HERES A PIC I CAN APPRECIATE...

[yuiyoshida]

https://twitter.com/MLBFanCave/status/522586649868644352

WISH I WAS THERE!

[arcane1]

1. Weird, that field doesn't seem symmetrical. Is that normal?

I know very little about baseball

[First Speaker]

2. It's very normal...

...in fact, standard practice. The configuration of the original Yankee Stadium in 1923 was tailored to fit Babe Ruth's home run swing. It's one of the things that makes baseball so cool...

[arcane1]

3. I had no idea! Does it vary from stadium to stadium?

[First Speaker]

4. Absolutely

...there was a time, in the 60s-70s, when baseball made cookie-cutter, soulless stadiums they shared with pro football teams. They all had identical configurations--and everyone hated them. When Camden Yards was built in Baltimore in 1990--the first "modern", retro ballpark--it began a trend of making every new ballpark unique, giving all of them their own eccentricities. And everyone seems to be happy...LOL

[sharp_stick]

6. I love those idiosyncrasies

Here's Fenway in Boston.

that little "jink" out in right center field is pretty much designed to allow balls to bounce around and confuse opponents.

RedSox fielders spend hours learning that spot as well as how to properly play a ball that bounces off the 37'2" Green Monster in left field.

[Yavin4]

7. asymmetrical baseball stadiums are due to property acquisition

Later on, asymmetry became part of the charm of baseball.

[rurallib]

10. Should have seen the place the Giants played in in New York

the Polo Grounds - I think the left field fence was only about 250 feet

[mackerel]

5. Giants!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[A HERETIC I AM]

8. The stadiums in the US that can be configured for both Football and Baseball always interested me

RFK in Washington DC is one such.
RFK for Football:


And for Baseball;


The grandstands are movable in large blocks in order to facilitate a different field configuration. They present problems though, as there is often the dirt infield still present when a football game is on and strange seating positions for both configurations.

It seems to me they have fallen out of style, as newer stadiums are purpose built - the two side-by-side stadiums in Detroit, as an example for the Tigers and the Lions.

[yuiyoshida]

9. HERE IS ANOTHER...