November 20, 2008 [LINK / comment]
Dolphin Stadium update
Well, at least I've got Florida covered! The Dolphin Stadium diagrams have been updated, and now conform to the new standard in terms of how the concourse and light towers are depicted. Note that the vertically-oriented diagram shows less space behind home plate than the horizontally-oriented diagram, which is based on the seating configuration in 1993, when the Marlins began playing.
The mail bag
That update is based in part on a tip from Mike Hofer, who brought a fact check to my attention and confirmed what I had suspected about an extra row of seats being installed within the past few years. He also pointed me to a Web page at Florida International University in which a professor made his own measurements of the outfield distances at Dolphin Stadium.
John Shanley wrote me: "The marked dimensions I remember for Connie Mack differ from your table. From Left they were, 331, 420, 447, 405 and 329." Does anyone else out there remember? Please comment or send me an e-mail. (I might actually get to it. )
MVP awards
Congratulations to Albert Pujols (Cards) and Justin Pedroia (Bosox) for winning the NL and AL Most Valuable Player Awards for 2008. Chipper Jones ended the season with a higher batting average than Pujols (.364 vs. .357), but he missed several weeks due to injury and only managed 22 homers. The Phillies' Ryan Howard led the NL in homers and RBIs but fell way short of a Triple Crown, batting only .251. On the American League side, Dustin Pedroia is phenomenal both offensively and defensively, one of those amazing Red Sox players who seemed to come out of nowhere. He led the league in none of the top three categories, however, getting second in batting, but he did get the Gold Glove Award for excellence in fielding. See MLB.com.