Was there ever a reason given for why baseball never standardized the playing fields and stadiums? I know very little about the sport, but it always seemed odd to me that they were so blasé about the space they played in considering how many rules it affected and how specific things like pitchers' mound heights and base line lengths are.
That last section was a sad reminder that with 12 teams now making the playoffs, pennant races are essentially dead. But I guess after only 162 games, it's still not clear which teams belong in the post season and which don't.
I was a Bob Gibson fan as a kid (1990s) not because I knew much about him but just because I loved his name. Later on came to realize how good he really was. Thanks for the article.
There was one AL park change '68 that probably had an effect although I haven't checked the numbers: A's from KC to Oakland. The Oakland park was far more pitcher friendly. Catfish Hunter pitched a perfect game in '68.
Reading this is a nice reminder of how much baseball knowledge has advanced since the late 90s, when I was a pre-teen and at the height of my fandom. Back then, baseball books lamented that no one had hit .400 since Ted Williams's 1941 season, but skirted around the obvious explanation (that racial integration improved the quality of play all around, including pitching and defense). We didn't have terms like 'exit velocity' and 'quality start,' both of which I learned from this post -- thank you for that -- and I don't recall any sustained discussion of park changes.
I also recall that the sudden rise in HRs in the late 90s was another big mystery, no mention of PEDs of course.
Was there ever a reason given for why baseball never standardized the playing fields and stadiums? I know very little about the sport, but it always seemed odd to me that they were so blasé about the space they played in considering how many rules it affected and how specific things like pitchers' mound heights and base line lengths are.
That last section was a sad reminder that with 12 teams now making the playoffs, pennant races are essentially dead. But I guess after only 162 games, it's still not clear which teams belong in the post season and which don't.
I was a Bob Gibson fan as a kid (1990s) not because I knew much about him but just because I loved his name. Later on came to realize how good he really was. Thanks for the article.
I love this essay. Thank you for sharing it. And thank goodness baseball is coming back soon.
There was one AL park change '68 that probably had an effect although I haven't checked the numbers: A's from KC to Oakland. The Oakland park was far more pitcher friendly. Catfish Hunter pitched a perfect game in '68.
Reading this is a nice reminder of how much baseball knowledge has advanced since the late 90s, when I was a pre-teen and at the height of my fandom. Back then, baseball books lamented that no one had hit .400 since Ted Williams's 1941 season, but skirted around the obvious explanation (that racial integration improved the quality of play all around, including pitching and defense). We didn't have terms like 'exit velocity' and 'quality start,' both of which I learned from this post -- thank you for that -- and I don't recall any sustained discussion of park changes.
I also recall that the sudden rise in HRs in the late 90s was another big mystery, no mention of PEDs of course.