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Also, the 2-3-2 format for games in the World Series. If Alabama played Georgia in a 7-game series in football and Georgia got 4 home games to Bama’s 3 and won the title, I would lose my mind. Not really in favor of doing this, but I heard Plimpton, years ago, suggest if the Series was tied 3-3, game 7 should be a neutral site made some sense.
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"The problem with quotes on the Internet is that it is sometimes hard to verify their authenticity." -Abraham Lincoln -
When the Dodgers first moved to LA, they spent four years playing at the Coliseum before Dodgers Stadium was finished. The playing surface was not wide enough to comfortably fit a baseball diamond (it was fine for football and track). It was only 250 ft down the left field line so MLB required them to install a 40 foot tall screen across half of left field. They actually played the 1959 World Series hereOriginally posted by AlabamAlum View Post
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DSL,
Yeah. That’s crazy. Of course, you remember Tal’s Hill at Minute Made? A fucking hill in the outfield.
The varied dimensions, shapes, wall heights (Like Fenway having both the tallest and shortest walls in MLB). A 310 left at Fenway and a 355 left at Wrigley? We’re used to it, but in no other team sport would this be considered okay."The problem with quotes on the Internet is that it is sometimes hard to verify their authenticity." -Abraham LincolnComment
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The old Tiger Stadium had an upper deck that actually hung out over the outfield. A long fly ball could appear to be coming down inside the park, but a gust of wind could carry it out into the upper deck. New Tiger outfielders were taught right away on how to play long fly balls that could be affected by the overhang.
I believe only five players ever hit the ball completely out of the stadium, in right field. One was Norm Cash, and another was Mickey Mantle. It seems like Frank Howard hit one completely out as well. I am too lazy to look up the others."The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, .. I'd worn them for weeks, and they needed the air"Comment
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I'm only speculating but the loose regulation on outfield dimensions was probably born of necessity because all the original franchises were in big urban centers and real estate was at a premium. They had to buy a couple city blocks and squeeze in a ballfield as best they could. The Polo Grounds in NYC where the Giants played and the Yankees did too (until Yankee Stadium was built) had some ludicrous dimensions. It wasn't till after WWII and stadiums became public works projects and put in the burbs with lots of parking that they became more uniform.
Yeah I remember the hill at Minute Maid. I was reading something recently that warning tracks really also didn't become common until after WWII. A couple stadiums instead had those hills in the outfield to let outfielders know when they were close to the wall. So it was an artificial quirk added to echo something that really existed. Same with the flagpole located in play. That was common in a lot of parks. Hell, until George Steinbrenner moved the fences in in the 70's, there were fucking monuments to Ruth and Gehrig on the field of play at Yankee Stadium.Comment
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I remember going to games in the final years of Tiger Stadium and constantly worried the place would collapse. When you walked around in the upper deck you could feel it "bouncing" under your feet.Originally posted by lineygoblue View Post
That was back when bleacher sections also used to be completely sectioned off from the rest of the stadium too. At Tiger Stadium and old Cleveland Muni it felt like you were fenced in with barbed wire, lol. If you paid $3 for your seat they didn't want you sneaking off to good seats no matter how empty the dump was!Last edited by Dr. Strangelove; October 26, 2021, 09:51 AM.Comment
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DSL, yeah, I have no doubt that was the origin. And baseball used to be more of a county fair, shoestring budget thing. You just made do. MLB is now a multi-billion-dollar business. Homogenized field sizes wouldn’t be that hard to mandate, but fans would lose their minds if Boston had to tear down the Green Monster (etc, etc)."The problem with quotes on the Internet is that it is sometimes hard to verify their authenticity." -Abraham LincolnComment
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Also, the ivy at Wrigley. Besides getting hurt when you slam into it, admissions of stashing baseballs in the ivy so they could be “found” and thrown toward the infield instead of looking for the actual lost ball if you thought you could hold the runner to first or if you couldn’t hold him, just raising your hand to initiate the ground-rule double.
So much outfield craziness."The problem with quotes on the Internet is that it is sometimes hard to verify their authenticity." -Abraham LincolnComment
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I would have thought that the ivy at Wrigley would have departed long ago, in favor of padded walls for player safety. But, I guess players are still willing to put up with it."The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, .. I'd worn them for weeks, and they needed the air"Comment
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If you see pictures of games from before even Fenway & Wrigley were built, some of those fields didn't even have fences. There's just a ring of standing-room fans "on their honor" not to interefere with the game out there. Probably a leftover from the game evolving out of cricket. In cricket only the pitch (baseball''s infield) has strict dimensions, right?Comment
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Tiger Stadium was at the simultaneously a dilapidated dump and a crown jewel. The good seats (in front of the posts) were the closest to the field of any ballpark but so many of them had obstructed views. I'm certainly grateful for having that venue as my first MLB experience and going a couple times a year as a kid. That was during the mid 80s and I got to witness Kirk Gibson put on on the roof in right and years later Mickey Tettleton put one over and into the lumber yard across the street.Originally posted by lineygoblue View Post
Liney, it was actually left field which was the longer shot which I think only 5 people ever achieved. I'm pretty sure Harmon Killebrew, Mantle, McGwire, Fielder.... and someone else. Reggie Jackson had that iconic HR in the All-Star game that hit the light tower in right field. There's never been 52,000 seats that close to the field and there never will be again.Comment
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My first experience at a MLB park was also Tiger Stadium, and I believe it was in the 1969 or 1970 season when Denny McLain was still there, because he was the starting pitcher. That was back in the day when they had 'church nights' and they welcomed church groups and gave discounts if you came as part of that group. The youth group at our church took advantage of that. I remember the Tigers won that game against Baltimore, when Al Kaline made the winning catch at the fence for the final out. I loved Tiger Stadium, but its time had come and gone. I remember as late as the early-80's going to opening day, and getting BOX seats along the 3rd base line for $8.00 . I thought that was high at the time.
I wish that Comerica could have been built to in some ways keep some of the intimacy of the old Tiger Stadium. But, its just another modern ballpark. Its fine and all, but its not Tiger Stadium."The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, .. I'd worn them for weeks, and they needed the air"Comment
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OK, I had to look it up. The first player to put one over the roof in left was Killebrew in 1962, then Frank Howard in 1968, Fielder in 1990, and then McGwire in 1997. Just those 4.
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I remember that shot Fielder hit. I was watching it on TV. George Kell and Al Kaline were calling the game and they couldn't stop raving about how hard he hit that ball.Originally posted by Mike View Post"The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, .. I'd worn them for weeks, and they needed the air"Comment
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going for atlanta
Been over 25 years
plus houston cheated last timeComment
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