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Wireball is astreet gamerelated tobaseball, usually formed as a pick-upgame, in urban areas of theUnited States. The equipment consists of a pimple orpensie pinkie ball and a convenient place in a street or driveway where an electric power line or group of power lines bisect horizontally. The rules come from baseball and are modified to fit the situation. It can be played with one or more persons per team.
Opponents stand facing each other on opposite sides of thewire. Limits of play are defined by agreement, usually thewidth of thestreet and landmark in the street such as amanhole cover as the furthest limit of the field. The object of the game is for the “batter” to throw theball over or hit the wire to get a hit. Thefielder must catch the ball before it bounces to make anout.Hits are scored accordingly- a ball thrown successfully over the wire and uncaught is asingle. A ball that touches the wire and continues over it is adouble. A ball that hits the wire squarely and drops straight down is ahome run. If the fielder touches but does not catch a home run ball, it is atriple. If the batter throws the ball under the wire it is astrike. As inbaseball,foul balls count as strikes for the first two, but you cannot foul-out. The rules vary from neighborhood to neighborhood.
The ball is thrown hard and high above the wires. The closer the batter can get to averticaltrajectory the better. It is not unusual for the batter to stand almost directly below the wire.The game is more fun and easier if a group of wires is used (two or three).