Contractors are currently working at Citi Field bringing the fences in to make the park’s dimensions more comparable to other MLB stadiums. I tend to favor larger stadiums, because to me it is strange and arbitary that the position of a fence can not just make a double into a home run, but actually make an out into a home run – in other words make an improperly hit ball into a perfectly hit ball. I would prefer that almost every ball that goes over the fence would have been a homerun anyway – in other words, put the fences 500 feet away and have a lot more running and fielding. But obviously Babe Ruth supplanted that style of baseball a long time ago.
The ballpark configuration which seems to have worked best is Yankee Stadium: with a small right field, it favors left-handed hitters. This is considered better because right-handed hitters are so common: it allows the home team to stock up on lefties (Ruth, Gehrig), which not every team can do, and hence develop a home field advantage.
But here’s another idea: make center field the hitters’ field. All the current parks discourage hitting fly balls to center field: it is the only part of the park where a 400-foot fly ball is an out. But hitting the ball to center field is precisely what good hitters should do. I would make a park which is 380 feet to all fields, encouraging home runs to center field while making lots of triples and inside-the-park home runs in the corners. This would give the home team an advantage defensively: the home team would be sure to have three fast outfielders with good arms, as opposed to one or two. It would reward power but also reward speed. It would also be unique. All good reasons for an organization with no imagination, like the Mets, to not have come up with it.
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