The City of Toronto has backtracked on controversial rules governing how people can enjoy a public baseball field after a second consecutive year of public backlash.

A sign installed at the MacGregor Playground baseball diamond has been generating controversy since 2023 when the warning to ball players prohibiting home runs was first brought to wider attention in a blogTO article.

The list of rules posted by the City of Toronto prohibits the use of hardballs, limiting visitors to softball games, and also bans aluminum bats, competitive/high-level play and, perhaps most controversially, home runs.

The sign was installed after the 2016 completion of a new condominium development beyond the ball diamond's outfield.

Known as Enigma on the Park, this nine-storey condo building boasting a distinctive (but not universally beloved) chevron-patterned exterior is at the centre of a years-long conflict between parkgoers and local condo dwellers that predates the building's first residents.

Complaints from residents about home runs shattering their windows and damaging building exteriors ramped up in the years after the building was completed.

MacGregor Park's condos vs. park conflict forced the City's hand in 2019, when a permit for a softball league was revoked and netting was installed in the diamond's outfield to prevent errant home-run balls from smashing through condo windows.

Home runs are strictly prohibited at the most Toronto baseball field ever https://t.co/AtKoTux146 #Toronto

— blogTO (@blogTO) August 28, 2023

While already known to many in the city, this sign once again began making the rounds on social media this week, triggering similar anger and confusion as last year.

However, this time around, the City has explained that it will no longer enforce the ban, claiming that the signage is now "redundant" thanks to the protective netting and other changes.

CityNews reported on Tuesday morning that the ban would no longer be enforced, citing a City representative who told the outlet that the no home runs signage "is a redundancy" following the installation of netting and additional trees.

Ball players will be happy to hear that the sign will reportedly be removed "imminently," in part thanks to the help of a former City of Toronto chief planner.

Update: I didn’t want to be a complainer so I made some calls and suffice it to say that someone in Parks has been directed to take down this damn sign (which was Council’s wish, when it was first brought to their attention). Should be down imminently. https://t.co/svyO6HAhu0

— Jennifer Keesmaat (@jen_keesmaat) May 7, 2024

While the sign may be on its way out, photos will always remain as a reminder of Toronto's overly bureaucratic ways.