Florida homeowner asks neighborhood kids to stop playing in their backyard—the parents refuse to step in, then the kids set up a baseball diamond in their backyard completely uninvited: 'The neighbor’s response didn’t really sit right with me'

A Florida homeowner objects to neighborhood children turning her yard into a baseball field.

 

When is it ok for the neighbors' kids to play in your yard? And when does it become a problem?

Ahh October. The perfect time for some backyard baseball. With the Fall Classic imminently approaching at the end of this week, it's exactly the time to get in that home-grown baseball spirit. 

When we were kids, my cousins and I were always out back of my grandparents' house playing pickup games of baseball. Sure, the stadium might have been an odd shape. The left field was way too shallow up to the neighbor's fence, and a giant pine tree (lovingly dubbed the "Green Monster") sat right in dead center field, which made fielding and home runs out that way a challenge.

But that's one of the beautiful things about baseball. Since stadiums already come in all shapes and sizes and all have their own odd dimensions and idiosyncratic "ground rules" that are unique to that particular stadium. This makes playing baseball in your own somewhat haphazard backyard stadium feel entirely natural. And, just like in the old days, rules are made on the fly and adapt over time until the meta develops and the crew gets used to and makes up the ground rules of the field.

Going back now, that field is so much smaller than I remember it being. The base paths have long grown in, and the horseshoe sandpits where first and third base used to sit are long gone. But some really great memories were made there.