why aren't all baseball outfields of equal distances?

Question

If centerfield is 410 feet in one stadium, why not all stadiums?

Answer 1

Good question-it's just about the way the stadium is built. MLB has some parameters like CF can't be more than a certain depth and same with left and right. Teams are allowed to work around this. Co-Merica where the Tigers play and the stadium in which the Wash. Nationals play is HUGE, meanwhile Wrigley and the Astro's ball parks are real small-though sometimes a lack of depth in one area, will make up for itself in other areas.

Good question-never thought about it really until you brought it up!

-George

Answer 2

Baseball rules state that there is a minimum distance for the walls placement down the line and to dead center (even though Minute Maid park got an exemption to break that rule). However, there are no maximum distances, so theoretically a team can have no walls and just have the players work for their home runs (inside the park).

The reason why the dimensions for each stadium are different is to create a home field advantage. The GM can build a team that can conform to the inherent advantages of the stadium. The Phillies have a small park and have a very home-run hitter heavy line-up with some speed. While the Mets who have one of the larger parks in the league, have a very fast, line-drive hitting line-up with some power. The team should be compiled to take full advantage of the stadium where they play their home games.

This advantage can also be seen on defense. Last year when the Mets played the Red Sox at Fenway, Lasting Millege was unable to handle the Green Monster, while Manny Ramirez who has played there for years is able to play the wall perfectly more times than not.

So, in the end, parks are different because, unlike the other sports, teams can create and design their own playing surface. Teams do so to create an advantage for themselves that does not take the crowd into consideration.

Answer 3

410' is nothing. Tiger stadium was 440' but the Polo Grounds was about 500'.

The baselines intersect at the plate, but can go on forever. There is a minimum distance in the rulebook, but no maximum.

After all, the rules that were codified were for the game known as "city ball", but baseball was even more popular in rural areas, where the diamonds literally were in the middle of fields, and the only limits to the outfield were artificial.

For a more complete answer, see Ken Burn's Baseball - all 10 innings. Check your local library for the DVD's.

Answer 4

This goes back to the earliest days of baseball, and the properties where the ballparks were located. The properties of the classic ballparks were not uniform. The Polo Grounds in New York was shaped more like a horshoe football field, with short(250 feetish) foul lines and a 483 center field spot. Ebbits Field, Sportsman's Park, and Shibe Park all were on blocks that were longer toward left field and shorter in right field due to a street. Fenway Park is the opposite.
There was some movement toward uniformity in the 1960's whenmany of the parks, Busch in St. Louis, Veterans in Philadelphia, Three Rivers in Pittsburgh, and Riverfront in Cincinnati all used the same round structure. RFK in Washington, Shea in New York, and the Houston Astrodome used a similiar plan. Oakland and Atlanta had a slightly different round format with wide foul areas. But all nine parks had similiar round outfields with similiar differences.
Baseball fans and critics did not like those parks, preferring the unusual parks like Fenway or Wrigley. So all of those parks have been or will be replaced by parks that are not uniform.

Answer 5

Inflexible uniformity is for the lesser sports. Baseball cleaves not unto such unimaginative standards. And we really don't want to return to the dreary days (1966-75) of the Giant Ashtray Park design (Busch II, Fulton County, Riverfront, Three Rivers, Veterans), where the only way to tell where you were was by checking the championship banners overhead (or not, in the case of Atlanta).

For some, it was a practical matter. Fenway had to fit onto the piece of property, thus the short left field pole.

Answer 6

would be VERY boring if it was. I love the fact that stadiums are different, espcially when they started with the old feel. Imagine being a ball fan in the 70's and those identical stadiums..Phil, Pitt, Stl, Mtl, Hous(minus the dome), Cinn, ..all the same..Boring!

Answer 7

Because all ballparks are not built on the same size pieces of land.