RIP Willie Mays

The bathtub design of the Polo Grounds was, for some reason which I am sure was unintentional , designed like a football stadium. The distances down the foul poles were 257 and 273 in the diagram I saw. Then the field went straight back and took almost a right angle.

Power alleys in Denver can be placed much further back. I remember the first time I went to a Denver Bears game in the late 60's. The distance down the right field line was about 370 to the right field wall. I remember thinking this must be an pitchers park but it was not. You could have 415 foot power alleys in Denver.

Obviously they are not going to tear down stands to accommodate my wishes but I think it was an opportunity lost.

 

Willie Mays, then and now ...

 

Maybe in heaven Wertz's blast goes for a triple, the Indians win the opener and sweeep the series.

 

Or maybe Satan had already claimed the Indians for hell back then, as he as done ever since.

 

There is a law office in town with an obnoxious Yankees mural. I should drive up tomorrow and see if Manky is hanging out.

 

The thing about Coors is that it has, by surface area, the largest outfield in Major League Baseball, which might be because of that one time at Mile High when Sid Bream hit a checked-swing homer. The problem is that the radius of where the defender can go stays the same and the radius of where the ball can go grows. Making the field even bigger would only increase that discrepancy.

Sometimes I can't even fathom the Polo Grounds as a Major League venue. Most high school fields are longer down the line and yet center was so far out there that they didn't even bother to put up a fence. I believe the steps to the unconnected clubhouse started where centerfield ended.

 

Did he ever make A1!

 

If that's Thursday's cover, what the heck was TODAY'S (Wednesday's) cover?

 

I get to see that in the driveway tomorrow AM, a good start to the day!

 

From what I understand, they need to be off the floor by 8 p.m. I first saw news of this on teh Twitterez around 5:50. So in print nada (at least the edition we get here). But lotsa good web content. In other words, journalism in the 2020s.

 

The year he hit for the cycle, he had just two home runs and three triples for the entire season.