Does anyone else remember hotbox, the game?
Posted on January 31st, 2007 – 1:42 PMBy Michael Rand
So we were trying to explain to the future Mrs. RandBall exactly what “hotbox” is the other day. As a baseball-loving kid, we used to play this all the time. But in retrospect, trying to describe it, hotbox sounds fairly ridiculous. It consisted, basically, of two people playing catch at designated “bases,” (usually someone’s jacket, or a similar object) while at least one other person ran back and forth trying not to get tagged out. In order to entice them to run, you could throw pop-ups, or grounders, or intentionally drop the ball, or other such shenanigans. If they were tagged out, they took your place, and you got to be the runner. Well, the future Mrs. RandBall isn’t really much of a sports fan. She thinks runners in the real game should be able to go wherever they please (thus eliminating the need for baselines) and that the pitcher’s rubber should be a safe haven where nobody can be tagged out — a safe haven between all the bases, if you will. So as you can see, we need to commiserate about hotbox in another forum. In fact, we think hotbox should be a part of every game of RandBall from now on. Did anyone else play this game as a kid? (And in the comments, please take the care to write hotbox all as one word. The reasons are obvious, and separating them could turn RandBall into an entirely different type of game).
25 Responses to "Does anyone else remember hotbox, the game?"
Growing up in Rhode Island we called this game “Dutch Oven.”
We used to play as practice for getting caught or catchign someone in a rundown. It was good sliding practice too. My personal favorite way of playing it was with a tennis ball and no gloves. It gave the runner a chance since the ball was more difficult to catch.
We played this all the time growing up. And because of it, I once tried to beat a kid with an aluminum bat (a green Easton that was more popular than I was in middle school). Unfortunately, I couldn’t catch him, which was the same reason I got so mad at him playing hotbox. But on the bright side, I did quite the number on the bike he foolishly left behind.
Yeah, I had a temper in the fourth grade.
Kind of struggling for material today, eh Randball?
There was an actress who was quite a fox
In most her films she would only wear socks
When discussing her most famous role
In which she used every hole
She exclaimed, “Yes, I once played ‘Hotbox’”
Telliho: I’ve been excited about this post for the past 18 hours … not a struggle at all!
We used to RUIN my parents’ front lawn every summer playing this game. We’d have about 6 base runners, though, so there was the added thrill of constantly risking smashing into someone else while making the mad dash. Good times.
We played it constantly when we had only 3 idiots around to play ball on hot summer afternoons, but for reasons unknown to me, we called it “Pickle”. I tell you true on that. I’m not trying to dovetail my “pickle” into “hotbox” (esp. the ponytailed one above)since, for chrissakes, we were 10 years old !! What did we know ? Plenty probably 
Hours upon hours were spent playing hotbox when we were younger. We would keep track of how many bases you would successfully steal, and have daily recordholders too. Thankfully I played with a group of people that included a couple of slow kids and my younger brother, so I always ended up in the upper half.
Not only did we play hotbox, but we made up our own game of “Infield-Outfield” that would take way too long to explain while at work. All I know is that when my brother and I drunkenly brought it out of retirement last year during a party, everyone looked at us in amazement trying to figure out the rules to our game. We hadn’t missed a step though….same fun time and I still bent the rules to my favor as I am the older brother.
Good times looking back on a snowy day. Thanks for the reminder!
Anything brought up from childhood in a drunken stupor is top notch on the entertainment scale. For some reason, I think this is what brought hotbox back in the mind of Randball. Just a guess though…
I spent my childhood playing hotbox. Not many hours. My. Entire. Childhood.
I remember we used to play before school on the playground, starting with one runner and two fielders. As more kids showed up for school, eventually the game would grow and grow until you had a hundred kids playing the game, many of questionable athletic ability. There would regularly be up to 25 outs per throw, as the limited space meant that you could tag eighteen people with one Kent Hrbek-like swipe tag.
Man, I have a real desire to head out to street level and play right now. Maybe I’ll walk over to one of the light rail stations downtown and see if people want to play between ticket booths or something like that.
My favorite is getting “accidentally” pegged in the back of the head with the ball
We used to play this with three or four stations, and multiple runners. Everyone would keep track of their “stolen bases”. We would play in my front yard, and on an over-throw, the baseball would hit the road and really get rolling away from the fielders. That meant one thing–pad your stats! The fastest runners could get a dozen or so bases sprinting back and forth crusher-style before the ball came back and the fielder got back to the base. Very fun game, good exercise and fielding practice.
Wait a minute–I like the future Mrs. RandBall’s rules. Why shouldn’t the pitcher’s mound be a safe haven? I’d watch.
There should be alternative leagues with crazy rules. I would also watch a football league in which players could throw forward passes from anywhere on the field and as many times on a single play as they want or need to.
hot box ruled!
Ah yes rolemodel, padding the stats. Everyone kept track of their bases, despite the fact that they were forgotten and exaggerated so many times that no one bothered believing anyone else.
We used to go out immediately after a rain, so that sliding was ideal on the front lawn.
Although I played a billion hours of “pickle”, Milwaukee’s version of Hotbox, I never once played with women like those in the pict above, but then again one of those “women” looks alot like a Ken doll in a mini….aaaaargh !!
We called it hotbox and we did play it a bunch. Sometimes in softball, I intentionally get stuck in a “hotbox” to see what happends. Usually the other team messes up and I take the next base.
I also remember getting clunked in the head in this game as I, craftily, spun around just as my lame brother threw the ball (he had a decent arm) only to get the ball right in the chops. Blood everywhere. Today with so many p.c. raiders around, we would have had to have some nurse around at all times. Jees ! what a world !
I called this “running bases” growing up as a kid in northern New Jersey (usually on a back-steet, that what jeans were for). Where I live in upstate NY calls it pickle, my wife is from CT and they called it hotbox. I laughed the first time I heard this name, but recently learned why baseball pros call it hotbox (idea is to shrink box to catch runner in). My kids are very good fielders, and I attribute it to pickle/running bases/hotbox. Our current neighborhood is old school. All the kids play it in our yard, play hard & tough, argue, have tons of fun & exercise, and no lawsuits. Like the old days. I was looking for the official rules and stubbled on this article. Still looking, but not as important.
Where I read new articles?
How much does it cost links on your blog (Blogroll)?
Thanks for sharing
I’d prefer reading in my native language, because my knowledge of your languange is no so well. But it was interesting! Look for some my links:
