[Ben Hollerbach]

Baseball has continuously made subtle changes to the ball that better regulate hitting. It seem like season after season they tweak the compression of the ball, the feel of the stitches, or even the humidity the balls are stored at, all to provide more control to either the pitcher or batter for any given year.
At times when viewership is falling, they insert a hotter ball to promote more home runs. When hitting is up they introduce a ball with raised stitching to give pitchers more break on their pitches, or a softer ball that seems to fall out of the air at the warning track. From the bleachers or on TV, only the diehard fans can tell the difference.

[V. Kmetz]

P.S. It doesn't seem like distance has changed all that much in terms of outfield fence distances and how far pros hit it. 

Off-topic but, they definitely hit it farther but the parks for the most part have gotten smaller. 

There were always parks that had short dimensions throughout or in certain parts of the park but there were also stadiums that had huge outfield dimensions.  There's a reason that other than DiMaggio the Yankees never had a right handed hitter who hit a lot of HRs in the original Yankee Stadium - it was 460 to left-center and 490 to CF. Now there are no parks with large dimensions but a lot with short dimensions.

Comerica (DET), Petco (SD), Citi (NYM), Safeco (SEA) all opened in the last 20 years and after a few seasons drastically moved the fences in and/or lowered the walls.

Wikipedia gives left center at 399 ft and center at 408 feet in 1923. How does this mesh with your stats?

If tyu follow DK's advice and click on the "old" Yankee Stadium hyperlink and scroll down to "Outfield Dimensions"...you will see that after opening in 1923 at the listed dimensions, it morphed reliably larger over the years, not going down in size until the rebuild of the old stadium in time for the 1976 season.   Yankee Stadium's center and left center field was known as Death Valley

[V. Kmetz]

I would think hitting a baseball, (at the speeds and as well-disguised as the pros throw them), is the most intrinsically difficult thing to do in pro sports.

A 100 MPH fastball from 60.5 feet away will hit the catcher mitt in under .4 seconds from when it leaves the hand...try hitting that!     (Its literally the same time that elapses during a blink of the eye)

That's an oft-cited observation - that hitting a baseball is the toughest act in sports - I think it pales to doing cartwheels, handsprings, backflips and ballet spins on a 4" balance beam, among other insane things both gender's routines call for. You or I might get lucky and get a piece of one of every 50 MLB pitches... I doubt anybody here could walk across a balance beam in under 10 seconds. Don't know if it's a "pro" sport, but there it is.

[Garland Bayley]

P.S. It doesn't seem like distance has changed all that much in terms of outfield fence distances and how far pros hit it. 

Off-topic but, they definitely hit it farther but the parks for the most part have gotten smaller. 

There were always parks that had short dimensions throughout or in certain parts of the park but there were also stadiums that had huge outfield dimensions.  There's a reason that other than DiMaggio the Yankees never had a right handed hitter who hit a lot of HRs in the original Yankee Stadium - it was 460 to left-center and 490 to CF. Now there are no parks with large dimensions but a lot with short dimensions.

Comerica (DET), Petco (SD), Citi (NYM), Safeco (SEA) all opened in the last 20 years and after a few seasons drastically moved the fences in and/or lowered the walls.

Wikipedia gives left center at 399 ft and center at 408 feet in 1923. How does this mesh with your stats?

It doesn't because that is what the dimensions were on the POST-renovated Yankee Stadium from 1988 until it closed.  Scroll down a little further in the Wiki entry, read the section called Outfield Dimensions and consult the helpful chart of Yankee Stadium dimensions through the years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee_Stadium_(1923)

Thanks.

I was surprised at the dimensions as I remember an unusual shape that I remember would give Maris an advantage.

[Cal Carlisle]

Hockey players as a group always seemed to be a cut above the other sports. Mike Modano and Ray Whitney stick out in my mind when I worked at a couple of clubs in Columbus.

[V. Kmetz]

I was surprised at the dimensions as I remember an unusual shape that I remember would give Maris an advantage.

It was short by any era's standards immediately down both lines, a bit moreso in right (the "short" porch) but the unusual shape was produced by the bulge/bowing of the fence line out in center-left center.  If you want something really crazy, then look just 600 yards across the Harlem River to the old Polo Grounds (abandoned in 1963 and destroyed shortly thereafter) where the pre SF, NY Giants and first version of the NY Mets played; that was like 250 down the left line (Thompson's 51 pennant clinching "Shot Heard 'Round...") but bowing out to near 500 in dead center (Mays' catch of Vic Wertz, 54' series)...the one stadium of all I wish I had a chance to see...cruddy, rusty, arcane, ill-proportioned, scalawag industrial waste riverfront...perfect.

[Erik J. Barzeski]

I doubt anybody here could walk across a balance beam in under 10 seconds. Don't know if it's a "pro" sport, but there it is.

4" wide? 16'5" long? I think several people here could win that bet. A 2 x 4 is only 3.5" wide, so if you can walk across one of those…

[jeffwarne]

I was surprised at the dimensions as I remember an unusual shape that I remember would give Maris an advantage.

  If you want something really crazy, then look just 600 yards across the Harlem River to the old Polo Grounds (abandoned in 1963 and destroyed shortly thereafter) where the pre SF, NY Giants and first version of the NY Mets played; that was like 250 down the left line (Thompson's 51 pennant clinching "Shot Heard 'Round...") but bowing out to near 500 in dead center (Mays' catch of Vic Wertz, 54' series)...the one stadium of all I wish I had a chance to see...cruddy, rusty, arcane, ill-proportioned, scalawag industrial waste riverfront...perfect.

This.
Where a centerfielder earned his pay.

[Jim Hoak]

One of my greatest golf memories was playing 18 holes with Ernie Banks many years ago.  He chattered standing over the ball just like baseball.  Wonderful guy!

[Kalen Braley]

I would think hitting a baseball, (at the speeds and as well-disguised as the pros throw them), is the most intrinsically difficult thing to do in pro sports.

A 100 MPH fastball from 60.5 feet away will hit the catcher mitt in under .4 seconds from when it leaves the hand...try hitting that!     (Its literally the same time that elapses during a blink of the eye)

That's an oft-cited observation - that hitting a baseball is the toughest act in sports - I think it pales to doing cartwheels, handsprings, backflips and ballet spins on a 4" balance beam, among other insane things both gender's routines call for. You or I might get lucky and get a piece of one of every 50 MLB pitches... I doubt anybody here could walk across a balance beam in under 10 seconds. Don't know if it's a "pro" sport, but there it is.

Vk,

Well yes and no I guess.  I can do my own version of a handspring and backflip, that would be as ugly as me foul tipping a 100 MPH baseball..     But point taken!  Gymnastics is pretty tough, especially when you throw in rings and the pommel horse.

P.S.  Even conceding that MLB ballparks have gotten smaller, the point still basically stands given that it took 60+ years for someone to match the 61 dinger mark (without going full roids).  If Golf Pros from todays game played tournament tees from 60 years ago, every par 5 would be reached in two (driver/wedge), nearly every par 4 would be drivable, and the par 3s would be mostly wedges and short irons.

[Charlie Goerges]

If Golf Pros from todays game played tournament tees from 60 years ago, every par 5 would be reached in two (driver/wedge), nearly every par 4 would be drivable, and the par 3s would be mostly wedges and short irons.

With the caveat "not if they played the same equipment".

[David Kelly]

I was surprised at the dimensions as I remember an unusual shape that I remember would give Maris an advantage.

It was short by any era's standards immediately down both lines, a bit moreso in right (the "short" porch) but the unusual shape was produced by the bulge/bowing of the fence line out in center-left center.  If you want something really crazy, then look just 600 yards across the Harlem River to the old Polo Grounds (abandoned in 1963 and destroyed shortly thereafter) where the pre SF, NY Giants and first version of the NY Mets played; that was like 250 down the left line (Thompson's 51 pennant clinching "Shot Heard 'Round...") but bowing out to near 500 in dead center (Mays' catch of Vic Wertz, 54' series)...the one stadium of all I wish I had a chance to see...cruddy, rusty, arcane, ill-proportioned, scalawag industrial waste riverfront...perfect.

As you probably know, Griffith Stadium was almost impossible to hit a home run in.  In 1945 the Senators hit 0 HRs over the fence and the visiting team hit 6.  For most of it's history it was 405 down the left field line. The RF foul line was only 320 or so but there was a 30ft fence down the line and a 40ft scoreboard in right center that was in play.  The people who owned the house in CF never sold so they just built the fence around it with the house jutting into straightaway CF at about 420. 


At the same time I developed an interest in golf courses as a kid I was fascinated by ballparks as well.

[Erik J. Barzeski]

P.S.  Even conceding that MLB ballparks have gotten smaller, the point still basically stands given that it took 60+ years for someone to match the 61 dinger mark (without going full roids).  If Golf Pros from todays game played tournament tees from 60 years ago, every par 5 would be reached in two (driver/wedge), nearly every par 4 would be drivable, and the par 3s would be mostly wedges and short irons.

Pitchers have gotten better, too.

[Tim Leahy]

One of my greatest golf memories was playing 18 holes with Ernie Banks many years ago.  He chattered standing over the ball just like baseball.  Wonderful guy!

I caddied for Mr. Banks a couple of times at Brentwood CC in LA where he was a member in the 80's. What a gentleman and good golfer as well as a great tipper.

[V. Kmetz]

I doubt anybody here could walk across a balance beam in under 10 seconds. Don't know if it's a "pro" sport, but there it is.

4" wide? 16'5" long? I think several people here could win that bet. A 2 x 4 is only 3.5" wide, so if you can walk across one of those…

You might, but make sure to station it 4.5 feet off the ground, with nothing for your feet and balance to grasp if the flesh is a 1/2" over its edge...I don't know if anyone here could simply get on it and even begin that walk...and there is a reason its not a male apparatus, the cost of some failure is too high...or low...

[Erik J. Barzeski]

You might, but make sure to station it 4.5 feet off the ground, with nothing for your feet and balance to grasp if the flesh is a 1/2" over its edge...I don't know if anyone here could simply get on it and even begin that walk...

I walked across, then "ran" across one tonight before my soccer game. The floor is padded, and ten seconds is a long time. I mean, it's basically a sobriety test. Heck, we have a 2" steel pipe that zig-zags at the zoo and people will walk across that - total length is about 20' in 5' segments that zig-zag about 30°.

I think your statement is more a matter of the median age of the members here than the actual difficulty of the task. 

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