Ghost runners and pitchers hand........forgotten?

• thavoice

  Was playing some baseball/whiffle ball with kids this weekend. They are baseball types so not some nerds who couldnt tell the diff between an onion and baseball like some kids these days....
  
  ..and I said we wiil use ghost runners and pitchers hand.
  
  
  ...and they were clueless.
  
  
  Do kids play whiffleball and such anymore?
  
  We always played it......usually 3 on 3 was the lowest amount we would use (and we batted lefthanded as to not ruin our baseball swings!)
• Nate

  Played those 2 rules as well.
• Raw Dawgin' it

  

  i am familiar with ghost runners but not pitchers hand
• I Wear Pants

  Ghost runners were a given.
• BR1986FB

  Raw Dawgin' it;758356 wrote:i am familiar with ghost runners but not pitchers hand

  
  Same here.
  
  If it's not on Xbox, Playstation or Nintendo Wii, they aren't getting their lazy asses up and leaving the house for it. Shorter answer, no...kids probably don't play wiffle ball anymore.
  
  We would usually wrap a wiffle ball tight with electrical tape and use real bats. Sometimes would play the conventional way.
• september63

  

  Raw Dawgin' it;758356 wrote:i am familiar with ghost runners but not pitchers hand

  
  Same here.
• Raw Dawgin' it

  

  BR1986FB;758363 wrote:Same here.
  
  If it's not on Xbox, Playstation or Nintendo Wii, they aren't getting their lazy asses up and leaving the house for it. Shorter answer, no...kids probably don't play wiffle ball anymore.
  
  We would usually wrap a wiffle ball tight with electrical tape and use real bats. Sometimes would play the conventional way.

  I didn't play a lot of wiffle ball. More basketball and street hockey.
  
  Totally agree with the video games though, i'll still take pick up games over the xbox when it's nice out any day of the week.
• justincredible

  

  Pitchers hand. If the ball gets to the pitcher before you reach base you are out.
• jmog

  I had to explain ghost runners to my kids when we first played wiffle ball and/or kick ball. However, my boys were 6 and 4 at the time. They are typically now explaining it to their friends since my kids are the ones playing outside all summer long while the other kids are playing video games.
• BR1986FB

  Raw Dawgin' it;758371 wrote:I didn't play a lot of wiffle ball. More basketball and street hockey.

  
  And that's probably part of the reason for less wiffle ball. More kids playing sports like football & basketball which might be considered more interesting to them. MLB has exactly done a stellar job of marketing their product.
• OneBuckeye

  

  justincredible;758373 wrote:Pitchers hand. If the ball gets to the pitcher before you reach base you are out.

  
  Whaaa, never heard of it but used ghost runners extensively
  
  Of course the arguement was always did the ghost runner on second score on a single? Or did the ghost runner on first score on a double? We normally went Yes, No. However it was very annoying when playing with baseball retards because they would never agree to the first.
• THE4RINGZ

  

  Ghost runners advance the same number of bases the hitter does. Period.
• OneBuckeye

  

  THE4RINGZ;758383 wrote:Ghost runners advance the same number of bases the hitter does. Period.

  
  Then why call 2nd base scoring position?
• THE4RINGZ

  

  OneBuckeye;758384 wrote:Then why call 2nd base scoring position?

  
  With a full compliment of players second base is scoring position. With ghost runners you have to limit their advancement to the number of bases the batter achieved or the whole system breaks down. Trust me, I have had this argument hundreds of times.
• lhslep134

  

  OneBuckeye;758384 wrote:Then why call 2nd base scoring position?

  
  In a 9 person baseball game they'll probably score from second. It's a lot easier to get a single in 3-on-3 or 4-on-4 so that's why we always did the ghost runners gotta be on third to score on a single.
• THE4RINGZ

  

  lhslep134;758391 wrote:In a 9 person baseball game they'll probably score from second. It's a lot easier to get a single in 3-on-3 or 4-on-4 so that's why we always did the ghost runners gotta be on third to score on a single.

  
  You can't throw a ghost runner out trying to leg it home from second on an outfield single that fact alone would nullify the second base being scoring position in a game involving ghost runners.
• enigmaax

  THE4RINGZ;758383 wrote:Ghost runners advance the same number of bases the hitter does. Period.

  
  Yes.
  

  justincredible;758373 wrote:Pitchers hand. If the ball gets to the pitcher before you reach base you are out.

  
  Rarely played this way because it is dumb. If you can't cover the bases, you have the option of hitting the runner with the ball. No need to make up lazy, wussy rules.
• vball10set

  we used to play pitcher's mound was out--made it a little tougher
• THE4RINGZ

  

  Of course both of these rules only apply to games where you are using old license plates or bucket lids for bases.
• lhslep134

  

  THE4RINGZ;758398 wrote:Of course both of these rules only apply to games where you are using old license plates or bucket lids for bases.

  
  Of course.
  
  Was anyone really good at throwing nasty curving wiffle balls? I know they curve naturally a little but my friend Matt's curveball sometimes was downright unhittable it would move 3 feet at the batter.
• 1_beast

  

  We had thhe infamous "water bomb"...a wiffle bat filled with water and duct taped......this launched the duct taped ball.....kinda like a corked bat. But it had to be used with decoys...that way the defense didnt know when you were breaking out the juice.
  
  Pitchers hand = out...didnt play. However, you couldnt advance bases once the pitcher had the ball. Otherwise there would be the ongoing game of trying to advance and pitcher trying to peg your ass.
  
  Ghost runners...just as 4ringz stated.
  
  EDIT: also if you could tag 2nd, 3rd or home on a force out before batter reaches 1st...ghost runner is out
• sherm03

  

  We used to play some pretty intense 2-on-2 stickball games in the neighborhood. We played pitcher's hand, but only on plays at first base. Second, third, and home you could either bean the runner or had to tag him out. With only a pitcher and one fielder, and we didn't want someone to just dribble ground balls down the third base line and keep racking up singles.
  
  Ghost runners were a must, and we also played that the ghost runners moved the same number of bases. Our rule was that the ghost runner was the biggest fattest guy on the bench, and was too slow to score on a single.
  
  Those were some absolutely amazing times. I miss those stickball games.
• Sykotyk

  

  I never played wiffle ball. Always used tennis balls when I was younger (did less damage to houses/cars than a baseball and didn't get obliterated into dozens of pieces like a wiffle ball). Always played ghost runners. Never heard of playing 'pitchers hand'.
  
  Some other rules: if you tag the next base, the guy on the previous base is out automatically (forced to run, basically). If he's on second (no one on first), and you tag third on a grounder, he's out. On a fly, he still has to tag his base, which you could get if he didn't get back in time. But, he didn't HAVE to advance on a fly. Also, if you nailed him with the ball (a la kickball) while running the bases, he's out.
• Zoltan

  This thread is breaking down just like a neighborhood games should. They always ended in some sort of dispute about fair/foul, safe/out, ghost runners, etc.
  But we were always right back playing the next day.
  
  We used both ghost runners and pitchers hand.
• OneBuckeye

  

  Sounds like we need to get a backyard baseball game going. Anyone have a baseball field in their backyard, or a large yard in which to create one? I'm good to go in NE Ohio.
  
  Edit: this could be used as the first post in the new personals forum.