What? A man can’t live out his childhood dreams anymore?
Ask any kid what their dream home would be, and you’d get any of these below answers for what they would like included in their future bungalow:
-Bowling alley
-Movie theatre
-Basketball court
-Probably a room dedicated to candy
-A baseball field
Some people make enough money to where they can make their dreams a reality, and one retired MLB player is doing just that. Doesn’t it hurt to watch other people live out your dreams?
Former Baltimore Orioles and Milwaukee Brewers shortstop J.J. Hardy now lives out in Arizona, where, you know, the weather is almost perfect all year round (except for when it’s blistering hot in the summer). And what better way to enjoy the outdoors than erecting a slightly-under-scaled baseball field in your backyard?
That sounds awesome, I’m not going to lie. But not everyone in Hardy’s neighborhood has been as excited about the fact that large, 20-foot poles now stand tall in the former baseball player’s backyard.
One neighbor explained it like this:
“I didn’t sign up to live next to a baseball field. It’s like a commercial, like living next to Top Golf. Everybody has a right to enjoy their own yard, but this is something that is beyond what is reasonable to expect your neighbors to tolerate.”
That’s fair enough. When you move into a neighborhood, you’d at least like a warning that a genuine baseball field are going to be built within your community. Seems like it would have been a nice thing to check in with the neighbors about.
But then again, it is Hardy’s property, and can you really tell a man what he can and can’t do on his own land? Do you want baseballs flying into your yard, or do you want a backstop in his? Do you want his kids out playing sports in the yard, or causing trouble in the neighborhood?
She acts like lights are going up on those poles and I’m pretty sure it’s going to be netting for a backstop. It shouldn’t really impede your view of, what… the desert? You live in a ranch in Arizona, what view are we talking about here? This is what every single (upscale) neighborhood in America looks like…
That’s the tricky part, and what the local news station in Arizona was discussing in a segment that focused on the simultaneously obtrusive and intrusive baseball field.
Hardy’s property is technically an unincorporated “county island” so he isn’t beholden to the rules of the HOA… even though he lives in the neighborhood (how do I get one of these “county islands”?) and now, one neighbor has even filed a formal complaint against the former baseball player, as explained in the video below:
