Close to Home by John McPherson for July 10, 2015
July 09, 2015
July 11, 2015
Transcript:
Attendance at major league baseball games is up 23 percent since the addition of slip n slides at second base.
475 feet to center field?!?!?!
That’s only for those stadiums built around the turn of the 20th century, during the dead-ball era when nobody hit home runs. At least out of the park, anyways; with some of these distances, a guy could run forever on an inside-the-parker and touch home plate before the ball even rolled all the way to fence:
Polo Grounds in Manhattan, monster of them all and home of the Giants (1888) – 500 ft. to dead center, eventually reduced to 483 ft. at straightaway center, 450 ft. to left-center, and 449 ft. to right-center. Only four guys ever hit one over the center filed wall out there in the next zip code.
Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, built for the Babe and home of the dreaded ’27 Yankees (1923) – 490 ft. to dead center, reduced at some point to 461 ft., and eventually down to 408 ft. so Reggie could hit one out.
Tiger Stadium in Detroit, home of the Tigers (1912) – 467 feet at straightaway center, ultimately reduced to 440 ft. Comerica Park, where the Tigers now play, is a paltry 422 ft.
Deepest center field fence currently in the majors: Minute Maid Park in Houston at 436 ft. No one has ever hit one out at dead center in Houston, and then there’s Tal’s Hill (named after Tal Smith, the GM when Enron Park – as it was then know – was built in 2000) with the flag pole in middle of it (on the field!) to contend with when a deep shot there falls short – as it always does. I hear they’re gonna take down the flag pole and level Tal’s Hill in the off season. Too bad; made for some great catches and some great tumbles, often both on the same play.