Those Cheatin' Dodgers...

[jojothecannibal]

In the Major League Baseball rulebook, it is mentioned that the minimum distance from home to the center-field fence must be at least four hundred feet for all stadiums built after some year in the late fifties. However, the Dodgers’ stadium was built after this date, and its center-field wall is 395 feet from home plate. How can the Dodgers get away with this???

note: there are other fields that brake the 325 foul-line post late-fifties rule, but if the question reguarding the Dodgers is answered, the others should be answered as well.

[fiddlesticks]

According to ballparks.com the center field fence started out at 410 feet. It was moved in to 400 in 1969, and sometime after was moved in to the present 395, so it started out in compliance with the rules. However, teams can petition MLB to get around the minimum distance rules. Likely, the Dodgers pushed in the fences to get a few more home runs…but the stadium remains one of the best pitcher parks in baseball.

Up the coast, PacBell’s center field wall is 399 feet…however, the straight wall in center means it’s easily more than 400 feet not far from dead center (out to a painful 421 where the Arcade wall starts).

Also of note about Chavez Ravine…the Dodgers pushed the fences in the power alleys back from 370 to 385 (they were originally 380) in the '80s.

[Airman_Doors_USAF]

Wanna see a real primo example of cheating?

I present to you…

Charles O. Finley’s Pennant Porch.

If you look very carefully, you’ll note that the wall is still within MLB regs at the foul pole. Very clever and all, but Bowie Kuhn didn’t go for it.

[Airman_Doors_USAF]

Except for one thing…it wasn’t Bowie Kuhn. It was Ford Frick at that point. Oops.

[mhendo]

From Airman’s link:

Finley was angered by the dimensions of Yankee Stadium in New York. At the time, Yankee Stadium featured a short 44-inch tall outfield fence. The right field fair pole was just 296 feet from home plate with a roof over the right field bleachers that extended across the field that helped turn 296 foot fly balls into homers. The left field fair pole wasn’t much farther – just 301 feet from home plate.

“It is almost inconceivable how the league offices have continuously permitted the Yankees to completely dominate the American League by allowing them to play in Yankee Stadium with such grossly unfair advantages over the other clubs,” Finley told The Sporting News in 1964.

And from fiddlesticks’s post, above:

Likely, the Dodgers pushed in the fences to get a few more home runs…but the stadium remains one of the best pitcher parks in baseball.

Colour me confused–why is this a problem? Presumably, if you have a ballpark with shorter distances, this benefits not only your own team, but everyone who plays against you in your ballpark. I mean, the fence doesn’t get moved between innings does it? Both teams get a chance to hit with the short fence, don’t they?So, while you increase your own chance to csore homers, you also increase the chance for you opposition.

Now, i can understand wanting shorter distances if your team does not have power hitters, because it might increase your home run percentage in relation to other teams. OTOH, if your team does have a bunch of big power hitters, it might actually be to your advantage to have the fences further back, because while your power hitters might be able to launch a ball 400 feet without any trouble, weaker hitters from other teams would only reach the warning track.

[Philster]

You can build a line-up that fits your ballpark well, and take advantage of it 50% of the time, or build stadium features that suit your line-up and take advantage of it 50% of the time.

Other teams cannot do this in your stadium, and if they can’t modify their stadium, they can’t have the advantage that way either.