When I was younger we used to play a game on my block called "Running Bases". In retrospect, it was a pretty stupid game, but I remember playing it a lot. The rules were simple. There were two bases. Two people would throw a ball (usually a tennis or whiffle ball, but occassionally a baseball) back and forth while the other kids would try and run between the bases without being tagged. The ballsier kids would try and run back and forth as much as possible. The lamer kids would wait until there was a bad throw and then run. There was always some nerd who would camp out on one of the bases with their arms crossed and when the "thrower" at his base would throw, he'd take his foot off the base and then quickly put it back when the ball was thrown back. There wasn't any real point to the game other than to expend energy. My question is whether this was a game we only played in my neighborhood (Frank, Phil, and Grant-did you guys play this?). Do people outside of the midwest remember playing a game like this or am I just adding to the mounting list of evidence that midwesterners are hayseeds?
9/18/2006
Running Bases...
When I was younger we used to play a game on my block called "Running Bases". In retrospect, it was a pretty stupid game, but I remember playing it a lot. The rules were simple. There were two bases. Two people would throw a ball (usually a tennis or whiffle ball, but occassionally a baseball) back and forth while the other kids would try and run between the bases without being tagged. The ballsier kids would try and run back and forth as much as possible. The lamer kids would wait until there was a bad throw and then run. There was always some nerd who would camp out on one of the bases with their arms crossed and when the "thrower" at his base would throw, he'd take his foot off the base and then quickly put it back when the ball was thrown back. There wasn't any real point to the game other than to expend energy. My question is whether this was a game we only played in my neighborhood (Frank, Phil, and Grant-did you guys play this?). Do people outside of the midwest remember playing a game like this or am I just adding to the mounting list of evidence that midwesterners are hayseeds?
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I played it. Ihe kids in the neighborhood now, do not play it. I blame the lack of true Running Bases heros. Where are the Matt Rostis's, the Ed Brennan's? I guess it was never gonna be the same after the strike in '79.
We played running bases with a league ball. I ended up getting hit in the face a few times, but I wore those bruises and cuts like a badge of honor.
I always hated the people that would wait for one of the runners to get caught in a run-down and then scamper from bases to base.
What pussies!
PS One of the rules we played with was if you got tagged three times, you became the catcher and the cather that tagged you became a runner.
Frank-I think we had the same three outs rule. We played with a league ball sometimes, but it usually ended in one of the kids running home crying.
What am I, chopped braunswagger?
What, I didn't have a childhood in the midwest?
Vikki-Touchy! Didn't mean to slight you, but Frank, Phil, and Grant are all known Elmhurstians. I wanted to know if participation was limited to my block, my town, my region, etc. At any rate, did you play or know of this game?
No, never fucking heard of it.
It seems we used to play a similar game, but we called it something else. I can't remember for sure.
Maybe Running Bases is a suburban Chicago game. I remember playing it with my cousins in Arlington Heights.
It's called, "pickle" god damn-it. What kid didn't play it?
Ohhh, PICKLE.
Sure, I played pickle. I'm sure I sucked at it.
I played it 35-40 years ago in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was called "running bases" back then, too.
Played it as a young girl in Lansing, IL. Now teaching it to my grandsons.
Since this is a pretty high search result for "running bases," and since you folks seemed to be trying to figure out how local this game might have been, another datapoint: the kids in my suburban Connecticut neighborhood in the 80s all the time.
...though I think there must have been some additional rule beyond the ones listed here, that gave it a bit more of a point. Whatever the reason, I don't think it was an option to simply remain on one base and lift a foot every once in a while. If nothing else, there was some rule compelling everyone to run.
I played it a lot in Naperville. I thought the point was to get as many bases as you could before becoming a catcher. As a catcher we used to throw wild on purpose to get a runner off the base.
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