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BGonline.org Forums
Reality Check (OT-baseball)
Posted By: Bill Riles In Response To: Reality Check (OT-baseball) (Bob Koca)
Date: Thursday, 7 July 2011, at 10:55 p.m.
Modern ballparks, within reason, are of generally similar dimensions.
Older ballparks were constructed with odd dimensions for various reasons -- maybe the available space (Fenway Park), to tailor to particular players (Yankee Stadium) -- of the home tearm or their rivals, and adaptations of other sports fields (LA Coliseum and NYC Polo Grounds) are some of the best examples.
Yankee Stadium, the House That Ruth Built, was opened in 1923 in Ruth's young prime. Right field, theoretically, was built with a short right field fence to make it even easier for Ruth to hit home runs. It was 314' at the foul pole and deepened gradually (evenly) to 385' in right center. Left field was 318' at the foul pole but got deeper very quickly and most of left and left-center was in the 400' range. Center was 408'. Not surprisingly, the Yankees always preferred left-handed hitters and the right-handed hitters of other teams were at a distinct disadvantage -- and, of course, there are many more right-handed hitters than left-handed hitters.
Conversely, Fenway Park in Boston, has an extremely short left field fence with a 36' wall -- commonly known as the Green Monster. It is 310' to the foul pole and is a straight line to a depth of 379' just left of center field. The field is irregularly shaped in center w/ the depth exceeding 400'. Right field is only 302' at the foul pole but it deepens very quickly and is ~380' throughout right and right-center. Thus, the Red Sox always preferred right-handed hitters and visiting left-handed hitters were always at a disadvantage. Home runs could be hit with a sand wedge throughout left field and line drives could easily be hit off the wall -- where they would be outs in many parks.
The Polo Grounds in NYC was really odd. It was only 279' at the left field pole and 257' at the right field pole but the walls went straight out in lines parallel to a line from home through second base. Center field was ~450' all the way across w/ a niche in the middle >500'. The park was a graveyard for hitters.
When the Dodgers moved from NYC to LA in 1958 they moved from a very left-handed hitter friendly Ebbets Field to a modified football stadium in the LA Coliseum -- left field was ridiculously short and right field was a wasteland. They played there for four years before Dodger Stadium opened. The impact of such a stadium can be glaringly noted in the statistices of the Dodger center-fielder, Duke Snider. Throughout most of the 1950's he was regarded favorably with Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays -- the other NYC center-fielders. For the five years prior to moving to LA Snider had hit 40+ home runs each year -- in the four years at the LA Coliseum (remember teams play half their games at home) Snider hit 15, 23, 14, and 16 home runs. By the time they moved to Dodger Stadium age and injuries had passed Snider by and, though in the Hall of Fame, he doesn't have near the legacy of Mantle or Mays. A large measure of the difference is the ballpark.
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