# Ground-rule doubles **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [June 19, 2014, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ground-rule-doubles/691143 "2014-06-19T13:38:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2014, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ground-rule-doubles/691143/21 "2014-06-21T15:14:18Z")
> [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](#): > > I can’t think of any off the top of my head that apply to current diamonds, but IIRC, a ball hit off the speakers in the old Minnesota Metrodome was considered a ground rule double. Likewise, if someone managed to hit the roof of Olympic Stadium in Montreal in fair territory it was a ground rule double. I remember that last one because I saw Darryl Strawberry do just that in an Opening Day game TV broadcast in the Big O back in '88 or '89 – he hit a moon shot that struck the collar where the retractable roof connected up to the permanent roof and was credited with a ground rule double. I seem to remember one–and I can’t remember if it was at Olympic Stadium or where–where there was a pop fly hit in a domed stadium that just never came down. It would have been around the same time period. ETA: [This might be the one I’m thinking of.](http://miscbaseball.wordpress.com/2009/07/14/losing-a-ball-in-the-metrodome-ceiling/) I thought it was an NL game a few years later, but that story sounds right. ---
**Author:** ![Andrew\_21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bcef8e/32.png) [@Andrew\_21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andrew_21)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2014, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ground-rule-doubles/691143/22 "2014-06-21T19:35:51Z")
> [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](#): > > IIRC, a ball hit off the speakers in the old Minnesota Metrodome was considered a ground rule double. Likewise, if someone managed to hit the roof of Olympic Stadium in Montreal in fair territory it was a ground rule double. That wasn’t the case in the [Astrodome](http://www.baseballlibrary.com/ballplayers/player.php?name=Astrodome&page=chronology): “During a 12-0 win over the Astros, Phillie 3B Mike Schmidt hits a ball off the public address speaker hanging from the Astrodome roof‚ 117 feet up and 300 feet from the plate. Schmidt must settle for a titanic single.” ---
**Author:** ![Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dread_pirate_jimbo/32/3897_2.png) [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dread_Pirate_Jimbo)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2014, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ground-rule-doubles/691143/23 "2014-06-21T23:33:12Z")
> [@Andrew\_21](#): > > That wasn’t the case in the [Astrodome](http://www.baseballlibrary.com/ballplayers/player.php?name=Astrodome&page=chronology): > > “During a 12-0 win over the Astros, Phillie 3B Mike Schmidt hits a ball off the public address speaker hanging from the Astrodome roof‚ 117 feet up and 300 feet from the plate. Schmidt must settle for a titanic single.” Damn. Schmidtty got ripped off! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ground-rule-doubles/691143/24 "2014-06-22T00:20:50Z")
The first season I watched baseball Reggie Jackson hit one and I remember being really mad that Sal Bando had to stop at third. ---
**Author:** ![Andrew\_21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bcef8e/32.png) [@Andrew\_21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andrew_21)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ground-rule-doubles/691143/25 "2014-06-22T00:42:46Z")
While most announcers call it a “ground rule double”, John Sterling says “grounds rule double”. Does anyone else do that? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ground-rule-doubles/691143/26 "2014-06-25T12:31:40Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > That’s technically true, but the term “Ground rule double” is so commonly used it’s pretty much the word now. > > One of the reasons ground rule doubles used to be common but now are not is that artificial turf used to be common and now is not. Turf is bouncy. Only two parks have turf now, Toronto and Tampa Bay, and within a few years Toronto won’t have it anymore. As I understand, they’re evicting the Argonauts to make this feasible. Where are the Argos heading? Is there an existing football stadium in Toronto that is taking them in? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ground-rule-doubles/691143.md?page=1)