# What are these things in Central Park **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 8, 2007, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-central-park/395140 "2007-03-08T18:52:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-central-park/395140/1 "2007-03-08T18:52:57Z")
[Google Maps link](http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&z=17&ll=40.781313,-73.966484&spn=0.003371,0.009023&t=k&om=1). They kind of look like giant shot-put or discus circles, but I’m sure they’re not. There are lots more at the [northern](http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&z=17&ll=40.781313,-73.966484&spn=0.003371,0.009023&t=k&om=1) and [southern](http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&z=17&ll=40.781313,-73.966484&spn=0.003371,0.009023&t=k&om=1) ends of the park, too. BTW, isn’t Central Park huuuge? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-central-park/395140/2 "2007-03-08T18:58:31Z")
Softball diamonds? I’m not asking if that’s what they are, I’m just a little surprised that you didn’t recognize them. Have I been whooshed? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-central-park/395140/3 "2007-03-08T18:58:52Z")
They look like softball fields to me. **Bill** , check his location. Poor pommy doesn’t know baseball from a hole in the ground. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-central-park/395140/4 "2007-03-08T19:00:22Z")
Well, they’re not a common sight in the UK, put it that way 😉 I suppose it seems obvious, but there are, well, lots of them! ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-central-park/395140/5 "2007-03-08T19:00:57Z")
[QUOTE=Bill Door] Softball diamonds? I’m not asking if that’s what they are, I’m just a little surprised that you didn’t recognize them. Have I been whooshed? [/QUOTE] Perhaps to a Brit they aren’t as obvious. Anyway, you can zoom in and see the bases and players kind of. Didn’t know that they played that much softball there. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-central-park/395140/6 "2007-03-08T19:02:01Z")
Seems to me that just about every company in NYC has a softball team. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-central-park/395140/7 "2007-03-08T19:04:07Z")
I guess I just have a mental picture of a baseball field as being, well, big, not having lots of diamonds crammed together like that. But I guess if you’re just having an informal game you don’t need so much space. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-central-park/395140/8 "2007-03-08T19:10:21Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] I guess I just have a mental picture of a baseball field as being, well, big, not having lots of diamonds crammed together like that. But I guess if you’re just having an informal game you don’t need so much space. [/QUOTE] They’re probably mostly used for little kids’ games - and little kids don’t hit very far. You can share “outfields” by putting them back to back, and give more kids the chance to play at one time. After all, there are a lot of kids in New York, and only so many Saturdays in the summertime! ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-central-park/395140/9 "2007-03-08T19:10:45Z")
I’ve played softball in Central Park. All over America you’ll find places like these. Softball, and Little League Baseball (baseball for kids) are huge pass times in the US. Oh and yes, Central Park is quite large. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-central-park/395140/10 "2007-03-08T19:12:04Z")
It does look a bit like the testing grounds for giant windshield wipers. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-central-park/395140/11 "2007-03-08T19:32:34Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] They’re probably mostly used for little kids’ games - and little kids don’t hit very far. [/QUOTE] When i was there in the summer, i saw adult teams using these fields. I was amazed at how small the fields were, and i couldn’t believe that they didn’t constantly hit the ball right across and into the other game. Then i realized that they weren’t using regular softballs. The balls they used were softball-size, but appeared, from the look and the sound, to be made of some sort of hollow rubber, and slightly underinflated. Anyway, whatever the composition, these ball were clearly designed not to fly anywhere near as far off the bat as regular softballs. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-central-park/395140/12 "2007-03-08T19:48:13Z")
[Slow-pitch](http://www.sportsdiamond.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.1975/.f?range=41%2C60%2C90), probably. Check the difference in sizes. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-central-park/395140/13 "2007-03-08T20:05:27Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] [Slow-pitch](http://www.sportsdiamond.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.1975/.f?range=41%2C60%2C90), probably. Check the difference in sizes. [/QUOTE] No, it definitely wasn’t just a regular slowpitch softball. I play in a slowpitch league here in Baltimore, and the balls these New Yorkers were using looked like nothing i’d ever seen before. It didn’t have the stitching of a regular softball, and it was, i think, dark gray or black in color. And the sound of the ball off the bat was definitely more rubber than leather. I guess it could be something peculiar to the region. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-central-park/395140/14 "2007-03-08T20:12:46Z")
Doesn’t anyone else think it is REALLY cool that the resolution is so good you can make out individual people on the fields as well as the bases? ---
**Author:** ![stolichnaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-central-park/395140/15 "2007-03-08T20:17:09Z")
Here in Chi-town we sometimes play with giant 16 inch balls, that limits the flight and changes the game in all sorts of fun ways. Even given this limitation, it is VERY common, when in the outfield, to be standing a few feet from your counterpart in another game’s outfield- when both of you are playing deep, you’re literally facing each other. It’s chaotic. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-central-park/395140/16 "2007-03-08T20:22:02Z")
[QUOTE=mhendo] No, it definitely wasn’t just a regular slowpitch softball. I play in a slowpitch league here in Baltimore, and the balls these New Yorkers were using looked like nothing i’d ever seen before. It didn’t have the stitching of a regular softball, and it was, i think, dark gray or black in color. And the sound of the ball off the bat was definitely more rubber than leather. I guess it could be something peculiar to the region. [/QUOTE] I remember that the “softballs” we played with in elementary school were honest-to-goodness _soft_ balls, not just larger baseballs. They were the size of a standard slow-pitch ball, but were molded of a dense foam rubber, or had a rubber cover over a soft stuffing. Fake “stitches” were molded on. Basically, they were designed to be safer than a standard softball. Perhaps originally intended for indoor use. That could be what they use on these fields. ---
**Author:** ![JXJohns](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jxjohns/32/469_2.png) [@JXJohns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JXJohns)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-central-park/395140/17 "2007-03-08T20:26:47Z")
[Here is where I play now](http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=50266&layer=&ie=UTF8&z=17&ll=41.556244,-93.726372&spn=0.002497,0.008229&t=k&om=1) [And HERE](http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=60609&layer=&ie=UTF8&z=16&ll=41.871574,-87.619164&spn=0.004969,0.016458&t=k&om=1) is where I used to play in Chicago. A pretty common sight in any city of any size in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-central-park/395140/18 "2007-03-08T20:30:01Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] [Slow-pitch](http://www.sportsdiamond.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.1975/.f?range=41%2C60%2C90), probably. Check the difference in sizes. [/QUOTE] Uh - **silenus** - you’ve got to go to the bottom of the next page on the site you link to to see a real softball. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-central-park/395140/19 "2007-03-08T20:34:57Z")
[QUOTE=mhendo] I guess it could be something peculiar to the region. [/QUOTE] OK, New Yorkers! Tell us about your balls. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2007, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-central-park/395140/20 "2007-03-08T20:36:08Z")
[QUOTE=Sigene] Doesn’t anyone else think it is REALLY cool that the resolution is so good you can make out individual people on the fields as well as the bases? [/QUOTE] Meh. If this were a military satellite, we could look down the busty girls’ shirts. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-in-central-park/395140.md?page=2)