Post by soonerfantu on Nov 17, 2013 19:06:20 GMT -5
After a disappointing season that saw the NL favorite Brooklyn Dodgers finish third, team management set out to make changes in hopes that the 1954 season would not end in similar fashion.
Brooklyn entertained a lot of possible trade scenarios during the winter. While there were several pieces that management had termed "as close to off-limits as possible", there were still plenty of trade chips that the Dodgers were dangling in front of other teams. Two of the biggest items on the Dodgers' shopping list were immediate pitching help, and cash money. Returning an offense that scored plenty of runs, and had no visible weaknesses, shoring up a pitching staff that was middle of the pack last year is something the team really wanted to achieve this offseason. They also wanted to get a little extra spending cash, with several large contracts on the horizon.
While the Dodgers were able to ship off Dick Whitman and Billy Cox in deals that landed the team cash, the weren't able to make the splash that team ownership had hoped for. A last minute trade with the Washington Senators did bring in Bob Porterfield, a starting pitcher that the team has high hopes for. But still, the Dodgers front office wanted to do more to help out there pitching staff in the upcoming season.
Moving the fences was an idea that was brought up during some internal team meetings. When team ownership looked back at last season, it was noted that left handed batters really beat up the Dodger staff. With few lefties ready to make a difference, and the Dodgers only starting two hitters that hit left handed, the front office decided to make some changes. While the changes may not appear, on the surface, as moves that will help the staff, Dodger ownership believes they will help the team as a whole by focusing on their right handed hitters more, while making things a little tougher on the lefties. The Dodgers will be paying for these changes with cash money acquired during some of their offseason trading. Changes are expected to be made before the start of the 1954 season.
Here are the dimensions the ballpark had during the 1953 season:
LFL - 356
LF - 356
LCF - 382
CF - 399
RCF - 390
RF - 319
RFL - 296
Wall height ranged from 9 feet to 38 feet.
During the upcoming 1954 season, and for at least the two following seasons, the Ebbets Field will have the following dimensions:
LFL - 321
LF - 326
LCF - 387
CF - 429
RCF - 390
RF - 339
RFL - 326
Heights will vary from 8 feet to 35 feet, per request to CSCommish.
These changes should increase the results from right handed hitters, while slightly stifling what lefties will be able to do. Team ownership admitted that they have no experience in moving the fences to play to their team's strength, so this is a bit of a guess as to whether this will help the team in the upcoming seasons.
Efforts to find a picture of an 8 foot baseball fence were made during the writing of this article, but those efforts failed. Dodger ownership is hoping his efforts alone please CSCommish.
Here is a picture of a random baseball frence (ours is nicer than this):
www.allcourtfabrics.com/images/baseball_fence_screen.jpg
Brooklyn entertained a lot of possible trade scenarios during the winter. While there were several pieces that management had termed "as close to off-limits as possible", there were still plenty of trade chips that the Dodgers were dangling in front of other teams. Two of the biggest items on the Dodgers' shopping list were immediate pitching help, and cash money. Returning an offense that scored plenty of runs, and had no visible weaknesses, shoring up a pitching staff that was middle of the pack last year is something the team really wanted to achieve this offseason. They also wanted to get a little extra spending cash, with several large contracts on the horizon.
While the Dodgers were able to ship off Dick Whitman and Billy Cox in deals that landed the team cash, the weren't able to make the splash that team ownership had hoped for. A last minute trade with the Washington Senators did bring in Bob Porterfield, a starting pitcher that the team has high hopes for. But still, the Dodgers front office wanted to do more to help out there pitching staff in the upcoming season.
Moving the fences was an idea that was brought up during some internal team meetings. When team ownership looked back at last season, it was noted that left handed batters really beat up the Dodger staff. With few lefties ready to make a difference, and the Dodgers only starting two hitters that hit left handed, the front office decided to make some changes. While the changes may not appear, on the surface, as moves that will help the staff, Dodger ownership believes they will help the team as a whole by focusing on their right handed hitters more, while making things a little tougher on the lefties. The Dodgers will be paying for these changes with cash money acquired during some of their offseason trading. Changes are expected to be made before the start of the 1954 season.
Here are the dimensions the ballpark had during the 1953 season:
LFL - 356
LF - 356
LCF - 382
CF - 399
RCF - 390
RF - 319
RFL - 296
Wall height ranged from 9 feet to 38 feet.
During the upcoming 1954 season, and for at least the two following seasons, the Ebbets Field will have the following dimensions:
LFL - 321
LF - 326
LCF - 387
CF - 429
RCF - 390
RF - 339
RFL - 326
Heights will vary from 8 feet to 35 feet, per request to CSCommish.
These changes should increase the results from right handed hitters, while slightly stifling what lefties will be able to do. Team ownership admitted that they have no experience in moving the fences to play to their team's strength, so this is a bit of a guess as to whether this will help the team in the upcoming seasons.
Efforts to find a picture of an 8 foot baseball fence were made during the writing of this article, but those efforts failed. Dodger ownership is hoping his efforts alone please CSCommish.
Here is a picture of a random baseball frence (ours is nicer than this):
www.allcourtfabrics.com/images/baseball_fence_screen.jpg
