Play by the rules; and play fair

I love sports. I have played in and watched sporting events since I was a tiny tyke on Teeds Street in Almont, Michigan.

This includes many different sports like football, basketball, golf, tennis and, probably my favorite, baseball. From the very beginning of my sporting life I was always taught, “Play by the rules and play fair.”

Excellent advice. For sports and for life, right?

As I age, occasionally, something pops into my head and creates a question that gnaws away at me. A conundrum for sure.

It’s seldom earth shattering that, in the grand scheme of things, really matters much. But it’s there like a song you can’t stop playing in your brain.

In this case, it’s the size of baseball fields. Why are they different? They are, you know.

Not the infield, of course. Infields are uniform throughout the venues. A baseball diamond is actually a square, 90 feet (90’) to first base from home plate, 90’ from first to second base, 90’ from second to third and 90’ third to home.

The pitching rubber is 60’ 6” in front of the plate on a mound 10” high. The bases are 18” square, the plate 17” wide.

But the outfield is different in every major league stadium. I have been to 27 of them in 17 different cities and can verify that what I say is true.

For example, at Comerica Park, home of my beloved Detroit Tigers, it is 342’ to the left field corner, 370’ to left center, 412’ to center, 365’ to right center and 330’ down the right field line. The wall is 7’ high all around.

In Boston’s Fenway Park, the oldest park in the majors, it’s only 310’ down the left field line, 379’ to left center. But there is a 37’ high wall there in left. The “Green Monster” it’s called.

Lots of what would be routine fly outs anywhere else turn into singles or doubles at Fenway.

Center field is 390’ going out to 420’ then tapering down to 302’ in the right field corner. The wall here is only 3’-5” high.

Now I ask you, is this fair? Every MLB stadium has different distances to the fences and the fences all vary in height.

Keep in mind that the home team gets to play 81 games dealing with their stadium’s quirks while the visiting teams each play no more than 7 games there per season.

Should be a great advantage for the home team, right? Then why doesn’t Boston win the pennant every year? Part of the conundrum.

Football fields are all 100 yards goal line to goal line with 10-yard end zones and 53.3 yards wide. All of them. Everywhere.

Should the Lions be able to extend the end zone to 15 yards at Ford Field? If baseball can do it, why not football?

Basketball courts in college and the NBA are 94’ long and 50’ wide. The basket is 10 feet high and 18” in circumference. The free throw line is 15’ from the basket. All of them. Everywhere.

Should my Spartans be able to put the baskets at 9 ½’ or 11’ at home? Baseball fields vary, why not basketball courts?

You can see why this gnaws at me. If we are to play by the rules and play fair, the rules should be uniform everywhere, right?

As I was writing this column, it dawned on me that laws and rules are not always applied the same in other walks of life, as well. Think about it.

How the branches of our federal, state and local governments make, interpret and enforce the laws and rules can be very different and very confusing at times.

Are people in California treated the same as in Oklahoma, for example? Are all races, religions, ethnic, groups, etc. treated the same? Do all courts administer justice fairly and equally?

In the grand scheme of things, that DOES matter.

You’ve heard that the government should help maintain a “level playing field.” It’s a “concept” about fairness, not that each person has an equal chance to succeed, but that they all play by the same set of rules.

Seems to me we have a way to go before we have a level playing field and play fair both in and out of the ballpark.

Yes, it’s a conundrum.

Contact Rick at tct@pageone-inc.com