Since I was born, some people have been arguing that baseball rules need to be changed to make it more popular and more profitable and other people have been arguing that the traditions should remain in place. Some recent changes involved adding the DH to the National League and putting a ghost runner on second base at the start of any extra inning.
A minor league team from Savannah, GA known as the Savannah Bananas have designed a new game of Banana Baseball, and they have made drastic changes to the rules to speed up the game and make it more interesting. It is as if Barnum and Bailey got together with Bill Veeck and Charlie Finley.
Some of their changes:
1. No new inning can start after 1 hour and 50 minutes.
2. A foul ball is caught by a fan: batter is out.
3. No one can visit the mound and if a batter steps out of the batter’s box, it’s a strike.
4. No bunting: batter is thrown out of the game.
5. Batters can steal first base on a wild pitch or passed ball.
6. Ball four: batter starts running and can run until every player on defense has touched the ball. Could be a home run.
7. Score is not kept like “real” baseball. Each inning is worth one point and the team with the most points at the end wins. Interesting.
8. Extra innings; only three players on defense and batter must try to round the bases before the ball is run down.
That last one needs a little more explaining: For more information click HERE. This game isn’t the same old song and dance.
No comments yet.