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Marlins Park, the newest ballpark in Major League Baseball.

A baseball park, also known as a baseball stadium, ball park, or ballpark is a venue where baseball is played. It consists of the playing field and the surrounding spectator seating. While the diamond and the areas denoted by white painted lines adhere to strict rules, guidelines for the rest of the field are flexible.

The term "ballpark" sometimes refers either to the entire structure, or sometimes to just the playing field. A home run where the player makes it around the bases, and back to home plate, without the ball leaving the playing field is typically called an "inside-the-park" home run. Sometimes a home run over the fence is called "out of the ballpark," but that phrase more often means a home run that clears the stands and lands outside the building. The playing field is most often called the "ballfield," though the term is often used interchangeably with "ballpark" when referring to a small local or little-league facility.

General characteristics[link]

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The playing field[link]

Diagram of a baseball infield

A baseball field can be referred to as a diamond. The infield is a rigidly structured "diamond" (actually a square) of dirt containing the three bases, home plate, and the pitchers mound. The space between the bases and home is a grass surface, save for the dirt mound in the center. This differs from softball, where the infield is completely dirt.^{[citation needed]}

Two white lines run out from the home plate area, aligned with first and third bases. These are the foul lines or base lines, usually differentiated by referring to them as the first base line, or the third base line. If a ball hit by the batter lands outside of the space between these two lines, or rolls out of this space before reaching first or third base, the ball is "foul" (meaning it is dead and the play is over). If it lands between or on the lines, it is "fair". At the end of the lines are two foul poles, which help the umpires judge whether a ball is fair or foul. These "foul poles" are actually in fair territory, so a ball that hits them is a home run.

On either side of home plate are the batter's boxes. This is where the batter stands when at bat. Behind home is the catcher's box, where the catcher and the home plate umpire stand.

Next to first and third base are two coaches' boxes, where the first and third base coaches guide the baserunners, generally with gestures or shouts. As the baserunner faces away from the outfield when running from second base to third, they cannot see where the ball is, and must look to the third base coach on whether to run, stop, or slide. While the coach is supposed to stand within this box, the rule is rarely enforced,^{[citation needed]} although incidents of coaches getting hit with foul balls can cause some to be cautious.

Farther from the infield on either side are the dugouts, where the teams and coaches sit when they're not on the field. They are named such because, at the professional levels, this seating is below the level of the playing field so as to not block the view from prime spectator seating locations. In typical amateur parks,^{[citation needed]} the dugouts may be above-ground wooden or CMU structures with seating inside, or simply benches behind a chain link fence.

Beyond the infield and between the foul lines is a large grass outfield, generally twice the depth of the infield. The playing field is bordered by fences of varying height. The highest fences are generally those in the outfield, with the lowest fences surrounding the infield. This is due to the fact that any ball hit over the outfield fence is a home run.^{[citation needed]} Sometimes, the fence is made higher in certain areas to compensate for a close proximity to the batter.

In professional parks, the field is surrounded by an area roughly 10 feet (3.0 m) wide made of dirt or rubberized track surface called a "warning track". Originally used in Yankee Stadium in 1923 as an actual footrace track,^{[citation needed]} it is now present in all professional ballparks. This change in terrain warns a fielder, who is watching a ball in the air, that the wall is near, avoiding possible injury.

Beyond the outfield fence in professional parks is an area called the batter's eye. To ensure the batter can see the white ball, the batter's eye contains no seating, and is a darker color. This can be anything from a dark wall to a grassy slope.

Seating[link]

Today, in Major League Baseball, a multi-tiered seating area, a grandstand, surrounds the infield. How far this seating extends down the baselines or around the foul poles varies from park to park. In minor league parks, the grandstands are notably smaller, proportional to expected sizes of crowds compared with the major leagues.

The seating beyond the outfield fence generally differs from the grandstand, though some multi-purpose or jewel box parks have the grandstand surround the entire field. This area could contain inexpensive bleacher seats, smaller grandstands, or simply inclined seating. In local ballparks, typically there are simply a set or two of aluminum bleachers on either side.^{[citation needed]}

Variations[link]

Distinctive from "goal games" such as football and soccer, which have fixed-size playing areas, the infield is the only rigidly laid-out part of the field. Like its British relative, cricket, there is significant flexibility in the shape and size of the rest of the playing area.

Picture of old Yankee Stadium showing its left field fence, which was famous for being farther than the right.

To prevent "cheap" home runs, ballparks at particular levels of play usually specify a minimum distance from home to the outfield fences.^{[citation needed]} Generally, the higher the skill level, the deeper the minimum dimensions must be. In the major leagues, a rule was passed in 1958^[1] that compelled any new fields built after that point to have a minimum distance of 325 feet (99 m) from home plate to the fences in left and right field, and 400 feet (120 m) to center. (Rule 1.04, Note(a)). This rule was passed to avoid situations like the Los Angeles Coliseum, which was 251 ft (77 m). down the left field line.

However, with the opening of Baltimore's Camden Yards (1992), the "minimum distance" rule began to be ignored.^{[citation needed]} This may be due to two factors:^{[citation needed]} 1) The quaint, "retro" look of Camden Yards, with its irregular measurements, proved to be very popular; and 2) The traditionalist backlash against the symmetrical, multi-purpose, "cookie-cutter" stadiums (an era which seems to have ended with the opening of Toronto's Rogers Center in 1989). Since the opening of Camden Yards, many other "retro" stadiums have been built, each with asymmetrical fences. These distances vary from park to park, and can even change drastically in the same park. One of the most famous examples is the original Yankee Stadium, whose odd-shaped plot of land caused right field to be over 100 feet (30 m) shorter than left, although this difference lessened over time. The rectangular Polo Grounds (of the New York Baseball Giants) had extremely short distance down the lines, 258 ft (79 m). to right and 280 ft (85 m). to left. In contrast, the deepest part of center field was nearly 500 ft (150 m). from home plate.

Older ballparks, such as Fenway Park, were "grandfathered" in and allowed to keep their original dimensions. Despite this rule, new parks have sometimes received special dispensation to deviate from these rules. For instance, the second Yankee Stadium, built 2009, used the same dimensions as the original Yankee Stadium. ^[2]

The heights of the fences can also vary greatly, the most famous example being the 37-foot (11 m)-high Green Monster in Fenway Park's left field. Such tall fences are often used to stop easy home runs in a section of the ballpark where the distances from home are shorter, or where there is little space between the field and the street beyond. Some in-play scoreboards and high fences reached 50 to 60 feet (18 m), whereas a few outfields were even lined with hedges rather than normal fences or walls. The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, when set up for baseball, has a 23-foot (7.0 m) right field "fence" that is actually a relatively thin blue plastic sheet covering folded up football seats. It is often called the "Baggie" or "Hefty bag."

Some ballparks have irregularly shaped fences. While some parks may have round swooping fences or rigidly angles fences, some may have a big change in direction or and irregular angle. Some retro parks, such as Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, throw in a sudden and small inward turn (often referred to as a jog) just to give a little quirkiness to the design.^{[citation needed]}

Originally, and mostly in the jewel box parks, these variations resulted from the shape of the property where the park was constructed. If there was a street beyond left field, the distance to the left field fence would be shorter, and if the distance was too short, the fence would be higher. Now, these variations are mostly influenced by the specifications and whims of the designers. Retro parks, which try to recapture the feel of the jewel box parks, are designed to have these quirks.

Etymology[link]

Elysian Fields

Baseball was originally played in open fields or public parks. The genesis of modern baseball is conventionally connected with Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey,^{[citation needed]} a large public park where the businessmen of New York City gathered from time to time to play organized baseball games and cricket matches, starting around the mid-1840s. The name "Field" or "Park" was typically attached to the names of the early ballparks.

With the beginnings of professional baseball, the ballfield became part of a complex including fixed spectator seating areas, and an enclosure to restrict access to paying customers, as with a fairgrounds. The name "Grounds" began to be attached to ballparks, starting with the Union Grounds in 1862.^{[citation needed]} The suffixes "Field" and "Park" were still used, but many professional ballparks were "Grounds." The last surviving major league "Grounds" was the Polo Grounds in New York City, which was razed in 1964.

The term "stadium" had been used since ancient times, typically for a running track and its seating area. As college football gained in popularity, the smaller college playing fields and/or running tracks (which also frequently had the suffix "Field") gave way to large stadiums, many of them built during the sports "boom" of the 1920s. Major league baseball enjoyed a similar boom. One of the first major league ballparks to be called a "stadium" was actually the Polo Grounds, which was temporarily renamed Brush Stadium from its reconstruction in 1911 until the death of owner John T. Brush in the 1920s. By then, the most famous baseball "stadium" of them all had been constructed: Yankee Stadium.^{[citation needed]} From that point until the retro building boom of the 1990s, the suffix "Stadium" was used for almost every new major league ballpark, and was sometimes applied to the old ones, such as Shibe Park, which was renamed Connie Mack Stadium in 1954.

The suffix "Dome" was also used for the indoor stadiums constructed from the 1960s onward. The official names of those arenas also often included the word "Stadium," such as the Houston Astrodome, whose formal name was "Harris County Domed Stadium" in 1965; the Kingdome, whose formal name was "King County Domed Stadium," and the Metrodome, for which the Minneapolis highway signs direct the driver to "Metrodome Stadium." The retro era of the 1990s and early 2000s saw a return to the original arboreal terms, even to the huge domed structures, such as Safeco Field and Miller Park.

There is little consistency in which suffix to choose, "Field" or "Park." Organizations appear to choose based on which suffix "sounds" better for a given ballpark name.^{[citation needed]} For example, Chicago's Wrigley Field was previously called "Cubs Park." Also Minute Maid Park was once "Enron Field." During the classic era, there was a tendency for more National League sites to be called "Field" and more American League sites to be called "Park," but not consistently.

Settings[link]

Organized baseball has been a popular spectator sport from its beginning^{[citation needed]}. Seating area design is affected by many variables, including required capacity, audience access, and road traffic. Early ballparks like Elysian Fields were far from the city center. Each game was an event, and fans traveled by public transit to watch the game.

With the growth of professional leagues, and consequent growth in the quantity of games, each game became less of an event, and fan convenience became more important.^{[citation needed]} Many professional ballparks were built either near the city center, or in working-class neighborhoods, based on expected economic level of the average fan. Consequently, the classic ballparks typically had little space for automobiles, as it was expected that most fans would take mass transit to the games, a situation that still prevails at Chicago's Wrigley Field, for example. Some early ballparks, such as Brooklyn's Eastern Park, were abandoned because the trolley lines did not go out far enough and the team was not performing well enough for people to tolerate the inconvenience.

As fans became more affluent, and especially as they moved to the suburbs and bought cars, the lack of parking became an important issue. Some ballparks remedied this problem through the construction of parking garages in the vicinity, or building new ballparks with ample parking. Others built ballparks in the suburbs, typically with large parking areas. The ballpark/stadium thus became an "island" in an "ocean" of parking space.

The modern "retro" trend seeks to cover all the bases: an urban location, with plenty of parking and public transportation available.

Types of baseball parks[link]

Wooden ballparks[link]

The Huntington Avenue Grounds during the 1903 World Series.

The first professional baseball venues were large wooden ballparks with seats mounted on wood platforms. Although known for being constructed out of wood, they featured iron columns for better support. Some included one tier of inclined seating, topped with either a flat roof or, in some instances, a small upper tier. The outfield was bordered by tall walls or fences covered in advertisements, much like today's minor league parks. These advertisements were sometimes fronted with bleacher seats, or "bleaching boards." Wood, while prone to decomposition, was a realitively inexpensive material, as there was no official governing body for professional baseball at the time. However, the use of wood as the primary material presented a major problem, especially as baseball continued to thrive. Over time, the wooden stands aged and dried. Many parks caught fire, and some were leveled completely. This problem, along with the popularization of baseball and expectations for long-term use of the parks were major factors that drove the transition to the new standard materials for ballparks: steel and concrete.^{[citation needed]} Some famous wooden parks, such as the Polo Grounds III in New York and National League Park in Philadelphia, burned and were rebuilt with fire-resistant materials (Polo Grounds IV and Baker Bowl). Others were simply abandoned in favor of new structures built elsewhere. These new fire-resistant parks often lasted for many decades, and (retrospectively) came to be known as "jewel boxes."^{[citation needed]}