# Basic baseball question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 6, 2002, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-baseball-question/107566 "2002-05-06T17:09:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hugh\_Jass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4da419/32.png) [@Hugh\_Jass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hugh_Jass)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-baseball-question/107566/21 "2002-05-07T02:32:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by nineiron \* > \*\*NOTE (a) Any Playing Field constructed by a professional club after June 1, 1958, shall provide a minimum distance of 325 feet from home base to the nearest fence, stand or other obstruction on the right and left field foul lines, and a minimum distance of 400 feet to the center field fence. > > That sounds pretty mandatory. The “preferable” only went until 1958; you have to read the whole rule. > \*\* Actually, it really is just preferable. This rule exists just to have a framework. Oriole Park (Opened 1992) has a right field line of 320 feet. And it’s widely accepted that this is an exaggeration. Tropicana Field (Opened for baseball in 1998) has a left field line of 315. Enron/Astros Field, opened within the last few years has a 315 left field line. PacBell has a 307 foot right field line. All of these teams simply got waivers. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-baseball-question/107566/22 "2002-05-07T02:55:13Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by BobT \* > [@](#): > > I’ve covered a couple high school football games (American sort of football) where the field wasn’t quite 120 yards long. The end zones were shortened a bit in one case and in the other, a few feet were shaved out between the 40-yard lines. \*\* Back in the old days of the AFL, the Boston Patriots played in Fenway Park, which was a tad too small for a football field. A corner of one end zone was cut off. ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-baseball-question/107566/23 "2002-05-07T07:08:20Z")
I’m not going to join the fray here but I would encourage you to research some of the old ballparks if you are into the baseball scene. Some of those old parks had some rather interesting quirks. According to [this page](http://www.pubdim.net/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/P/Polo_Grounds.stm) New York’s **Polo Grounds** was 279 to left, 258 to right, but with the cut out in center field having a 60 foot wall over 500 feet away. This cut out was the site of **Willie Mayes’** famous over the shoulder catch. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-baseball-question/107566/24 "2002-05-07T10:36:08Z")
**Colibri** mentioned the Yankee Stadium monuments, but I don’t believe he did this bizarre situation justice. The monuments, pictured [here](http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/102601/spo_1026010029.shtml) are large plaques mounted on stone slabs. These 6’ stone slabs were placed _in the field of play_, though a pretty far distance from home plate, the field was bigger back then. I know that on more than one occasion, balls have made it back there and players had to scramble around the monuments to make a play. ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-baseball-question/107566/25 "2002-05-08T08:11:10Z")
What’s the deal with the Reds’ stadium? Are they getting a whole new ballpark or is Cinergy Field just being drastically renovated, a la Edison Field? For the past two seasons, the place has been totally ripped apart. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-baseball-question/107566/26 "2002-05-08T17:14:12Z")
The Reds are getting a whole new stadium I believe. It’s being built behind the present one. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-baseball-question/107566/27 "2002-05-08T20:01:12Z")
Part of Riverfront Stadium (I still refuse to use that stupid corporate name) has been torn down to make room for the new stadium, which is being built adjacent to it. In Cincinnati’s old Crosley Field, there was a slope in the outfield, going up towards the warning track, so the outer edge of the outfield was uphill from the rest of the field. This often caused problems for visiting outfielders who weren’t expecting to go uphill when running backwards. Babe Ruth, in his final season with the Boston Braves (N), humiliated himself by falling on his backside going after a fly ball in Crosley. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-baseball-question/107566/28 "2002-05-08T20:25:24Z")
_Originally posted by BobT_ {QUOTE]The teams had to ask the Commissioner for a waiver, which apparently isn’t too hard to get. [/QUOTE] Interesting point. I remember how, in the Sixties, Commissioner Ford Frick (who had been a fan of the Yankees and Babe Ruth during his days as a journalist) made draconian threats against Charles Finley, owner of the A’s, when Finley tried to conform Municipal Stadium in Kansas City to the dimensions of Yankee Stadium. (The Yankees won the pennant that year.) The only worse idea than Yankee Stadium is the trend toward corporate names for parks. Whoever does this deserves a great big hand–right across the mouth! :mad: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/basic-baseball-question/107566.md?page=1)