March 15, 2010 [LINK / comment]

Nats winless in spring training

In spite of fine outings by pitchers Stephen Strasburg and Garrett Mock, the Washington Nationals just can't seem to win. After losing to the Atlanta Braves today, the Nats are now 0-11 in the "Grapefruit League" standings. Good grief! Well, so much for the resurgent momentum they achieved at the end of the 2009 regular season (Oct. 4), when they won their last seven games. Perhaps the Nationals are just "sandbagging it," creating a false impression among other teams that they are no better than last year. At least I hope that's what they're doing...

The Nats are trimming their roster as the regular season approaches. The latest big name to be let go is veteran left-hand pitcher Ron Villone, who was reliable in 2009 but has not done well this spring. A younger pitcher of some promise, Collin Balester, was sent to the Syracuse Triple-A affiliate. Recently acquired Chien-Ming Wang has thrown a few practice pitches as well. If he gets healthy soon, the 2010 season could show a huge improvement over the past two years. As of now, good old Livan Hernandez is in line to become the fifth starter in the Nats' rotation. See MLB.com.

Paternity leave

Two members of the Nationals have been excused from practice duty over the past week because their wives were giving birth: Josh Willingham and Cristian Guzman are the proud fathers. Neither of those players is guaranteed a spot on the 2010 starting lineup, however, so they'd better get back to Viera, Florida pronto. There's a real chance that young Ian Desmond could start the season at shortstop, taking Guzman's place. Desmond was one of the clutch-performing stars at the end of the 2009 season.

Tidying up

Diagram-wise, I've been attending to a few loose odds and ends over the past few days, while taking a respite from wracking my brain trying to solve various ballpark configuration riddles. A fellow member of SABR, Thomas Tomsick, requested some information for a research project he is doing, and drew my attention to the fact that, at least through the late 1960s, there was no warning track in front of the inner outfield fence at Cleveland Stadium. (He should know, since he was a bullpen catcher for the Indians in the mid-1960s, and spent a lot of time out there.) Instead, the original pointed oval warning track / running track was left in place, going around the entire field, abutting the grass slope in front of the bleachers. So I fixed that in the 1954 version of that diagram.

Other minor fixes in the works include Sun Life (Dolphin) Stadium, K.C. Municipal Stadium and Comiskey Park.

Tearing down

About half of the upper deck at Yankee Stadium has now been torn down, and hopes of preserving Gate 2 as a token for posterity are fading fast.

March 10, 2010 [LINK / comment]

Yankee Stadium is tumblin' down

"When the walls ... comes tumblin' down..." The ominous refrain in that John Mellencamp song is probably being sung in The Bronx this month, as the demolition of Yankee Stadium (the original one, more or less) reaches the climactic phase. For weeks it has seemed that the process was dragging on forever, but the winter weather was the main reason for that. Over the past week or so, workers have been drilling seams into the upper deck, in preparation for pulling it down one section at a time. The first and second decks were demolished from December through early February, and the wall in back of the bleachers, with the imitation decorative frieze, was taken down last week, exposing the crumbling innards for all the world to see. I know it was inevitable, and I've been preparing myself for this for quite some time now, but it still leaves an indescribable feeling of melancholy.

Anyway, Mike Zurawski drew my attention to a youtube.com video of one section being pulled down, by Bobby Jackson. That video is also displayed at demolitionofyankeestadium.com, which has plenty of grim late-breaking photos. I was hoping that they would pull down the entire upper deck at once, which would have been spectacular and would have at least gotten over the pain quickly. For people like me, watching the drawn-out process is a form of torture. Some people think the reason for doing it section by section is to preserve Gate 2 for historical posterity, and I certainly hope that's the case.

Strasburg shines in debut

In his first start as a pitcher for the Washington Nationals, Stephen Strasburg lived up to the sky-high expectations people have of him. Going against the Detroit Tigers in the Nats' spring training home in Space Coast Stadium, he only went two innings, but he gave up just two hits and no runs, while getting two strikeouts. He is reaching 98 mph with some consistency, and we can only hope that he doesn't wear out his young arm trying to prove himself. See the Washington Post. Long-suffering Nationals fans are giddy with excitement over what the future holds for the team with Strasburg on the mound. All indications are that he will start the season in the minors, and probably get called up to Washington by mid-summer.

R.I.P. Willie Davis

Former L.A. Dodger center fielder Willie Davis, renowned for his speed and base-stealing abilities, passed away at the age of 69. He played when the Dodgers won the World Series in 1963 (against the Yankees) and 1965 (against the Twins). See Yahoo sports; hat tip to Bruce Orser.

February 27, 2010 [LINK / comment]

Late-breaking deal-making

As spring training ramps up into high gear, with the position players joining their teams' respective pitchers and catchers in Florida and Arizona, a few teams are tweaking their rosters for maximum advantage. The biggest news of the past week is that Johnny Damon, former Red Sock and Yankee, has signed a one-year contract with the Detroit Tigers. They need the help, and that acquisition should make the AL Central race more interesting this year. See MLB.com.

The Philadelphia Phillies acquired Toronto's phenomenal pitcher Roy Halladay a couple months ago, and their payroll is estimated to total about $136.55 million; see MLB.com. That's not as much as the Mets or Yankees, but it's a very healthy commitment to winning a National League pennant for the third year in a row, if not another World Series title. Does Ryan Howard still have enough slugging pop to generate runs for the Phils?

As expected, the Washington Nationals signed Livan Hernandez to a minor league contract. He has a good shot at making the starting rotation, but he probably only has a couple years of high-quality pitching left in him. In the Washington Post, Thomas Boswell joins the chorus of awe-struck praise for rookie pitcher Stephen Strasburg, nick-named "Jesus" for the way that players react when they see his fastball.

February 26, 2010 [LINK / comment]

Cleveland Stadium update

The diagrams of Cleveland Stadium, better known as the "Mistake on the Lake," have been updated with several significant corrections. The super-sized grandstand extends about 15 feet further toward the southeast (right field) and northeast (left field) sides than I had previously estimated, but the grandstand ends curve in more sharply. The center field bleachers don't curve as much, and foul territory is slightly smaller in the post-1960s versions. Finally, of course, the profile is much more accurate than before, and the light standards are included. I had previously included a note on that page to the effect that an update was scheduled for August or September, so I edited that to highlight the belated accomplishment of that long-overdue task.

But perhaps the most notable change on that page is the inclusion of a new hypothetical football version diagram. What if the City of Cleveland had decided to invest a couple hundred million dollars in the mid-1990s to refurbish Cleveland Stadium and bring it up to contemporary standards? They would have removed the massive roof and the upper portion of the support columns along with it, no doubt, and most likely would have expanded the upper deck by about eight rows, much like at the renovated Yankee Stadium. Likewise, they would have replaced much of the rear portion of the lower deck with expanded concourse areas and luxury suites, and added about eight rows of seats in front of the lower deck, while lowering the playing field by about three feet. That would have put the fans within reasonable distance of the sidelines, while improving the sight-lines for football games. It is a similar to my suggestion for QualComm (Jack Murphy) Stadium in San Diego.

Thanks to Tom Tomsick for pointing out to me that the bullpens at Cleveland Stadium were moved from foul territory to the vacant area beyond the outfield fence in 1954, and stayed there until 1966.

All-Star/World Series Stadiums

On a related note, I recently realized that on my blog post of Dec. 30 I should have included Cleveland Stadium among the elite group of stadiums that have hosted both the All-Star Game and the World Series during the same year: 1954. (Remember Willie Mays' famous catch in the Polo Grounds?) I also noticed that Yankee Stadium should have been listed a third time, for 1960. Here is the complete list, fully corrected and double-checked, along with the corresponding pennant-winning teams:

• Yankee Stadium (1939) -- N.Y. Yankees
• Fenway Park (1946) -- Boston Red Sox
• Ebbets Field (1949) -- Brooklyn Dodgers
• Cleveland Stadium (1954) -- Cleveland Indians (!)
• Memorial Coliseum (1959) -- L.A. Dodgers
• Yankee Stadium (1960) -- N.Y. Yankees (!)
• Metropolitan Stadium (1965) -- Minnesota Twins
• Riverfront Stadium (1970) -- Cincinnati Reds
• Yankee Stadium (1977) -- N.Y. Yankees
• Jacobs Field (1997) -- Cleveland Indians

Among all stadiums that have ever hosted the All-Star Game, Cleveland Stadium stands out in being the only one in which the "host" team, the Cleveland Indians in this case, did not even play there during the year in which the All-Star Game was played there, 1935. After two years in "Lakefront Stadium," as it was called in the early 1930s, they decided to return to the cozy confines of League Park, which remained their primary home until 1947.

World Series droughts

Another dubious distinction of Cleveland Stadium is that it shares second place for the most consecutive years in which the resident team did not earn a league pennant and thus a trip to the World Series: 39 years (1955 - 1993), the same as Comiskey Park (1920 - 1958). In a "league of its own," sadly enough, is Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs: 64 years without a World Series, and running. Here are the top seven:

Stadium	Team	From	Through	No. of years
Wrigley Field	Chicago Cubs	1946	-	64
Cleveland Stadium	Cleveland Indians	1955	1993	39
Comiskey Park	Chicago White Sox	1920	1958	39
Braves Field	Boston Braves	1915	1947	33 *
Jack Murphy Stadium	San Diego Padres	1969	1997	29
Olympic Stadium	Montreal Expos	1977	2004	28
Griffith Stadium	Washington Senators	1934	1961	28

* NOTE: Braves Field would be only 31 years if you count 1915 and 1916, when the other Boston team, the Red Sox, borrowed it for the World Series. Braves Field and Jack Murphy Stadium were fortunate to host World Series games during the final years of their Major League Service after an extended "drought," and Olympic Stadium probably would have if the 1994 players' strike had not ruined everything.

February 22, 2010 [LINK / comment]

Spring (training) has arrived !!!

The snow may still still cover the ground across much of the country, but the annual resumption of the baseball spring training in Florida and Arizona gives us hope that fair weather can't be far off. In Viera, Florida, where pitchers and catchers for the Washington Nationals have begun practicing, hopes are soaring. Seeing Jason Marquis wearing a Nationals cap gives me an indescribable feeling of optimism. There is a veritable media feeding frenzy for newly-signed pitcher Chien-Ming Wang, dubbed "the Michael Jordan of Taiwan." Chinese-language reporters are swarming Space Coast Stadium to interview him, but there is no guarantee that his shoulder will fully heal. See the Washington Post.

There is just as much excitement, if not more, over Stephen Strasburg, the phenomenal pitcher from southern California whom the Nationals signed as their #1 draft pick last summer. Ivan Rodriguez, one of the newest Nats, said he was impressed, but "manager Jim Riggleman hinted that Strasburg may not be on the Opening Day roster..." See MLB.com. No need to rush; give the guy a chance to grow up first. As for "Pudge," he will certainly help the team as a batter, but some doubt that he has sufficient defensive skills as a catcher to help nurture and instruct the Nationals' young pitching staff.

As for the rest of the Nats' roster, Josh Willingham remains a question mark, but I hope he stays with the team. He may not be 100% consistent, but he does get some big clutch hits, and I like his attitude.

I was browsing the annual baseball 2010 preview magazines yesterday, and every one I saw forecast that the Nationals would finish in last place in the National League Eastern Division once again. Well, I beg to differ! It's a highly competitive division, I know, but there is no reason why they shouldn't expect to end up with a record over .500, for the first time since they moved to Washington.

Perhaps the biggest news of the day is that veteran slugger Johnny Damon, one of the most prominent free-agents, just signed a one-year contract worth about $8 million with the Detroit Tigers. He had been negotiating with the Yankees and other teams, and it would appear that he held out too long, as the terms he accepted weren't all that great. I'm sure he would have preferred a multi-year deal. See MLB.com. With a soaring unemployment rate, Detroit is in desperate need of an emotional lift.

Spring cleaning (photos)

One of my long-postponed chores is updating the photos and making them more consistent, especially the panoramas which I have taken over the past two years. I have now done so for Nationals Park, Citi Field, Shea Stadium, Yankee Stadium, and Yankee Stadium II. With any luck, I'll get to see games at two or three new ballparks this year, so you can look forward to more new photos. I also added five excellent photos of Wrigley Field that were sent to me by John Minor a while back.

Spring destroying

On a more somber note, demolition work at Yankee Stadium is advancing rapidly, with both the first and second decks of the grandstand now completely gone, and a small portion of the upper deck getting "whacked" as well. If you can bare to look, see the photos at baseball-fever.com; hat tip to Mike Zurawski. After the recent weather-induced delays, they will have a hard time finishing the work before Opening Day, now less than six weeks away.

February 20, 2010 [LINK / comment]

Metropolitan Stadium update

Based on the various photos that Bruce Orser brought to my attention recently, I have updated the diagrams for Metropolitan Stadium, home of the Minnesota Twins from 1961 until [1981]. It turns out that the fence and bleachers in right field were angled inward a couple of degrees, and the same was true of the left field fence from 1961 to 1964. In the football version (1965), I moved the gridiron about 70 feet closer to the main grandstand, and that position seems to have prevailed for most if not all of the 1965-[1981] period. Also, triple-deck portion of the main grandstand is slightly smaller than I estimated before, and the temporary bleachers along the third base line are a little further away. Finally, the profile of the post-1965 grandstand in left field has been corrected slightly. From seeing all those photos, I am growing skeptical of the dimension data for Metropolitan Stadium in Phil Lowry's Green Cathedrals.

UPDATE: I added a second set of hypothetical diagrams, with a more economical design in which there would be a retractable lower deck in left field (like in the Superdome), as opposed to the entire left field grandstand being rotated back and forth between baseball and football games. [Note that the short distance to left field (310 feet) would be offset by a 30-foot high fence reaching to the second deck -- very similar to Fenway Park.]

Tampa ballpark "news"

Mike Zurawski sends news that Tampa Bay Rays owner Stuart Sternberg is making more noise about needing a new stadium. Where have I heard that one before? Oh yeah, every year for the past decade! See Tampa Bay Online. Here's what he has to say about Tropicana Field:

we're not going to be there through 2027. It just can't happen. Baseball won't allow it. Our partners in baseball won't allow it. The other teams won't allow it. And it's just not the right thing for our organization, and quite frankly it's not the right thing for our population.

Sternberg seems to be making an implied threat to slash his team's payroll if he doesn't get his way. Well, maybe he can ask President Obama for some bailout or economic stimulus money. Hey, Citibank got bailed out, and their name is still on Citi Field, so why not? Meanwhile, the former mayor of Tampa, Dick Greco, has come up with a plan to build a new stadium at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Hillsborough County, on the Tampa side of the Bay, according to fieldofschemes.com. But wait, there's more! Another developer, Claire Clements, wants to build a stadium for the Rays in downtown Tampa. See fieldofschemes.com, again.

And, for the record, Mike tells me that the idea of putting an MLB franchise in Vancouver is "1000% insane." He cites the miserable history of the NBA Vancouver Grizzlies franchise, as an example of lack of fan support in that picturesque city. Oh, well. Certainly, the chances of any franchise relocation in the foreseeable future are almost zero, and there won't be any franchise expansions for at least another ten years, if then.

February 19, 2010 [LINK / comment]

Baseball in Vancouver, B.C.??

As the 2010 Winter Olympics proceed in Vancouver, British Columbia, some folks in Canada recall back in the mid-1980s when that city had hopes for attracting a Major League Baseball team. Believe it or not, that was one of the primary reasons for building BC Place, home of the CFL B.C. Lions, currently being used the main venue for indoor Olympic events. Philip Delisle wrote to ask me about the possibility of doing a diagram of that stadium, since it has been used for baseball exhibition games over the years, including the Blue Jays and the Brewers.

Philip pointed me to a discussion thread in which some photos and illustrations of a baseball configuration are shown: hfboards.com. Let me tell you, it is weird! The diamond is angled to the left, so that the foul territory on the third base side gradually shrinks as it approaches the foul pole, while it steadily expands on the other side. I'm very dubious about that alignment, which leaves a huge vacant area between the seats and first base. As somebody at baseball-fever.com pointed out, "Temporary seating on the 1st base side would kind of be reminiscent of old War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo." (That's where the movie The Natural, starring Robert Redford, was filmed.)

With its fabric roof, BC Place looks almost exactly like the Metrodome from the outside, but it is more elongated in order to accommodate the larger size gridiron used in Canadian Football League. The B.C. Lions have played there since 1983. It has about 60,000 seats, but there are very few sellouts, except for when the CFL "Grey Cup" championship game is played there. BC Place will undergo a thorough renovation after the Olympics are over, with a new retractable roof that is suspended from 20 or so outward-leaning poles rimming the outside perimeter. The project will cost an estimated $458 million, in Canadian dollars. Obviously, the B.C. Lions will be unable to use BC Place this year, so it was decided to build a large temporary facility located where their former home Empire Stadium used to stand; it will be called "Empire Fields." See the Vancouver Sun.

In any case, the dream of big league baseball in Vancouver is still alive, and the future retractable roof at BC Place, with blue skies and fresh breezes, makes that an appealing thought. As fans in Montreal, Seattle, and Minneapolis know, there is no sense in staying inside on a bright summer day in the northern latitudes. At Canadian Baseball Network, Adam Fine argues that BC Place will flop unless another major professional team makes its home there. The NFL is out of the question, which leaves baseball. With a population of just over 2.3 million (third biggest in Candada), Vancouver rivals Portland, Oregon as a prospective location for a possible future MLB expansion franchise. (See the Baseball cities page.) One would think that Montreal (about 3.8 million) would get first preference, but as Mr. Fine says, it all depends on fan interest and investor willingness.

Speaking of Montreal, the present situation in Vancouver reminds you of what a financial and engineering debacle Olympic Stadium (a.k.a. "The Big Owe") proved to be. Awkward compromises in multi-sport stadiums are rarely satisfactory to anyone, and the result is often a "white elephant" which nobody loves. They could just as well invest that $458 million on a brand-new baseball stadium, making it open at one end to allow for a CFL gridiron.

At a hearing of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly in May 1993, the provincial Minister of Economic Development, David Zirnhelt said he was busy promoting Vancouver as a future MLB venue. As an alternative, he also suggested that the Seattle Mariners could play some of their home games in BC Place every year, sort of like how the White Sox played some of their home games in Milwaukee County Stadium in 1968-1969, or the Montreal Expos played some of their home games at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in 2003-2004. (See the Anomalous stadiums page.) That sounds like a reasonable idea to me; why not give it a try? I still think Major League Baseball ought to consider having teams from southern states (especially Florida) play some of their midsummer games in Canada.

Seattle Mariners fans recall that BC Place was where their star slugger Edgar Martinez tore a hamstring during a Mariners-Brewers exhibition game prior to the 1993 season. He never fully recovered from that injury, which is why he spent the rest of his career as a designated hitter. Anyway, I guess this means I'll have to add BC Place to my "to do" list. The baseball seating chart at bcplacestadium.com will be of great help.

February 17, 2010 [LINK / comment]

Wang joins the Nationals

Just in time for spring training, former Yankee starter Chien-Ming Wang has agreed to a one-year contract with the Washington Nationals, who will retain an option on him for a second year. Wang will get a salary of $2 million plus up to $3 million in incentives. The official announcement will take place on Friday. See MLB.com. Everything depends on his health, however, as he is still recovering from surgery that was performed on his right shoulder last July. He probably won't start for the Nationals until May. According to Chico Harlan in the Washington Post, "Wang is less a purchase than a gamble." It could turn out to be a great bargain, or a big waste. Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Wang will probably be motivated to prove his worth to his new team after two disappointing years in The Bronx. He had great win-loss statistics in 2006 and 2007, but that may have reflected the team he was playing on. His specialty is the sinker ball, forcing groundouts rather than going for strikeouts.

The Nationals also signed a minor league contract with veteran Ron Villone, who was one of their few reliable relief pitchers last year, and won their arbitration case against another former Yankee relief pitcher, Brian Bruney. You take those guys, and add Jason Marquis, John Lannan, and perhaps Stephen Strasburg late in the season, and you have one hell of a fine pitching staff. Things are definitely look up in Nats Town -- finally!

The mail bag

Paul Thompson recently got back from a trip to Cuba, where he visited Estadio Latinoamericano (capacity 50,000) in Havana, among some smaller ballparks and other entertainment venues. I highly recommend reading his detailed trip report, which is chock full of photos and videos, at mopupduty.com.

Bruce Orser brought to my attention some good images of Metropolitan Stadium at baseball-fever.com, and after browsing for a while I realized to my horror that the right field fence was angled slightly inward -- not perpendicular to the foul line, as I had long thought! You really do learn something new every day. Yet another diagram update pending...