Summer Rules

Abstract

Summer Rules Larry Foley (bio) They were the summers of my dreams—and I dream of them still. As a teenager in the late 1960s and early ’70s, as soon as school ended, my life revolved around a homemade ball field in Union City, Tennessee, the little town where Hall of Fame second baseman Red Schoendienst broke into professional baseball in the old Class D Kitty League. My neighborhood was built on a former soybean field on the edge of town when new ranch style homes were popping up to house a boom created by a Goodyear Tire plant opening. For a backstop, we scrounged for chicken wire and lumber from our homes, and as soon as Memorial Day was over, a fleet of push mowers arrived, secretly “borrowed” from dads at work, to groom the vacant lot where our games would be played. The field was flat, but the ground was not—still ridged by a tractor’s tiller long before, into the hard-packed dirt that had once been a farm. Our diamond was strategically placed into a corner of the subdivision where home sites were planned. The outfield was bordered by two asphalt streets. A ball landing on the road would bounce high off the pavement, making a home run an easy call. If the ball landed on the gravel just in front of the street, that made it a harder call, leading to many spirited arguments. Cursing was strictly forbidden. One of the regular ballplayers, a burly, muscular kid named Ross, who showed up for every game with his slobbering dog, was a consistent violator of this rule. One day Ross went on a tirade of expletives and “we” banned him from that game, and all future games, until he cleaned up his mouth. He stormed off with his bat and mitt and mutt, cussing all the way home. The next morning, as if nothing had happened, Ross (and dog) showed up for the game, self-cleansed of his former habit. Of course, there were other rules, and I must have had a heavy hand in their creation. Not long ago my mother found them on a broadsheet, tucked away in the desk I had when I was a boy. The paper was sponsored by the Chicago Rivet and Machine Co. and featured a calendar from 1969. [End Page 45] rules 1. A base will not be given in case of a balk 2. Bunting is allowed only for the leadoff hitter in each inning 3. No Infield Fly Rule 4. Hit by Pitch-batter is allowed to take base only if an attempt has been made to get out of the way of the ball, then he May either take his base or continue to bat 5. Homerun-A ball hit in the street or hitting the foul pole or center field pole in the air (We hammered wooden poles into the dirt, spray painted whatever color someone could commandeer from their garage) 6. Triple-A ball bouncing or rolling over the street 7. Double-A ball bouncing into the ditch (ditch separated playing field from the street) 8. No Automatic Strikes unless members on both teams agree that the ball thrown was a strike 9. A limit of 20 runs per team in a game 10. No stealing of bases unless the fielding team chooses to use a catcher 11. Cursing-one (1) base will be given to the opposite team if a player on his team uses profanity. 1 base per foul word. (On the batting team, if a player curses, 1 strike extra will be put on the batter) 12. Only members on both teams will be allowed on the playing field (This did not pertain to dogs. There was no leash law in those days, and every kid had a dog, of all breeds and temperament) There was no adult supervision ever, and the age of kids ranged from ten to seventeen. An unwritten rule was that older boys were not allowed to throw hard to the younger kids. One of the best players was a “girl,” a tomboy classmate who could throw and hit with the best of us. When...