My dad was always the coach of my baseball team and knew absolutely everything about the game. When I was younger I was in practice and me and my friends were kicking the white chalked dirt line that ran from third base to home base on a baseball field. We were just scuffing up the straight line and making it look like the chalk was everywhere. My dad came running over from putting away all the chalk and he was so mad. He said you just saw me working on that why would you do that. I told him that I was just bored and didn’t mean it negatively. He told me not only is it wrong to do, but its terrible luck to step on the lines of a baseball diamond. He said you are always supposed to jump over the line in order to not jinx yourself. From that day on I never stepped on the line not because of superstition but the story was engrained in my head. It was also weird after learning about the baseball diamond line I noticed it in MLB games also. I would see the managers of the teams jump over the line when they would meet with the pitcher on the mound.

Informant: My informant was William Winkenhower who played baseball throughout his whole childhood in little leagues and travel teams. William is sixteen years old and is a resident of California. He no longer plays baseball but enjoys watching the game.

Analysis: Baseball folklore is very interesting to think about. I question whether these stories and rules to follow started in superstition or if they were made up two have two meanings. I truly believe the people who started this folk of not messing up the straight line and jumping over it had a purpose of preserving the cleanliness of the field. Chalking lines from home base all the way to outfield can be extremely tedious and if the line gets messed up then the whole area has to be redone. Maybe the starter of this folk really intended to scare baseball players from messing this line up.