Fun Baseball Activities

Build Your Own Baseball Field

To build our own baseball field like the one shown at the bottom of this page, this is what I did:

• Removed brush and mowed the lawn down in a bigger area to accommodate longer hits by my Little League age kids. I used a machete and riding lawnmower but in retrospect I wish I had rented a brushing mower.

• Hung up 10 foot & 7 ft wide sports netting (available at this sports net link at ebay) in areas that I did not wish to mow down. I placed some old snow fence I had in the far back. In a city lot, one could place netting closer in if space was limited. Also, for more limited space, use a T-ball in place of a hard ball - it will not travel as far when hit but provide much the same practice.

• Used our shed for a backstop however the back of a garage would work well too. Also set up a pitch back net for times when a catcher was not used.

• I covered obstacles (like the well pump covered by a bucket in several photos shown below), to avoid injury.

• I mowed behind the shed (our backstop) to make it easier to find fouls hit behind.

• The playing field, with bases arranged for the game of Two Bases, is shown below.

Notes About Our Back Yard Baseball Field

The only measurement that should be exact is the Little League 46 foot distance from plate to pitchers mound. Otherwise, a batter will not learn correct timing. All other base placement is arbitrary but try to match the Little League distances if you have the room.

The kids play off the net if balls bounce off the nets. Also, you can make rules for balls that go over the net or somehow get lost.

If balls are pitched to a catcher, a mask and protective gear are a must! Also, to reduce risk of injury, a softer T-ball works well. For small numbers of kids, a pitch back net may be used instead of a catcher (see the game First Base). So far our kids have only used the pitch back net and the pitcher covers home if needed.

How much it would cost to build a baseball field like this?

The netting I got cost around $180 on ebay. The snow fence was around $20 when I originally bought it. The posts were made of diseased & dieing small trees from our 35 acres. If you had the extra space (old farmer's field), you would not need the netting but it is still nice for smaller numbers of kids. Add in a 'bit' of my labor. Mind you this is not a full size field but it does offer much the same infield fielding practice as a regular little league field.

CLICK ON EACH IMAGE FOR A LARGER VIEW

Here's the new field with an extra row of snow fence at the back. Also, the fence has been moved back behind the tree. All set for the older kids!