Wow.  Thank you for the excerpt from your forthcoming book and for all the great information, Ron.  I'm looking forward to your book and can assure you I'll be a buyer.

 

Thanks to a tip from Robert Bluthardt about the McGreevey Collection at the Boston Public Library, I found some photos from that collection online showing the overflow crowds you talk about standing behind a rope in the Huntington Ave Grounds outfield with a caption explaining that if a ball was hit into or past this crowd in such a game, it was considered a ground rule double.  

 

Thank you again for your answer, and, as I said, I'll be on the lookout for publication of your book.

 

Regards,

 

Steve