Now You Know Baseball. Doug Lennox

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СКАЧАТЬ later, a new Polo Grounds opened, and both teams moved to the new facility. At the same time, the Highlanders changed their name to the Yankees.

      Then, in 1923, the massive Yankee Stadium opened and New York’s American League entry once again had a home park to themselves. The Yankees played there until 1973, and then made a temporary move to the Mets’ Shea Stadium while Yankee Stadium underwent a massive overhaul. The Yankees returned to their old park in 1976.

      Finally, a new Yankee Stadium — a near-replica of the old park — opened in 2009.

       Was polo ever actually played at the Polo Grounds?

      One of the early great stadiums in baseball was the Polo Grounds, which was home to the New York Giants, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets.

      The Polo Grounds that most fans are familiar with was actually the fourth stadium to bear that name. The original, built in 1876, was indeed used for polo, but became a full-time baseball stadium in 1880. That stadium was only in use until 1885. The name, however was retained, and used for three subsequent big-league stadiums.

      And yet, after the original stadium, none of the subsequent Polo Grounds were ever used for polo.

       What stadium did the Boston Red Sox play out of in the 1915 World Series?

      Although Fenway Park had been open since 1912, the stadium could only hold about 27,000 fans. For key games such as World Series games, the Sox moved to the much larger Braves Field — home of the National League’s Boston Braves. And so, in the 1915 World Series, Fenway Park remained silent as Game 3 and Game 4 were played across town.

       They Said It …

      “The loss of the A’s is more than recompensed by the pleasure of getting rid of Mr. Finley.”

       Missouri senator Stuart Symington on the move of the Kansas City Athletics — and owner Charles O.

       Finley — to Oakland.

       Who was the fi rst team to switch from natural grass to arti fi cial turf?

      The Astrodome in Houston was a marvel at the time — the first indoor ballpark. It was considered state of the art. One of the novel features was the use of a special grass modified for indoor use. But even this special grass required sunlight, and so transparent glass panels were included in the ceiling design.

      Unfortunately, the glare of sunlight through the panels blinded fielders trying to catch fly balls, and some of the panels needed to be painted over. The grass died. In the stadium’s first season, games were played on dead grass and dirt that had been painted green.

      Faced with the likelihood of playing the 1966 season on a dirt field, the team looked for another solution. A company had just invented an artificial grass called ChemGrass. The Astros ordered the new turf for their second season in the Astrodome. At first, there was only enough of the plastic surface to cover the infield, but midway through the season outfield turf was installed.

      To capitalize on the new venture, the makers of ChemGrass changed the name of their product to AstroTurf.

       Which player demanded that the Detroit Tigers move the fences of their stadium in so that he could hit more home runs?

      In 2000, two-time American League MVP Juan Gonzalez was traded to the Detroit Tigers, who were moving into the newly built Comerica Park. But as a home run hitter, Gonzalez found the new park to be a challenge — the outfield dimensions were massive. Left centre field was a whopping 395 feet from home plate.

      Gonzalez struggled, hitting only 22 home runs that season, which was a huge drop considering that prior to joining the Tigers, the fewest number of home runs he’d hit was 39 home runs in each of his past four seasons.

      Gonzalez, who was slated to become a free agent, demanded that the Tigers move the fences in. The Tigers refused, and Gonzalez bolted to the Cleveland Indians in 2001.

      Criticism continued to plague the outfield dimensions at Comerica, and the Tigers moved the fences in for the 2003 season. By that point, even had Gonzalez still been a Tiger, injuries had taken a toll, and Gonzalez was a shadow of his former self.

       Quickies

       Did you know …

      • that the original Wrigley Field was in Los Angeles, California? Though the Chicago stadium was built earlier, it went by the name Cubs Park. Owner William Wrigley Jr. owned both the Cubs and the minor league Los Angeles Angels, and built the L.A. Wrigley Field in 1925. The Chicago venue wasn’t named Wrigley Field until 1926.

       What stadium has a ladder that is in play?

      Fenway Park has many quirks, not the least of which is the Green Monster in left field. The fabled wall is notable not only for its height (and for the short distance between the wall and home plate) but for the difficulties it poses for outfielders who have to judge how the ball will bounce off different parts of the wall.

      A strange feature of the wall is a ladder that is attached to the wall in play. Prior to the addition of seats on top of the wall, home runs hit over the Monster landed in netting. Stadium employees would use the ladder to climb up to the top of the wall and retrieve balls from the netting.

      When seats were added there was no need for ball retrieval, but the ladder remains as an essential part of the character of the ballpark.

       What stadium, currently used by a major league team, was originally constructed for a team in a league that no longer exists?

      It’s hard to imagine Wrigley Field without the Chicago Cubs, but when the iconic stadium first opened in 1914, the Cubs were not the tenants. The stadium, then known as Weeghman Park, was built to house the Chicago Federals, the Windy City’s entry in the upstart Federal League.

      The Federal League was the last major challenge to the American and National Leagues, and made a valiant attempt to recruit big-name players and establish itself as a third major league. The league was a flop, and shut down after only two seasons. (In 1968 it was retroactively recognized as a major league.)

      Weeghman Park was left empty, but not for long. The Federals’ owner, Charlie Weeghman, teamed up with William Wrigley Jr. to purchase the Chicago Cubs and move them into the young ballpark. In the following years, Wrigley became sole owner of the team. In 1920, the park’s name was changed to Cubs Park; in 1926, Wrigley threw humility aside and named the stadium after himself.

       They Said It …

      “Now it is done, now the story ends. And there is no way to tell it. The art of fiction is dead.

      Reality has strangled invention.

      Only the utterly impossible, the inexpressibly fantastic, can ever be plausible again.”

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