Joining a social softball team... HR = Out? WTF?

[purbeast0]

I can see a few reasons behind this - I've also played in a tourney where you have an "in-field" base run, or whatever the proper term is, can't remember it.

Basically, you can hit the ball, and if it hits the back fence without being fielded, you're limited to going to 2nd base, etc. This is on top of the HR rule - one team I was on, we'd line it up because a few of us were good at placing our hits in open portions, and getting 3 on base, then our HR hitter would come out and bring the 4 of us in. If you have a decent team, you were looking at a minimum of 3 HRs per inning.

i have no clue wtf you are talking about.

 

[ProfJohn]

I think part of the problem is that most softball leagues use little league or high school baseball fields thus the fences tend to be short (285ish) thus it is easy for the bigger guys to hit the ball out of the park.

Also, keep in mind that softballs are so damn easy to hit that without the HR rule you would have a bunch of teams made up of 200+ pound guys who would do nothing by pound the ball over the fence. Not much fun in a league like that.

 

[shocksyde]

Because I played a team whose players were all good hitters, who had a couple of guys who would hit HRs every time at bat. These guys were hitting 4 and 8 or 9. They would load the bases and then these guys would empty them over and over again. They mercy ruled every team in the league normally in the first or second innings.

They were unbeatable and should never have been in a social league.

There are 3 leagues where I'm going to play. Social (Good players, highly athletic), Super Social (Pretty good and pretty athletic) and Xtreme Social (crap players with basic athletic skills). I'm in Xtreme Social.

 

[Jeeebus]

The fat chick always plays right field. Everyone knows this.

LOL ya... funny story though. Couple years ago, we were in the 1st or 2nd round of the playoffs in our league, last inning, we're down a few runs, two outs, had a couple people on base. Right-handed guy on my team steps up and belts one out into right field directly at a woman who has probably played a grand total of 45 minutes of softball her entire life.

She puts her hand up straight over her head - not running anywhere - ball comes down and she falls over backwards. Stands up - and she caught the damn thing.

FFFUUUUUUUUUUU

 

[oogabooga]

I think part of the problem is that most softball leagues use little league or high school baseball fields thus the fences tend to be short (285ish) thus it is easy for the bigger guys to hit the ball out of the park.

Also, keep in mind that softballs are so damn easy to hit that without the HR rule you would have a bunch of teams made up of 200+ pound guys who would do nothing by pound the ball over the fence. Not much fun in a league like that.

A lot of company/groups sign up for the social leagues too, and you never know who is on it.

My old roommate was on his company softball team - and they had two ex minor leaguers on the team. Guys drafted by MLB teams but who had knee/elbow injuries that prevented them from going pro. Yea, they could belt it out of the park if they wanted to every at bat. I don't imagine that'd have been a lot of fun to play against.

 

[Blackjack200]

285 feet is a very deep fence. Most little league fences are around 200 feet.

 

[MotionMan]

fortunately, we play against other law firms - homeruns are rarely an issue. Heart attacks? Far more likely.

I play in a similar league: Jewish Temple League. Everyone is a lawyer, doctor or CPA

None of our fields have fences. A well-placed hit between the outfielders result in about 90% of our HRs.

MotionMan

 

[darkxshade]

HR = out in the league I played in... Hitting them over the fence was easy... getting the ball was a bitch because you had to leave the field and go around to get it and back.

These rules are more common when there's arc pitching as well... it's almost impossible to strike out. One of my older leagues when I was in HS was a modified pitching league and HRs were allowed but that field was also large enough to allow for such a thing.

 

[joebloggs10]

It's not just short fences, but the fact that "softball guy" likes to use $300 quadruple-walled aluminum bats makes hitting HRs pretty superfluous.