OT: All Rise

[rvwsleep]

Just as the right field bullpens were installed in Fenway for ted Williams.


Today's yankee stadium is a bandbox and stadiums like it are in large part responsible for the explosion of home runs in baseball. But I take exception to those who, since I was 10, loved to point out the short right field corner in the original Yankee Stadium as some sort of evidence that it was a home run park. Actually the right field foul pole was 296 feet (302 at Fenway) from home and in straight away right field it was 367 (380 in Fenway). Right center was 407 (380 in Fenway).

As for the rest, there was no left center field in Fenway and almost anyone could play left field at Fenway because they could stand 30 feet behind the shortstop and if a ball went over their head they could just turn around and get the carom off the wall.

The figures I always wanted to see but which for some reason were never available were the square footage of fair territory in each of the stadiums.

The original Yankee Stadium, and it's 1970's renovated version, were both pitcher's ballparks (As per Baseball-Reference.com when compared to outcomes in other ballparks in their day).
The new Yankee Stadium is ranked as the 6th most offensive advantageous ballpark to play in this year. Fenway is 7th. Neither comes close to Colorado nor Arizona.
Surprisingly, the Houston ballpark gives the pitcher the greatest advantage (and by a wide margin).

 

[pinotbear]

For those Red Sox fans that insist the Red Sox are as good or better than the Yankees remember if the Sox win the next 18 World Series in a row they can only TIE the Yankees at 27!
The Yankees have been in the post season 51 times! 20 more than next best!

Ya keep consoling y'self with all that ancient history, yer gonna start sounding like a Tennessee fan!

 

[oldude]

One of my fondest memories at the old Yankee Stadium happened in the late sixties. My family and I were sitting in the left field bleachers. By the late sixties the Yankees were a shell of their former greatness, and that was truer of no one more than Mickey Mantle who I idolized growing up.

The Mick would hobble up to home plate on two bum knees like a 90 year old man. But he still swung the bat as hard as anyone in Baseball.

On this particular day he hit a line drive over the shortstop's head for what looked like a single from where I sat. One of the really cool things about sitting in the bleachers is that you see the ball come off the bat before you hear the sound of the bat hitting the ball. A split second after I saw the ball headed over the shortstop, I heard the loudest crack of the bat on a ball I had ever heard.

The ball just kept going in the air towards the gap in left center. It finally hit the ground several feet short of the 463 mark and with a giant bounce, hopped over the high wall into the stands.

I immediately looked back to the base path and there was Mantle, on two bum knees, rounding 2nd base and heading for third where the umpire stopped him and sent him back to 2nd base with a ground rule double. Bad legs and all, Mantle was running as hard as his battered old body would allow, trying for an inside-the-park HR.

A lot of fans, myself included, have always wondered just how good Mantle would have been had he not suffered several devastating knee injuries during his career.

 

[Dillon77]

One of my fondest memories at the old Yankee Stadium happened in the late sixties. My family and I were sitting in the left field bleachers. By the late sixties the Yankees were a shell of their former greatness, and that was truer of no one more than Mickey Mantle who I idolized growing up.

The Mick would hobble up to home plate on two bum knees like a 90 year old man. But he still swung the bat as hard as anyone in Baseball.

On this particular day he hit a line drive over the shortstop's head for what looked like a single from where I sat. One of the really cool things about sitting in the bleachers is that you see the ball come off the bat before you hear the sound of the bat hitting the ball. A split second after I saw the ball headed over the shortstop, I heard the loudest crack of the bat on a ball I had ever heard.

The ball just kept going in the air towards the gap in left center. It finally hit the ground several feet short of the 463 mark and with a giant bounce, hopped over the high wall into the stands.

I immediately looked back to the base path and there was Mantle, on two bum knees, rounding 2nd base and heading for third where the umpire stopped him and sent him back to 2nd base with a ground rule double. Bad legs and all, Mantle was running as hard as his battered old body would allow, trying for an inside-the-park HR.

A lot of fans, myself included, have always wondered just how good Mantle would have been had he not suffered several devastating knee injuries during his career.

My dad, who lived on the Grand Concourse for awhile when he was growing up, brought me to the Stadium from our Long Island home in the early 60s and I picked up a bobble-head doll. I went home and promptly painted "7" on the back. I still have it. I can roll off the names and numbers of each Yankee starter from back then, but no on compared to the Mick.

Interestingly, my other favorite athlete was Bill Bradley (I wore #42 -- which he wore at Princeton -- as often as I could.) Maybe I was drawn to the fact that while a good athlete, he was not as naturally gifted as many and worked tirelessly to get to his level. Also, the whole scholar-athlete thing.

Mick, of course, was no saint and that probably also led to a shortened career. But they did have one thing in common...they loved the sports they played and competed with blinders when they were in their games.

 

[oldude]

Mick, of course, was no saint and that probably also led to a shortened career.

Back in their day, the Mick, Whitey Ford and Billy Martin believed alcohol was the original PED.

 

[Waquoit]

That was quite a celebration the Yankees had for coming in second the other day.

 

[Dillon77]

And I read somewhere else that Judge and the Babe were the two to accomplish it when they were 25 or younger.
(Babe hit 54 homers in 1920.)

One other interesting fact about the "one and only" Babe Ruth. He was.
As of 2013 when this article was published, according to Sports Illustrated
"His real name was George Herman Ruth, as was his father’s. He is the only player with that last name in major league history."

Here's the entire article.
99 Cool Facts About Babe Ruth

Thought both Red Sox and Yankee fans would enjoy reading about the player who primarily spent his career with these two teams.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

Ya keep consoling y'self with all that ancient history, yer gonna start sounding like a Tennessee fan!

Pinotbear---it always amazes me when Sox fans yell The Yankees Suck! If that's true the fans want the Sox to suck as much as the Yankees do! The Yankees are so far ahead of the Sox in WS titles, LCS titles, and Division titles the Sox can never catch up!
Another reason the Yankees are the best franchise is they are the only one that still has Old Timers Day to honor their past! No other team has that!

 

[huskeynut]

As a kid, my father took me to several games at the House That Ruth Built. The two vivid memories I have are of Jimmy Piersal going behind the monuments in center field during a game. He was with Cleveland then.

The other was Mantle hitting a ball off the top of the stadium in right field. We were sitting down in the right field corner by the foul pole.

 

[Waquoit]

Pinotbear---it always amazes me when Sox fans yell The Yankees Suck! If that's true the fans want the Sox to suck as much as the Yankees do! The Yankees are so far ahead of the Sox in WS titles, LCS titles, and Division titles the Sox can never catch up!

That's so Yankee fan. Answering an accusation of living in the past by doubling down on the past.

 

[pinotbear]

Pinotbear---it always amazes me when Sox fans yell The Yankees Suck! If that's true the fans want the Sox to suck as much as the Yankees do! The Yankees are so far ahead of the Sox in WS titles, LCS titles, and Division titles the Sox can never catch up!
Another reason the Yankees are the best franchise is they are the only one that still has Old Timers Day to honor their past! No other team has that!

Speaking of Old Timers, the only Yankees who remember winning a Series are old timers. Wasn't the last title in 2000?

 

[oldude]

That was quite a celebration the Yankees had for coming in second the other day.

So remind me, who was it that won the season series this year between the Red Sox (the best team that money can buy) and the young Bronx Bombers?

 

[oldude]

Speaking of Old Timers, the only Yankees who remember winning a Series are old timers. Wasn't the last title in 2000?

Just for the purposes of clarification the answer is 2009. By the way, it's too bad that the Red Sox can't afford to play in a major league ballpark.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

Speaking of Old Timers, the only Yankees who remember winning a Series are old timers. Wasn't the last title in 2000?

pinotbear- - - At least Yankee fans HAVE a past to look back on! The Sox NOT SO MUCH!
The Sox should drop to their collective knees and thank the Yankees for giving them the 2004 LCS! In those last 4 games the Yankees had an obscene # of runners in scoring position that one hit could have ended the series! And either team that won the American League LCS was going to sweep the NL and win the WS! The REAL WS was the Red Sox vs the Yankees!
By the way, how did the Sox NOT win the WS several times with the best team in Baseball from 1967 to 1980?
Jim Lonborg, Carlton Fisk, Jim Rice, Fred Lynn, Dewey Evans, Carl Yastremski, Rico Petrocelli, George Scott, Reggie Smith, Tony Conigliaro (before the beaning), Dennis Eckersley, Bill Lee, Luis Tiant, Mike Torrez, Rick Burleson, Butch Hopson, Jerry Remy, Bernie Carbo, Sparky Lyle, Cecil Cooper, Roger Moret, Orlando Cepeda, Tommy Harper, John Tudor, Bob Ojeda, Tony Perez, and many others!

 

[meyers7]

Junior circuit fans.

 

[JRRRJ]

Just as the right field bullpens were installed in Fenway for ted Williams.

Today's yankee stadium is a bandbox and stadiums like it are in large part responsible for the explosion of home runs in baseball. But I take exception to those who, since I was 10, loved to point out the short right field corner in the original Yankee Stadium as some sort of evidence that it was a home run park. Actually the right field foul pole was 296 feet (302 at Fenway) from home and in straight away right field it was 367 (380 in Fenway). Right center was 407 (380 in Fenway).

As for the rest, there was no left center field in Fenway and almost anyone could play left field at Fenway because they could stand 30 feet behind the shortstop and if a ball went over their head they could just turn around and get the carom off the wall.

The figures I always wanted to see but which for some reason were never available were the square footage of fair territory in each of the stadiums.

Then this is your site: Clem's Baseball ~ Fenway Park

Use the breadcrumb menu at the upper left to get to the list of all stadia.

You can even see the changes in each stadium over time.

BTW, the shape of the Polo Grounds field was wierd after 1923! Playing the OF there was a real task!

 

[JordyG]

Love Judge. Love some players. To hell with the Yankees.

However, because of that don't think I'm some wayward, misplaced BSox fan. For me it's to hell with the Yankees just after the BSox.

 

[JordyG]

The Yankee Stadium dimensions of the late 1950s to early 1970s or so:

Left field line: 302 (with a low wall)

Left field bullpen: 402

Left center: 457

Dead center: 461 (with a very high wall)

Right field bullpen 344

Right field line 296 (with a low wall)

Of course you're correct.

 

[eebmg]

Love Judge. Love some players. To hell with the Yankees.

However, because of that don't think I'm some wayward, misplaced BSox fan. For me it's to hell with the Yankees just after the BSox.

It was easy to hate the old Yankees where they tried (and often succeeded) in buying championships but this young team built primarily through the farm system (more top prospects coming) is really a treat to watch imho.

 

[JordyG]

It was easy to hate the old Yankees where they tried (and often succeeded) in buying championships but this young team built primarily through the farm system (more top prospects coming) is really a treat to watch imho.

Let's go Mets!

 

[Alydar]

That's so Yankee fan. Answering an accusation of living in the past by doubling down on the past.

Speaking of Old Timers, the only Yankees who remember winning a Series are old timers. Wasn't the last title in 2000?

Of course Boston fans don't want to talk history. It reminds them of that annoying 80+ year drought they would sooner forget.

Wasn't this thread supposed to be about a rookie setting a record? So why do Red Sox fans feel the need to ridicule, berate and generally "rain on the Yankee parade" whenever anything positive about the any Yankee is mentioned? Why is it that Boston fans hate the Yankees? The Sox have admittedly been the better team over the last dozen or so years but that isn't enough for them, they have to rub Yankee fans noses in it and turn any discussion into petty bickering and outright insults. If you go to NYC and ask the fans that live there about Boston you will get very little of the vitriolic hatred that permeates Beantown. Sure, they think it's a great rivalry but there are more New Yorkers who will say that the biggest rival to the Yankees is the Mets, despite playing in different leagues than the Red Sox. I can remember a stretch of years when the Yankees' biggest rivalry was with Baltimore, in the Weaver/Palmer/Brooks era. But in Boston it's always been only one enemy, the "Evil Empire". They need an arch-evil foe to justify themselves as righteous and heroic. Reminds me of a lot of cults.

 

[Husky1964]

The Mick would have hit 800 homeruns if he abstained from bad stuff. The Sox would have not had an 80 year DROUGHT if they had competent ownership. Never mind calling Yawkey a rascist he did not know how to run a ballclub and was a cheapskate to boot. If Steinbrenner had purchased the Sox in 1970 the Curse would have ended shortly thereafter1!!
!!!!!

 

[Bigpetunia]

As a lifelong Yankee fan (genetic defect...my father was Bronx-born), I have been treated to a multitude of opportunities to celebrate their historic dominance. I've also taken perverse pleasure in the unending chorus of Yankee-hatred coming from devotees of less successful franchises, which is just about everyone else. I know and understand jealousy when I see it, as I do in the landscape of the last twenty-plus years of WCBB. UConn hatred is rooted in the same dynamic. Folks, quite understandably, hate dynastic success, unless they happen to be fans of the dynasties in question.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

My dad, who lived on the Grand Concourse for awhile when he was growing up, brought me to the Stadium from our Long Island home in the early 60s and I picked up a bobble-head doll. I went home and promptly painted "7" on the back. I still have it. I can roll off the names and numbers of each Yankee starter from back then, but no on compared to the Mick.

Interestingly, my other favorite athlete was Bill Bradley (I wore #42 -- which he wore at Princeton -- as often as I could.) Maybe I was drawn to the fact that while a good athlete, he was not as naturally gifted as many and worked tirelessly to get to his level. Also, the whole scholar-athlete thing.

Mick, of course, was no saint and that probably also led to a shortened career. But they did have one thing in common...they loved the sports they played and competed with blinders when they were in their games.

Dillion77- - I was brought up in the Bronx at 1930 Grand Concourse, where did your Dad live?

 

[mauconnfan]

Of course Boston fans don't want to talk history. It reminds them of that annoying 80+ year drought they would sooner forget.

Wasn't this thread supposed to be about a rookie setting a record? So why do Red Sox fans feel the need to ridicule, berate and generally "rain on the Yankee parade" whenever anything positive about the any Yankee is mentioned? Why is it that Boston fans hate the Yankees? The Sox have admittedly been the better team over the last dozen or so years but that isn't enough for them, they have to rub Yankee fans noses in it and turn any discussion into petty bickering and outright insults. If you go to NYC and ask the fans that live there about Boston you will get very little of the vitriolic hatred that permeates Beantown. Sure, they think it's a great rivalry but there are more New Yorkers who will say that the biggest rival to the Yankees is the Mets, despite playing in different leagues than the Red Sox. I can remember a stretch of years when the Yankees' biggest rivalry was with Baltimore, in the Weaver/Palmer/Brooks era. But in Boston it's always been only one enemy, the "Evil Empire". They need an arch-evil foe to justify themselves as righteous and heroic. Reminds me of a lot of cults.

Don't bother with Waq he's just annoying and one of those fans who you couldn't even find until 2004 when he thinks baseball was invented. Not fair to go back and forth with his loss of memory I feel bad.

 

[Husky1964]

Same with me Bigppetunia.Dad was born in the Bronx in 1916 and year later moved to Waterbury.He saw Joe D. and Gehrig. I saw the last great home run the Mick hit the walk-off against the Cards in the 1964 World Series.First pitch bottom of the 9th off Barney Shultz.

 

[RSHERMVIKES]

I was a Brooklyn Dodger fan till they deserted NYC for LA in 1958 then I became a NY Yankee fan!
I personally can't stand Joe Giardi as Manager but I agree with above that this group on the roster this year is a blast to watch!
between the kids to the vets they seem to be a really closer knit group! Even some of my friends that are Red Sox fans say this isn't the USUAL Yankee team, so they enjoy watching them play!
I also agree with above that there seems to be an ingrained bitterness within Red Sox fans! I have a guy who USED TO BE my friend, but the last couple years whenever we run into each other, he starts screaming at the top of his lungs "the Yankees suck, how can you root for worthless pieces of !" and keeps going screaming all the time, not letting me get a word in. Now when I see him I just avoid him even as he's yelling as I walk away! Sickness!
There has to be something seriously wrong with a fandom that prints up and sells T-Shirts that say on the front JETER SUCKS! and on the back JETER SWALLOWS! I heard that Yankee management make fans from both teams wearing nasty shirts to turn them inside out before they enter Yankee Stadium!

 

[Ouremblem]

All rise! The Judge strikes again tonight in the first inning!!!

 

[Monte]

The short porch in right field of old Yankee stadium -- 281 feet -- was built for the left-handed Babe Ruth.

It was 296 feet down the line, and 344 feet to straight-away right field.

 

[uconnfan68]

For those Red Sox fans that insist the Red Sox are as good or better than the Yankees remember if the Sox win the next 18 World Series in a row they can only TIE the Yankees at 27!
The Yankees have been in the post season 51 times! 20 more than next best!

Also the only major league team to have another major league team as a farm team.