Just the facts...
Stadium Statistics

Stadiums are listed in chronological order, according to when they were first used in the major leagues, not necessarily when they were built. There is only one line of data per stadium, even for stadiums that went through two or more distinct "phases." Data pertain to the longest phase for each stadium, e.g, the 1937-1973 era for Yankee Stadium. See further explanation and elaboration at the bottom of the page.

The rows of data now scroll separately, obviating the need for multiple column headings. The vertical alignment may vary from one browser to the next, depending on the width of the scroll bar. Please contact the Webmaster if you experience any problems viewing this page. Also see the Stadium rankings (subjective!) and the Dimensions (which highlights discrepancies) pages.

Elaboration

Orientation indicates the compass direction from home plate to center field. The third paragraph of the Official Baseball Rules says, "It is desirable that the line from home base through the pitchers plate to second base shall run East-Northeast." Indeed, that is the most common orientation. Reflecting the high priority of keeping the sun's glare out of the batter's field of vision, no MLB stadiums have aligned between south-southeast (150 degrees) and northwest (315 degrees).

Capacity figures are broadly representative of the stadium's entire period of use; they are often rounded to the nearest thousand, reflecting the fact that the number of seats fluctuated from year to year. The same thing goes for the outfield dimensions, which sometimes fluctuate from year to year. Figures above are either show current dimensions (for ballparks still in use) or else represent the stadium's "typical" dimensions during its lifetime.

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Sources:

Lowry (2006), Ritter (1992), DeLorme Street Atlas USA (Mac version), ballparksofbaseball.com, www.ballparks.com, Official Baseball Rules (2004 Edition)