# What are pepper games?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-pepper-games/30196>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 21, 2000, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-pepper-games/30196 "2000-08-21T19:02:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JamesCarroll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@JamesCarroll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JamesCarroll)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2000, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-pepper-games/30196/1 "2000-08-21T19:02:21Z")

</div>

On a few major league backstop I’ve seen things like “No pepper games” and the like. What are they? THanks

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2000, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-pepper-games/30196/2 "2000-08-21T19:26:53Z")

</div>

I always thought it was warming up the batter by quickly tossing balls up in the air and the batter hits the balls against the fence. It ruins the hell out of the fence.

I’ve only seen it written on youth ball fields, though.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2000, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-pepper-games/30196/3 "2000-08-21T19:29:27Z")

</div>

this is mostly speculation, but I remember that in several sports I played when younger, ‘pepper’ type games referred to any game that involved the skills and maybe some equipment (usually just the ball) but was not completely the game.

This would be something like hitting a volleyball up the air just to see how long you could keep it up; passing a soccer ball to specific people in order, while others try to defend; etc.

panama jack

* * *

No .sigs beyond this point.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2000, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-pepper-games/30196/4 "2000-08-21T19:40:20Z")

</div>

This is from [majorleaguebaseball.com](http://majorleaguebaseball.com) website. In the FAQs, they explain common terms

> [@](#):
>
> pepper – Pepper is a common pre-game exercise where one  
> player bunts brisk grounders and line drives to a group of fielders who are standing about 20 feet away. The fielders try to throw it back as quickly as possible. The batter hits the return throw. (Some ballparks ban pepper games because wild pitches could land in the stands and injure spectators).

I thought that Cecil answered this, but the archives were acting up on me.