Baseball dugouts

Which team sits in which dugout? I was at a minor league game recently, and the home team sat on the third base side. This seems to be contrary to my experiences, but I could be way off base. I seem to remember that the KC Royals use the first base dugout when at home.

Is there any authority on the matter?

None.

The rule book simply states 91.08):

Either team can use either dugout.

Zev Steinhardt

Every park I’ve been to has had the home dugout on the third base side, but I haven’t been to all that many parks. I’m not ambitious enough to go looking through seating maps at the moment for all the MLB teams. :slight_smile:

ISTR something about this before, though, to the effect that having the home dugout on the third base side meant that right-handed batters (who comprise a majority of major leaguers) wouldn’t have to walk as far to the batters box. Or, maybe I’m imagining it.

Sorry. The rule cite is 1.08.

Zev Steinhardt

Thanks. Anybody seen the home team on the first base side?

The Colorado Rockies are on the first base side.

The minor league team that preceeded them in Denver (Zephyrs) were on the third base side.

The Yankees have been at 1st base forever.Their bullpen is in rightcenter.Probably one of the reasons.

The Charlotte Knights’ dugout is on the first-base side. (Wasn’t sure if you just meant major league. :))

Boston Red Sox. I think the Orioles also. Until a few years ago I thought all Home Teams sat on the 1B side, but then I started noticing some that didn’t.

I thought the logic of baseball park layout made dugout location on one side more advantageous than on the other (sun in the eyes or something like that,) I know Cecil did a column once on common ballpark orientations (East-West orientation? Pitches thrown from West?), but I don’t remember the details.

bobk2, most parks are/were situated so that a line from homebase to the mound/2nd base is west to east. South is to the pitcher’s left, thus the term “southpaw.”

Once again, from the rule book (1.04)

I don’t know the reason, nor do I know how many of the 30 major league ballparks in use today are in compliance with this less-than-mandatory rule.

Zev Steinhardt

The Orioles sit on the first base side at Camden Yards; they were on the third base side in Memorial Stadium.

Whoops, I meant from southwest to northeast, the first base line running west to east.

The Tigers sit on the third base side in Comerica Park. I remember them being on the third base side in Tiger Stadium, too.

The Twins sit on the third base side. Clearly there is no factor of sun or wind in the Metrodome. I’ve speculated that that side is the one with the better clubhouse and team offices (or maybe the shorter walk to the clubhouse); but I’ve never gotten a chance to go down there and take a look.

From what I’ve read about this (and people have researched this), the placement of the home team’s dugout solely at the whim of the team.

If the architect builds the nice clubhouse on the first base side, that’s where the dugout will be.

I don’t think most players or managers have much say in it unless they are control freaks like Buck Showalter was in Arizona.

When they were at Candlestick Park, the Giants sat on the first base side. But, when PacBell was built, the nice clubhouse was built on the third base side, so that’s where they are now.

The general rule seems to be that the home team is on the third base side, but there are exceptions.

At Candestick Park, the visitor’s clubhouse wasn’t even attached to the visitor’s dugout. It was on the other side of the field up the first base line.

Turner Field, Atlanta Braves: home dugout on 1B side (as it was at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium)

Fenway Park, Boston Red Sox: home dugout on 1B side

Wrigley Field, Chicago Cubs: home dugout on 3B side

McCormick Field, Asheville Tourists, Asheville, NC: home dugout on 1B side

Engel Stadium, Chattanooga Lookouts, Chattanooga, TN (before 2000): home dugout on 1B side

BellSouth Park, Chattanooga Lookouts, Chattanooga, TN (since 2000): home dugout on 1B side

Ray Winder Field, Arkansas Travelers, Little Rock, AR: home dugout on 1B side

That’s just the ones I know best – I seem to remember the D’Backs piling out of the third base dugout to celebrate their Game 7 win over the Yankees last year; I can’t recall which was which in the Kingdome (I’ve tried to forget as much as I can about that experience). I’m ashamed to admit that I can’t recall which dugout is which in St. Louis, but my days as a Cardinal fan were spent experiencing the games on radio (Jack Buck and Mike Shannon) rather than on TV.

Busch Stadium, St. Louis – home team on the 1B side.

The Padres have their home dugout on the first base side, and visitors’ clubhouse on the third. The bullpens, oddly, are reversed - Padres’ in foul territory off the left field line, visitors’ off the right.