I'm cross-posting this from David Vincent via Paul Wendt in the 19th
century group, as I think this group may have some answers to this:


David Vincent <GrandSlams@...> maintains the Tattersall-McConnell
Home Run Log. He is also SABR Biographical Research Cmte vice-Chair
and Retrosheet Secretary. He sent me this inquiry.

>>
"I have a question for you. From the research I have done in the past
I
seem to remember that parks had no outfield barriers so the ball could
simply keep rolling. Was there a gradual change to enclosed fields or
was it pretty rapid? When did the fences start going up?"
<<

One motivation may be to assess how the HR Log should proceed
regarding
inside-the-park home runs. In the last few years, much data on otp/itp
home runs has been contributed for the 1900s-1910s.

Paul Wendt


THANKS,
Kevin Johnson