Stair baseball

Stair baseball is a pick me up neighborhood game played on the stairs of a residential dwelling with a minimum of two players. The object of the game is to score the most amount of runs during 5 to 9 innings. The rules are based loosely on baseball and was popularized in suburban neighborhoods in Canada and the USA.

One player is the "batter" and the other players the "fielders". The batter stands immediately in front of the stairs while the fielders stand behind the batter across the walkway on to the street. The batter throws a tennis ball against the stairs with the objective of having the ball bounce back in the air as far as possible over the heads of the fielders. The ultimate goal is to hit the ball at the correct angle and velocity to land at the other end of the street and collecting the most amount of runs.

After 3 outs are registered by the batter, the batters and fielders continuously rotate positions until 5 to 9 innings have elapsed. The player with the most runs at the end of the game is declared the winner.

While there are many derivations of the rules, here are the fundamental concepts:

Strike: The ball bounces on the ground and is picked up cleanly by the fielder

Foul ball: The ball lands on the roof of the house, the side yard or pops up immediately in front of the batter

Out: A fielder catches the ball cleanly in the air

Single: The ball bounces on the ground and is bobbled by the fielder

Double: The ball bounces on the ground behind the 1st fielder

Triple: The ball stays in the air above the heads of the fielders

Home Run: The ball is hit above the heads of the fielders all the way to the other side of the street

The game was popularized from the 50's to the 80's and is rarely seen today.