Q: Baseball fields and stadiums are very different in size. Outfield fences and even the shapes of the outfield playing fields are different, as well as the foul space. Playing fields for all other sports are identical, except maybe golf. Why don’t baseball playing fields have a standard size and shape?
— Killian Smith, Decatur
A: When the first baseball stadiums were constructed, many didn't have outfield fences. Later, stadiums were built to fit within dimensions determined by city streets, leading to varying distances from home plate to outfield walls, configurations and heights. "Nobody sat down and said, 'We're going to make all the ballparks the same,' " Philip Bess, author of "City Baseball Magic: Plain Talk and Uncommon Sense About Cities and Baseball Parks," told NPR.com. Major League Baseball's rule 1.04 was amended on June 1, 1958, to state: "Any playing field constructed by a professional club … shall provide a minimum distance of 325 feet from home base to the nearest fence, stand or other obstruction on the right and left field foul lines, and a minimum distance of 400 feet to the center field fence." If a fence is closer to home plate, sometimes it will be built higher — like the Green Monster, the name for the left field wall in Boston's Fenway Park — to make it tougher to hit home runs. Stadiums were once built or renovated to fit a team's strengths. Fences built closer to home plate meant more home runs for a team with power hitters. A larger outfield might benefit a speedier team. The distances between the pitcher's mound and home plate and between the bases are the same in every park.
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