- 4 months ago
One of the best things about baseball is the ground rules. No other sport allows for more variety between playing venues, but of course that variety requires slight rule modifications from one field to the next. And then there’s the ivy. Technically speaking, the iconic ivy at Wrigley Field doesn’t have its own ground rule … it’s actually referenced in a whole, universal rule in the MLB rulebook. The ivy is special in plenty of other ways beyond that one, though, so let’s chat.
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00:00Have you ever had to play sports with hazards in the way, like as a kid?
00:04Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure.
00:06Growing up, I had a basketball court in my neighborhood
00:08where the front of the rim would always bounce.
00:12So if the ball hit the front of the rim,
00:14it would be like some Super Mario shit where the ball would be like,
00:17shoot out.
00:18And I assume it's like only one team has to deal with that.
00:21Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:22So it always got to play for, y'all got that side.
00:25It's like, fuck, all right.
00:26We have to adjust.
00:28Nothing but bank shots the whole game.
00:30Yeah, I played tennis growing up on a concrete court
00:33where only on one side of the net there was a crack, like in the cement.
00:38How big are we talking?
00:39Like deep, like you could definitely trip on it.
00:42So obviously you just feed all the balls to the backhand side.
00:46Were you the guy that brought people there and was like,
00:48I just love this side a little more for no specific reason.
00:51So I'm going to go on that side and then, yeah.
00:54You could like disappear.
00:56It looked like a fault line, like an earthquake had caused it.
00:59Like I ask because while most sports have firm rules about the playing surface,
01:07baseball is the exception.
01:08And like obviously there are, you know, the bases can only be so far apart.
01:13The mound and home plate can only be so far apart.
01:16There are rules about how distant the home run wall can be.
01:20But there's also some flexibility.
01:22So the playing surfaces can be a little bit different from one place to the next,
01:27the way the grass is planted.
01:29The home run walls can be different depths and different heights
01:32as long as they are within certain rules.
01:34And also certain things can be in play and have rules for them.
01:40So there's a ladder.
01:42It's up on the green monster.
01:43And there's a rule about what happens if the ball hits the ladder.
01:45There's the catwalks of Tropicana fields.
01:48If you hit one of them, it's in play.
01:50If you hit one, it's a home run.
01:52There's like different rules.
01:54And so each stadium has its own set of ground rules.
01:57And one stadium, Wrigley Field, has such an iconic feature
02:01that's been around for so long that its ground rule is actually written into the rule book.
02:06Let me read you the rule.
02:07Rule 5.06 B4.
02:10You are awarded two bases, a ground rule double,
02:12if such and such things, the ball bounces over the wall,
02:15or if the ball goes through or under shrubbery or vines on the fence,
02:21or if it sticks in such fence, scoreboard, shrubbery, or vines.
02:25It's only one place.
02:26Yeah, I love how they just say at Wrigley Field.
02:29If this happens, it's not at any other ballpark.
02:32There have been other stadiums in the past, in the distant past,
02:36with shrubbery on the outfield wall.
02:40Because, again, we're not talking about past the wall.
02:42We're not talking about a ball that's out of play.
02:45We're talking about on a surface that would otherwise be in play.
02:48If the ball gets lodged in some shrubbery or some vines,
02:52then it is a ground rule double.
02:54That only happens at Wrigley.
02:55Only at Wrigley.
02:56The vines, the ivy at Wrigley Field, are really dense.
03:01They can fully swallow up a baseball.
03:04And so all kinds of stuff can happen with the ball headed that way.
03:08Like, Andre Dawson once basically got his head stuck in it.
03:12Like, legit.
03:13Legit.
03:14And I don't know if you remember,
03:15there was that State Farm commercial a few years ago
03:17where, like, someone's reaching in and pulling stuff out of the vines
03:21and then they pull a full person out of there.
03:23That was Andre Dawson, I assume, as a reference to that.
03:25I assume in modern day, if you tried to build a new stadium
03:29and you were like, hey, we're going to plant
03:31a, like, several inch deep wall of ivy on the outfield wall,
03:37which is in play, they'd be like, no, don't do that.
03:39But Wrigley gets away with it because it's so old.
03:41My favorite thing that has ever led to it,
03:44I actually want to show it to you.
03:45This is not that long ago.
03:46This is during Chase Utley's career.
03:48So this is in the 2000s.
03:51Chase Utley hits the ball.
03:52The ball rolls all the way to the ivy and boink!
04:00What did you see there?
04:01Another ball popped out of the wall.
04:05So the ivy has swallowed up so many things
04:07and it's so dense and goes so deep
04:10that people find shit in there.
04:12Like, just by reaching in,
04:13they'll pull out, like, a fossilized baseball from a while ago.
04:16But in that one instance,
04:17the ball actually dislodged the second ball.
04:20So which ball is in play?
04:22I think they should both be.
04:23Yeah.
04:24In that case.
04:25Wait a second.
04:26So the ball hits another ball.
04:28Yeah.
04:28And the other ball pops out.
04:30So that's two balls.
04:31What was the result of the play?
04:32There's no rule for that.
04:34There's no rule for the second ball?
04:35There's no rule for the second ball?
04:36There's a rule that tells you what happens
04:37if the ball gets stuck in the ivy.
04:39If the ball bounces back, it's still in play.
04:42But in this instance, yeah,
04:43the fielders have to be like,
04:44which one of you is the real ball?
04:46And, like, you don't have to play both of them.
04:47Yeah, yeah, yeah.
04:48That would be a lot better, though,
04:50if you play both of them.
04:51Yeah.
04:52But the rule is,
04:53if the ball gets stuck in the ivy,
04:55it's a ground rule double.
04:56The ball's out of play.
04:57Technically, whatever that first ball was,
05:01the ball that popped out
05:02when Chase Utley's ball popped into it,
05:04at some point years ago,
05:06that was ruled a ground rule double,
05:08and the guy was awarded second.
05:10But decades later, that ball popped out.
05:12So I think that should be overruled.
05:14And he should go back to that game
05:16and be like, ball's live.
05:18Everyone come back.
05:18From, like, a 1965 game.
05:20This guy is still running.
05:22Bring him back.
05:23The ball has been dislodged.
05:24We found it.
05:25We can play it now.
05:26But what if the person's passed away, though?
05:28You know what I mean?
05:29Then, like, he's going to get a pin to put you on it.
05:31You need to take a tag out.
05:32Put you on it.
05:33My question is,
05:34if you had the opportunity,
05:36let's say,
05:37to build a new stadium
05:38and you could put anything in play.
05:41So it's not going to be on the field,
05:42but it's probably, like,
05:43on the outfield wall.
05:44Okay.
05:44And if the ball hits it,
05:46it's in play.
05:47What are you putting in your stadium?
05:50Does any stadium have, like,
05:51a running, like, train track going around?
05:54The Mets used to have that.
05:56Did they really?
05:57They had something like that,
05:58but it was out of play.
06:00I feel like that would be cool enough
06:01where it, like, dips a little bit into play.
06:04You know what I mean?
06:05And someone can potentially get hit
06:07as they're, like, on the train.
06:09But then you've got to make it, like,
06:10if you hit the engine,
06:13then that's a home run.
06:14If you hit any of the middle cars,
06:16then it's in play.
06:17The caboose, you're out.
06:18You're out.
06:19Automatically out.
06:20I do think that's where I'm going with this, too,
06:22is, like, to have stuff that moves.
06:24I would have a merry-go-round.
06:26The merry-go-round,
06:26mostly out of play,
06:28but there's one gap in the outfield wall
06:30where, you know,
06:32one of the horses,
06:33or maybe it depends,
06:34if it's a horse
06:35and you hit the horse,
06:35that's in play.
06:37Just play it on the wall.
06:38If you hit the unicorn,
06:40that's a home run.
06:41That's got to be,
06:41it's got to be a home run
06:42if you hit the unicorn.
06:43I'm just, like,
06:43if we have a world
06:45in which MLB can make ground rules
06:48specific to these weird oddities
06:50in the outfield,
06:51like,
06:51you might as well have fun with it.
06:52In this case,
06:53with Wrigley Field,
06:54this is a living thing.
06:56Like,
06:56can't control the living land.
06:58You can't control the living.
06:59Like,
06:59what if there's, like,
07:00a monkey living in there
07:02and the monkey's, like,
07:03smashing baseballs?
07:04Like,
07:04how much does it?
07:05It just runs out
07:05and they play.
07:07Yeah,
07:07can the monkey come out
07:08and be like,
07:08nope,
07:08that's grand rule double.
07:09Like,
07:09that's mine.
07:10That's mine.
07:10Or they count for an out
07:11for the team,
07:12whatever team it is.
07:13The monkey comes out,
07:15snags a home run.
07:15Yeah,
07:16sorry,
07:16he's not on the team,
07:17so,
07:17it doesn't count.
07:20Anything could be happening,
07:21man.
07:21Right.
07:22There could be a guy
07:23that, you know,
07:24was chasing a ball
07:25in the 80s
07:25and just disappeared
07:26and he's still in there,
07:27man.
07:28He's in there,
07:29he's microwaving pizza rolls
07:30and he's watching
07:32the game on TV
07:32and if a ball comes
07:33in his way,
07:34he's just like,
07:34there could be
07:36skeletons in there.
07:38There are dead,
07:38there are genuinely,
07:39for real,
07:40there are artifacts in there.
07:41Like,
07:41every once in a while,
07:43after something happens
07:44with the ivy,
07:45guys will get curious
07:46and they'll go
07:46and just root around
07:47and they'll literally,
07:48there are documented
07:49incidences
07:50of people pulling out,
07:52like,
07:52dusty old baseballs.
07:54I thought you were
07:55going to say
07:55dusty body parts
07:56and be like,
07:57that's possible too,
07:58like,
07:58oh,
07:58the scene of a murder.
07:59They finally
08:01solved a murder
08:02from 30 years ago.
08:03You know there's
08:04evidence in there.
08:05I don't know of what,
08:05but it's in there.
08:06Steve Bartman,
08:07it wasn't his name.
08:08His body's in there somehow.
08:10But you're right,
08:11they definitely had
08:12to put the kibosh
08:13on, like,
08:13no more living things.
08:14Right.
08:15We cannot have,
08:16like,
08:16imagine if you had,
08:17like,
08:17Venus flytraps,
08:18you had just a bunch of
08:18plants in there,
08:19like,
08:20snacking up the baseballs.
08:23That'd be pretty dope,
08:24though.
08:24I do think
08:24other sports
08:25should get
08:26a little more flexible.
08:28Like,
08:28if NFL stadiums,
08:29you could make
08:30one thing weird
08:31about,
08:32say,
08:32like,
08:33the goalposts.
08:35Right.
08:35You know,
08:36like,
08:36one's,
08:36like,
08:37a little flagged,
08:38or...
08:38One's a little
08:39squeezed in.
08:40Yeah,
08:40as long as the total,
08:42you know,
08:42area is the same.
08:44If the Cubs are allowed
08:45to have a living thing
08:46on the field
08:47in baseball,
08:48then what if
08:48the goalposts
08:50at an NFL stadium
08:51were also a living thing?
08:52Like,
08:52you got two
08:53big-ass sequoias,
08:54and if,
08:56listen,
08:56this year
08:57the tree grew
08:58a branch
08:59that goes across
09:00where the kicker
09:00might want to kick it...
09:01Hey,
09:01that's nature,
09:02baby.
09:02That's nature.
09:03What am I supposed to do?
09:04Tell the tree how to grow?
09:05I can't do that.
09:05It's all the way up there.
09:07That'd be rude.
09:08That'd be rude of you.
09:08Or just two
09:09dinosaurs
09:10with really long necks
09:11and you better hope
09:12they stay still.
09:13And also,
09:14dinosaurs exist,
09:15but only for this purpose.
09:16So you can thank
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