Looks like you could answer my question above. I must know what that hill was for!
notMrC,
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=82105
All hail the Teeming Millions.
They did use a system of bringing in grass for use for the World Cup in 1994 at the Pontiac Silverdome. It was pretty expensive. A completely new strain of grass had to be developed that could withstand both the stress of people walking on it and the lack of sunlight.
I don’t know if baseball fans want to go inside and sit under a big UV lamp for an entire game just so grass could grow. Sounds like a good way to come down with skin cancer.
I have news for you, friend. More than 6 million people live in the San Francisco/San Jose/Oakland area, making it the US’s 5th largest metropolitan area. Not a small market by anyones definition…don’t confuse “market” with “city”.
So, taking those two big market teams off your list, what are we left with? One team that hasn’t won the World Series since Harry Truman was president, and two teams that have never won it.
Seriously, I never said that small market (hereinafter refered to as “SM”) teams couldn’t win any games, or even string a few good years together (Seattle, Cleveland). But the fact is that teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs and Dodgers can, year in, year out, command resources that the “SM” teams will never have available to them. They get money from TV contracts and merchandising of hats, shirts, etc. that teams like Milwaukee and Montreal can only dream of. What those teams then do with that money is a subject for another thread (yes, the Red Sox and Cubs haven’t won many World Series lately either), but there is clearly a tiered system of baseball franchises. Some of them can spend the money to get a Mike Mussina or a Manny Ramirez without breaking a sweat, while others have to let the Randy Johnsons, A-Rods, and Ken Griffeys go. That they can still compete is a testament to their managements ability and shrewdness, but clearly they are not all competing at the same level.
With regards to the “5.5” in the infield: that is NOT normally there.
I was at the game Friday night, and noticed it. It wasn’t there at the game I attended back in June sometime. The whole weekend was a tribute to Tony Gwynn (as it was to be his final homestand, at least before the season got switcherooed with those cancelled games), which I assume was why it was done.
There was also his jersey number in the grass in right field, also in his honor, and also not normally there.
As for the open bullpen, how else are we going to be able to see when Trevor Hoffman starts warming up? We’ve got to know just a skosh ahead of time that they’re going to whip out “Hells Bells”!!! (incidentally, although SD is a pretty lame town WRT its fair-weathered sports fans, there is NOTHING better here than being in the “Q” when the Padres are on the verge of a win & they bring in Trevor to the strains of AC/DC)
You know, just so y’all don’t think we’re TOTAL losers here in San Diego. (although the Chargers came AWFULLY close last year 
)
Aw, dammit, now that I think about it, those numbers WERE there back in June. I think they put them in when Tony announced he was retiring.
But in the GRAND scheme of things, they’re not always there.
But you’re right, not too many people get it.
Watch the film of Maris’ #61. The RF is in front of a 342 mark, and he isn’t down the line. Down the RF line was under 300. The parks have always varied in dimensions. In the old Polo Grounds, your grandma could put it out down the line, and Godzilla had problems to CF, even deeper than Yankee Stadium. It isn’t the ball so much as smaller strike zones so they batters have a small area to protect, and they are bigger, and using lighter bats for a whip effect. I think McGwire and Sosa are bigger than any of the 500 HR club except Ruth. (Williams is taller than Sosa, but thinner). Mays and Aaron, #3 and #1, are both under 6’ and 200#.
Growing grass indoors is hard. Remember Astroturf was first used (and named) when they couldn’t get the grass to grow inside in Houston. When they had clear glass, the OF lost balls in the galre, when they darkened it the grass died. I miss the outdoor stadia and grass. They should be heartily encouraged where possible.
I don’t disagree with you, but the Angels have played in the same market as the Dodgers for 40 years, with the same resources and have never produced a consistent winner. (Angel Fever: catch it…and die!) The Dodgers aren’t exactly dominating the league, either. Having a big market isn’t everything.
It’s customary to be actually taking drugs while you’re on the field, playing.
You gotta love things like the Philadelphia Phillies Phun Phestival.
What a town 
Wait 'til the new Fenway is built, the dimensions will be exactly the same as the original. The main difference will be the larger seating capacity.
[QUOTE**Everybody forgetting that the amazing new home run numbers are because the ball’s juiced and the new ballparks have ridiculous dimensions. **[/QUOTE]
I don’t recall it being proven the balls being juiced. Cite?
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by lurkernomore *
**
Nearly all stadia these days are outdoor ballfields. The only dome I can think of right now is the Tropicana Dome in Tampa. Helloooo!!! Playing baseball INDOORS in FLORIDA??!! Who were the ad wizards that came up with this one?
I can’t remember if Minneapolis has an outdoor field now or if they are still playing in the Metrodome. And I guess Houston still plays in the Astrodome? So that’s 3 domes…the rest are outdoors.
Oh, yeah, Toronto has the SkyDome, but it is usually left open unless they have bad weather, so that really counts as an outdoor stadium.
What really bugs me about baseball is the UNIFORMS!!! They are either gray or white, with boring logos, boring hats. No one stands out. I liked when Oakland wore the green pants with yellow shirts, when the Royals wore powder blue away uniforms and when Houston had the orange striped unis. Also, who can forget the Pittsburgh yellow Pirates with the cool black & yellow striped hats? You could really tell the teams apart then.
And exactly why do the coaches wear uniforms??? Are they gonna go into the game and play? Do you see football or basketball coaches wearing uniforms on the sidelines during their games? It is totally lame.
As Jerry Seinfeld has said about sports uniforms, “We are really just cheering for laundry when you get down to it”
:eek:
You’ve just listed some of the all time worst uniforms that baseball has ever seen. The Astros’ rainbow softball jerseys?!? I hope to hell that you were being sarcastic. Yuck I say, Yuck!
Baseball regulations require that anyone on the field must be wearing a uniform. A coach or manager could remain in “street clothes” provided he didn’t step onto the field. The only manager that I know of who did just that was John McGraw. It might be a lame rule, but that wasn’t your question
I think you meant Connie Mack. He managed in street clothes. AFAIK McGraw always wore a uniform. He started as a player manager and probably kept wearing the uniform since he was always actively involved on the field.
Current domes:
Minnesota (HHH Metrodome)
Tampa Bay (Tropicana Field)
Montreal (Stade Olympique)(Nonfunctional retractable)
Toronto (SkyDome)(Retractable, turf)
Seattle (Safeco Field)(Retractable, open walls, grass)
Arizona (BankOne Ballpark)(Retractable, grass)
Houston (Enron Field)(Retractable, grass)
Milwaukee (Miller Park)(Retractable, grass)
I don’t count Seattle, Arizona, Houston, or Milwaukee, though, as they have grass, and are retractable. They’re domes done right. No rainouts, but on nice days, they can be open air, the way baseball should be.
As for current turf fields:
Montreal
Toronto
Tampa Bay
Minnesota
Philadelphia (Veterans Memorial Stadium)
In small defense of domes - As much as I tend to love Safeco field, and as nice as it is to be able to see the sky between innings when it isn’t raining, there have been more than a few moments where I’ve sat, teeth chattering, trying to write small enough to keep score with hands that are too numb to correctly perform small motor skills, thinking “At least the Kingdome was climate controlled.”
The World Series in November in a northern city is not going to be comfortable.
Well, what can I say about the Angels lame ownership through the years? Are they still owned by Disney? The Mouse House is probably more concerned with turning out a consistent product than a winning one. It’s certainly possible for a big market expansion team to field a competitive team after 40 years…the Mets have done it pretty consistently. As for the Dodgers, I haven’t followed the organization closely lately but they used to have the best minor league system in baseball, the kind of resource that takes bucks to establish. As it is, although they haven’t done much lately, they have been to the World Series twice in the last twenty years, both wins. That’s one more appearance, and two more wins, than Milwaukee, Montreal, Seattle, Arizona and Pittsburgh, combined, got in that whole time, although of course Arizona hasn’t been around for twenty years.
My point is that if you took a poll of Major League GM’s and asked them if they would rather work for a big market team or small market team, all things being equal, most would vote big market. It makes their life so much easier!
Quite true. And returning briefly to the OP, it is really lame for Commissioner Selig to even try to schedule World Series games for November. In response to the WTC, they should’ve reduced the first round of the playoffs to best of three, the LCS to best of 5 and or eliminated all travel days. I hope the World Series is coming back to Cleveland, but if there’s 3 feet of snow on the ground blame Bud Selig.
Disney’s ownership of the Angels has been only recent. (I think Disney became a partner with Gene Autry in 1995 or so, but certainly not much before then; and Disney didn’t become a full owner until around 1997.) That doesn’t account for 40 years of ineptitude. The Dodgers haven’t been to the World Series since 1988, and haven’t shown much since then. True, the Dodgers used to have an excellent farm system in the 70s. But so did Cincinnatti and St. Louis at the same time, in much smaller markets. And the Angels, with the same resources the as the Dodgers, have never had a good farm system.
My point remains: having a big market isn’t everything.