Beaning of Briton Leads to Banning of Softball Games

A ball that beaned a British bureaucrat has led to the banning of a revered American expatriate tradition, the Hyde Park softball league.

But enthusiasts say the ban imposed by the Environment Department is just not cricket. One player has been quoted as blaming it on anti-Americanism.

The department says it prohibited the games after one of its officials was hit on the head by a ball as he was strolling through Hyde Park last month. The aggrieved civil servant summoned two policemen who told the players to go play somewhere else.

Department spokesman Ron Page declined to name the official who was struck by the ball or say whether he suffered any lasting ill-effects. But Hyde Park Superintendent Jennifer Adams said, “We have had a number of complaints from members of the public.”

Page said Sunday that it has been illegal to play ball games in the sprawling central London park but added that the ban on softball has not been previously enforced. Alternative arrangements are being studied, he said.

Like baseball, softball remains largely an American mystery here. But as is the case in many big European cities, enough Americans reside in London for Hyde Park softball to have developed into a serious affair, with a league of about 40 teams comprising more than 400 players.