I went to the field where I lead a play-based fitness group the other day, and saw this at the baseball diamond:

HOME! NO! BACK! NO! WAIT! RUN!

If you can see it, someone got creative with the chalk lines the day before, and basically scribbled all over the field!

Immediately I imagined two teams coming to the field that day, ready for battle, finding the rules slightly changed…

Then I thought of how much fun it would be to play on a field like this, especially after weeks or years of the same old straight lines connecting first, second, third, and home.

My friend Charlie Reid was at this park with me a few days prior to the development of the new baseball rules, and we watched a little league team playing.

“How boring,” I said.  All of the kids stood in the outfield and waited in line for their coach to pop fly balls out to them.  I presume it was for practice, but it could’ve been some kind of weeding process as well.

“Yeah,” Charlie said.  “It would be so much better if you rotated positions every play, like you do in volleyball in high school.  If no one had a set position, everyone would have to adapt to the demands of new positions.  No one would get stuck in the outfield, or on the bench.”

“Wow!  That’s a great idea!” I said.

We watched the kids in the outfield, standing in line, waiting for fly-balls…

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