The desire for ball parks like Ebbets Field and Fenway Park led to the erection of acclaimed Camden Yards in Baltimore, the most successful of the new parks. It was built downtown and had the intimacy and old-time flavor that had been lost a few decades ago when cookie-cutter stadiums were built as much for football as baseball. June 12: A View of Baseball from a Fire Escape The suggestion here recently was that the Yankees could help liven up their game by erecting a tenenment building in deep centerfield in Yankee Stadium. This would generate excitement because balls hit to deep center no longer would be long outs; they would catalyze some exciting action when they bounced off the building or ricocheted down the fire escape while outfielders scrambled underneath to retrieve them. Yankee president Mike Burke is the kind of man who is not afraid to try things. I envision him going out and building that tenement. And he wouldn't do things half-heartedly, either. For real life flavor Burke would rent out the tenement apartments to people afflicted by the great apartment shortage. In my mind's eye Burke told me the other day, "I think it is a great idea. Every time a ball is hit to center field, the whole stadium comes alive. I find myself rooting for hitters--either team--to hit one off that building out there to see what happens. The day that ball got stuck in Mr. Fishel's flower pot, and Bobby Murcer raced all the way home for a grand slam homer--that was the best of all." "They say Mr. Fishel wasn't too happy about what the ball did to his geraniums," I said. "I don't think Mr. Fishel minded," Burke said."He is a rabid Yankee fan. He specifically asked for apartment No. 5 because Joe DiMaggio is his favorite all time Yankee." "Who has apartment No. 3?" "Mr. Bogle. He wouldn't know Babe Ruth from an Oh Henry bar. The man hates baseball. We just can't seem to get Mr. Bogle to stop throwing garbage out of the window. We told him he can't do that here. He says he's always thrown garbage out the window in all the other places he's lived." "Can't you evict him?" "We're trying to. The garbage he flings out the window makes for extra work for the groundskeepers. And the incident the other day was the last straw. He threw out a can of Dole's pineapple juice--a good thing it was empty--just when a fly ball was sailing to center field. Well, the can almost hit the Tigers' Jim Northrup, and he dropped the ball. I'm afraid the league is going to uphold the Tigers' protest.'
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Whenever a player hits the ball out of the park, I have a sense of elation. I feel as if I had done it. To me every wall or fence is an inhibition. Beyond the bleacher roof lies Italy. |
Baseball Needs to Keep Its Fenway Funhouse 
