One would believe that actual bases would be necessary to have in place to play a baseball game.
Not so.
During a recent high-school contest that involved the Marshall Statesmen held on the artificial-turf surface at South County Middle School in Lorton, the bases were removed during the early innings. They were determined to be too slippery and dangerous, possibly causing injuries to baserunners.
Players were not permitted to wear metal cleats during the game so not to tear up the field. The air and surface were moist because of days of rain. So the bases, without the spikes, became like ice when runners would run across them with their spikeless cleats.
Thus, the umpires and head coaches agreed to remove the three bases. Instead of having raised bases, runners would touch the same-size square spots, in which the bases are fastened. See the photo with this blog.
The removal of the three bases didn’t cause any issues, and no runners slipped or tripped and became injured as a result.
– by Dave Facinoli
dfacinoli@sungazette.net