OT: Country Jay
- Thread starter JesterB
- Start date
I can’t remember exactly how to play but I remember we would have 15 to 20 friends playing down the street over 4 or 5 yards. We would play sometimes with a racket ball and tennis racket and just kill the ball down the street.
One pitcher, one batter, and as many fielders as you feel.
Batter hits ball into play. If it’s caught in the air, the fielder who makes the play is now the batter, batter goes to the field.
If the ball hits the ground, someone must field the ball. When the first person touches the ball, all other players freeze. They must then relay the ball back to the pitcher without error/the ball hitting the ground. If they succeed, the pitcher becomes batter, and the original fielder becomes pitcher. If they don’t succeed, batter and pitcher stay the same.
Batter hits ball into play. If it’s caught in the air, the fielder who makes the play is now the batter, batter goes to the field.
If the ball hits the ground, someone must field the ball. When the first person touches the ball, all other players freeze. They must then relay the ball back to the pitcher without error/the ball hitting the ground. If they succeed, the pitcher becomes batter, and the original fielder becomes pitcher. If they don’t succeed, batter and pitcher stay the same.
Pitcher, catcher, batter and one or more fielders in the infield and outfield. Fielders could roam the field as they please. The object was to get the batter out by a strikeout or through fielding. A fielding out was made by a fielder catching a pop fly or otherwise fielding a ball cleanly and making a good throw back to the pitcher that was caught in the air - no one or more hop throws to the pitcher.
When a batter was out, the batter moved to the field, the catcher moved to bat, the pitcher moved to catcher, and the fielder making the play moved to pitcher.
I vaguely remember that a caught pop fly resulted in the batter and the person making the catch directly swapping positions; but I'm not quite sure (it's been a long while, but I did play this some with my son in the early 90s).
We played this game for hours when I was growing up.
When a batter was out, the batter moved to the field, the catcher moved to bat, the pitcher moved to catcher, and the fielder making the play moved to pitcher.
I vaguely remember that a caught pop fly resulted in the batter and the person making the catch directly swapping positions; but I'm not quite sure (it's been a long while, but I did play this some with my son in the early 90s).
We played this game for hours when I was growing up.
^^^ this is it. The batter gets a point if (a) the ball passes the designated home run line, (b) the ball comes to a rest before a fielder fields it, or (c) the fielder does not field the ball cleanly or the pitcher does not catch the relay throw in the air (pitcher must hold his spot like a first baseman).
Like 21, everyone keeps their own score. Home runs may be worth more points, depending on house rules.
Like 21, everyone keeps their own score. Home runs may be worth more points, depending on house rules.
Played many many hours of this. Have to field clean and one step throw to pitcher who had to be able to catch it while keeping a pivot foot down. Fielder goes to pitch. Pitcher bats. Yes when caught in air you go directly to bat.
So great.
Never ends until you just are ready to quit and go shoot BB guns or something.
Also, no adults out there telling us to keep our elbow up and screaming when we make a bad throw. We needed GameChanger to give us advanced stats so we would know where to shift to.
So great.
Never ends until you just are ready to quit and go shoot BB guns or something.
Also, no adults out there telling us to keep our elbow up and screaming when we make a bad throw. We needed GameChanger to give us advanced stats so we would know where to shift to.
Why would Country Jay offend anybody? Maybe referring to being a redneck (an offensive term, but openly used nevertheless).
Don't think I've ever heard of it, but I grew up basically in the city with no room for such a spread-out game.
Exactly! There are 5 boys in my cul-de-sac who are always playing wiffle ball using ghost men for base runners. Figured this would be a good option.
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I remember I started skipping the bus to our daycare place in 3rd grade and would just take the regular bus home, call my mom at work and tell her I missed the bus. My parents finally said screw it and my younger brother and I just came home, I was maybe 9 and he was 8. That’s unheard of nowadays, but every house in our neighborhood had kids so it was just mayhem after school every day. This was early mid 80’s.
When we tell our parents stories about stuff we all did my parents are always in disbelief. Somebody probably almost set our neighborhood on fire at least once every couple weeks. On the baseball note I remember we had a huge bald spot circle in our yard that was home plate, my dad was always pissed about that. The neighbors railing by the stairs was first, the fence at the end of his yard was second, and our mailbox was third. For football past our farthest pine tree was one endzone and my neighbors driveway was the other endzone. Lots of fun and crazy times back then, high school was even crazier.
When we tell our parents stories about stuff we all did my parents are always in disbelief. Somebody probably almost set our neighborhood on fire at least once every couple weeks. On the baseball note I remember we had a huge bald spot circle in our yard that was home plate, my dad was always pissed about that. The neighbors railing by the stairs was first, the fence at the end of his yard was second, and our mailbox was third. For football past our farthest pine tree was one endzone and my neighbors driveway was the other endzone. Lots of fun and crazy times back then, high school was even crazier.
We played Indian Ball growing up. 3 vs 3 or more. Ghost runners. You pitched to your own team.
Defense was set up only on the left side of the field. Anything hit to the right of second base was a strike. Three strikes and your out.
A grounder that was caught cleanly by an infielder was an out. Any pop up caught was an out.
A grounder past the infielder was a single.
A ball that got past the outfielders was a double.
A ball over the outfield was a triple.
A ball hit over the fence was, obviously, a homer.
Ghost runners advanced and moved the same number of bases as the batter did.
House rule we had... was if a batter caught his own foul ball, it erased his current strikes.
Defense was set up only on the left side of the field. Anything hit to the right of second base was a strike. Three strikes and your out.
A grounder that was caught cleanly by an infielder was an out. Any pop up caught was an out.
A grounder past the infielder was a single.
A ball that got past the outfielders was a double.
A ball over the outfield was a triple.
A ball hit over the fence was, obviously, a homer.
Ghost runners advanced and moved the same number of bases as the batter did.
House rule we had... was if a batter caught his own foul ball, it erased his current strikes.
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Two summers ago, my then 8 year old son, with 2 of his neighborhood buddies, came inside from the cul-de-sac, yelling “DAD WE NEED YOU TO PLAY 2v2 WIFFLE BALL.” I went outside, taught them how to play country jay, popped a cold one, and sat and watched for an hour or so. They’ve been playing ever since, and taught countless others.
Teach a man to fish, as they say... Perhaps my proudest dad moment.
eta: i also was tired of them crying everytime i dropped bombs on them...
I never knew this game had a name. We, neighborhood kids and friends from school/church, played baseball with fewer people in the field behind my house, simply called "the field." This was not a ball field. Right of the tree in right-center was foul. The old man, whose home sat well back from the road never cared after we asked the first time. We played in that field for at least a decade. He had a pet Vietnamese pig that chewed up our rubber bases once.
Long story short, the rules changed depending on how many we had playing. We used ghost runners, etc. But, we always changed sides after three outs and kept score as "teams". We later moved to ragball in cul-de-sacs so as not to break any windows.
Man, those were the days. Baseball, trampoline rasslin', swimming, back to the field, and then someone would spend the night at someone else's house and we'd play Nintendo at night. We'd wake up to blueberry pancakes and watch Sportscenter until it started to repeat and then we'd start all over again. We measured the fun we'd had in a day by how far the sweat crept up the logo of our ball caps.
My 13 year old stepson rarely goes outside and when he does he complains that it's hot and he needs water. I occasionally drive by "the field" and it now has a sad fence around it.
Wow, thanks for the trip down memory lane and making me feel like life and the world has gone downhill ever since those summers.
Long story short, the rules changed depending on how many we had playing. We used ghost runners, etc. But, we always changed sides after three outs and kept score as "teams". We later moved to ragball in cul-de-sacs so as not to break any windows.
Man, those were the days. Baseball, trampoline rasslin', swimming, back to the field, and then someone would spend the night at someone else's house and we'd play Nintendo at night. We'd wake up to blueberry pancakes and watch Sportscenter until it started to repeat and then we'd start all over again. We measured the fun we'd had in a day by how far the sweat crept up the logo of our ball caps.
My 13 year old stepson rarely goes outside and when he does he complains that it's hot and he needs water. I occasionally drive by "the field" and it now has a sad fence around it.
Wow, thanks for the trip down memory lane and making me feel like life and the world has gone downhill ever since those summers.
Is "the shift" considered legal, I can't recall? We played this for endless hours when I was growing up.
Edited to say that we called it "Relay" because to get to advance in the game you had to "relay" the ball successfully back to the pitcher. I never heard it called anything else. Smear the ***** was popular too but played with a football. And the "*****" part had absolutely nothing to do with homosexuality so if it offends you get over it.
Edited to say that we called it "Relay" because to get to advance in the game you had to "relay" the ball successfully back to the pitcher. I never heard it called anything else. Smear the ***** was popular too but played with a football. And the "*****" part had absolutely nothing to do with homosexuality so if it offends you get over it.
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How did you survive without paying money for baseball lessons from indoor places all summer long??
Wow, this thread is full of greatness.
Country Jay
Smear the ******
Whiffle ball (bats and balls masking taped up of course.)
Kick the can, or Ghosts in the Graveyard (at night)
Whopper (best dodgeball game ever, where there is only one dodger, but he's on a trampoline)
Cucumber (basically a neighborhood version of hockey or lacrosse with those plastic balls and trackball things. Lots of violent body checking made this big fun.)
All of this in addition to a dirt bike track in the back of our hood, plus a couple of people had go karts. Man, what I would give for my son to have all that now.
*We changed the name Smear the ***** to Roughhouse when parents came around because some of them didn't like the name. Probably the parents of the one who downvoted you.
Country Jay
Smear the ******
Whiffle ball (bats and balls masking taped up of course.)
Kick the can, or Ghosts in the Graveyard (at night)
Whopper (best dodgeball game ever, where there is only one dodger, but he's on a trampoline)
Cucumber (basically a neighborhood version of hockey or lacrosse with those plastic balls and trackball things. Lots of violent body checking made this big fun.)
All of this in addition to a dirt bike track in the back of our hood, plus a couple of people had go karts. Man, what I would give for my son to have all that now.
*We changed the name Smear the ***** to Roughhouse when parents came around because some of them didn't like the name. Probably the parents of the one who downvoted you.
We didn't change the name because in the 70's it wasn't frowned upon but we did have an alternate name that we used, "Kill the man with the ball". Now you can't use either, STQ for oblivious reasons and Kill the man with the ball because it is not gender approved.
Played smear the ***** and the thought never crossed my mind that ***** meant something derogatory. By the time we would have been old enough to think of the meaning, we weren't playing it anymore. Not sure if everybody else was as oblivious to the meaning.
500 was a throwing game we played in PE where someone chunked a football, baseball, or frisbee. You called out the points while it was in the air and who ever catches it gets the points.
But we modified it to a batted baseball version as well. The batter hit the ball and had to run around the bases without stopping until it was caught or he's beaned. Before the swing he had to call out a number between 100-500. If it was caught in the air or the batter was beaned with the ball running, whoever got him was awarded the points. If the runner got all the way around the bases without getting beaned or having the ball caught, everyone subtracted the point total he called out before the swing.
It was best played with an aluminum softball bat and mini basketball. You could launch those suckers, they stayed in the air forever, and you could bean the runner somewhat safely, though many face smacks ended someones day in tears..
But we modified it to a batted baseball version as well. The batter hit the ball and had to run around the bases without stopping until it was caught or he's beaned. Before the swing he had to call out a number between 100-500. If it was caught in the air or the batter was beaned with the ball running, whoever got him was awarded the points. If the runner got all the way around the bases without getting beaned or having the ball caught, everyone subtracted the point total he called out before the swing.
It was best played with an aluminum softball bat and mini basketball. You could launch those suckers, they stayed in the air forever, and you could bean the runner somewhat safely, though many face smacks ended someones day in tears..
Nah, this was a small town in Northeast MS. It was really a construction site in the back for years where they were planning to build more houses, but never did as long as I was there. So we made it a dirt track, complete with ramps and walls, etc.
Old school.
Every once in a while in a random baseball park you'll still hear someone yell "all strikes off" when someone catches a foul pop. I think your house rules were pretty widely adopted.
It makes me sad if kids don’t do this kind of thing anymore. Hell, even as an adult I’d have fun turning off my phone every afternoon and doing these things with the other neighborhood adults. Especially whopper…never heard of it but sounds like a blast.
Also, wall ball.
This is pretty much it to the tee as far as I remember, and we called it Country Jay, not Jake. I'm 35 and from Meridian. I'm sure the name varies depending on your age a geographical location.
We always called it kill the quarterback.
Whiffle ball with a solid ball without the cutouts and a strip of electrical tape criss-crossed on it for some wicked curve/knuckle action.
In college, whiffle ball morphed into beer ball. Same rules but every player played with an open cold one (cans only) in one hand. The late innings got interesting.
Whiffle ball with a solid ball without the cutouts and a strip of electrical tape criss-crossed on it for some wicked curve/knuckle action.
In college, whiffle ball morphed into beer ball. Same rules but every player played with an open cold one (cans only) in one hand. The late innings got interesting.
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Wall Ball will improve your hand-eye coordination in a hurry & also make a man out of you...in middle school PE.
ETA: Dodgeball was an elementary school game presided over by adults with a softer ball.
Wall Ball is what we played free reign & a kangaroo court of 11-13 year olds determined if you deliberately aimed for a head shot, & thus had to place your hands on the wall & face the "firing squad."
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Grew up playing this with family and friends. It was great because the older people didn’t have to run the bases. It was a perfectly simple game that everyone enjoyed.
Those bring back memories. Another fun thing was we had a street being developed at the end of our street and I think they were building houses on it my entire childhood. It was only 20 houses or so but we would go get wood and and handfuls of nails from them all the time to build forts in the woods behind our houses. There are still probably 20 half finished forts back there from back then.
At the end of that street I guess for construction of the lots there was a huge hill of dirt we all called hamburger hill. It was there for years. We played king of the hill on it all the time, that usually led to dirt clod wars and half the time to a fight.
The high school kids would put their beer in the ditch behind hamburger hill to keep it cool so every now and then we would find some and everyone would get a few sips of some warm cheap beer or wine coolers.
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