Part of the building is only one-story high, providing an easier target for a short home run.

For easy extra-base hits, balls that roll under the first-floor staircase or down into the basement stairwell are ground-rule doubles.

If a hit kicks around the back of the Town Hall, fielders have to run into a parking lot after it. Stranger still, the visiting bench is situated so it creates a blind spot between part of the backstop and third base.

And the trees at French’s Common add yet another dimension. Each tree, including one behind third base with branches hanging in fair territory, is played like a wall — balls are live when they hit one of the branches. For a center-field home run, batters have to smash hits clear through the towering trees and hope the ball doesn’t get hung up in branches.

I guess that's part of the charm of baseball. Other sports have regulation courts/fields, but every baseball park is different.
posted by BubbaFan, 10:21 AM

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