The following is an analysis of bounce home runs hit at Ebbets Field from 1913 to 1930.  This study is a result of a review of every home run hit at the ballpark in those 18 seasons.

 

Ron Selter

 

 

 

Bounce Home Runs At Ebbets Field

 

Before the 1931 season, any fair batted ball leaving the field of play and doing so at a point at least 250 feet from home plate was a home run.  The 250 foot minimum distance was added to the rules starting with the 1926 season.  Before that season, there was no minimum distance for a bounce home run.  During the Deadball Era (1901-19) there were a number of instances where batted balls were deflected by a fielder-in some cases by an infielder-into the stands in foul territory.

There were 18 seasons of baseball at Ebbets Field (1913-30) during which bounce home runs were possible under the then current rules.  During these 18 seasons there were two principal configurations of Ebbets Field.  The initial 1913 configuration of Ebbets Field is well known as it was taken from the original plans for the ballpark.  These plans included several ballpark diagrams that showed the park’s boundaries, the location of the stands, and the perimeter fences.  In addition, the location of home plate and the foul lines were included.  Home plate was in the southwest portion of the park.  The RF and LF dimensions derived from the park diagram in the original plans match exactly the LF and RF dimensions for 1913 Ebbets Field taken from Green Cathedrals: LF 419, and RF 301.  Dead CF in the original plans was at the CF corner-a tremendous distance of 507 feet from home plate.  There were generous amounts of foul area in the infield.  From home plate to the backstop the distance was 76 feet and nearly as much (72 feet) from home plate to the grandstand along extensions of each foul line.  The foul area narrowed down to 55 feet at both first and third base.  The unique 19 foot high RF wall featured a slanted lower section and a vertical upper section.

No sooner was the park opened (an exhibition game vs. the Yankees on April 5, 1913), than a serious design flaw was discovered.  The ballpark had only two entrances.  To help with the outflow of fans at the conclusion of the game, an exit gate was cut into the wall in the right-side of center field.

For the 1914 season a small change was made in the ballpark’s configuration.  Home plate was moved nine feet towards LF and about two feet towards RF.  This move of home plate made the backstop distance 85 feet.  The infield foul area was now no longer symmetrical.  The LF dimension became 410, with a straightaway LF distance of 408 and RF 300.  Dead CF, now just to the left of the CF corner, was 496.  The deepest point in the park was still the CF corner that was now 500 feet.  It appears the reason for this configuration change (at least the portion of the move of home plate towards RF) was to eliminate the zero amount of foul territory in the LF corner that had existed with the original configuration.  Such a move would have eliminated disputes about balls hit into the LF corner being in or out of play.

The configuration of Ebbets Field was substantially modified late in the 1920 season.  The Dodgers in 1920 were in a hard-fought, and as it turned out successful, pennant race.  In order to accommodate the increased demand for seats-particularly on Sundays, the Dodgers in early September installed temporary bleachers in LF.  These LF bleachers extended nearly to the CF corner.  The LF bleachers that provided additional seating were referred to as “circus seats” in the press.  However, the official designation was “emergency grandstand”-this allowed the Dodgers to charge the higher grandstand price instead of the lower bleacher price.  The front of these bleacher consisted of a low fence-all of two feet high.  The LF foul line distance was now 384 and the straightaway LF distance was 374.

In Ebbets Field’s original large configurations, that existed from Opening day 1913 through August 1920, Inside-the-Park-Home-Runs were common (some 65 %) and bounce home runs were rare.  In fact in the nearly eight seasons of the park’s original configurations there were only seven bounce home runs-all seven of which were in my judgment flukes.  The first bounce home run hit at Ebbets Field occurred on May 6, 1916.  A ball hit to RF by the Dodger’s George Cutshaw rolled up the slanted lower portion of the RF wall and skipped over the top.  To make this bounce home run even more memorable, it was a walk-off home run hit in the 11^th inning.  There were two other bounce home runs hit to RF: one hit the kinked RF wall and bounded into Bedford Ave and the other went through an open gate into the field level stands down the RF foul line.  In addition there were two bounce home runs hit to CF; both hit through the exit gate in CF.  The final two bounce home runs in this time period were hit to LF.  Both were the result of left fielders kicking ball into the third base stands.

Starting in September 1920, after the installation of the temporary bleachers in LF, the now closer LF home run barrier had only a two foot high fence in front of the bleachers.  In fact, it was now possible to hit a bounce home run into the LF bleachers on the second bounce!  The new bleachers had a tremendous effect on the number of bounce home runs at Ebbets Field!  In the original configurations bounce home runs were less than one per season.  In the time period with the LF bleachers in place (10 plus seasons) a total of 89 bounce home runs were hit at Ebbets Field-of which 81 went into the bleachers.  Of these 81 bounce home runs into the bleachers, 79 were hit into the LF sections of the bleachers and two into the CF sections.  There were only two bounce home runs hit to RF.  Both of these were ones that hit the canted lower portion of the RF wall and climbed over.

By comparison, there were a total of 296 bounce home runs hit in the major leagues for the ten seasons 1921-30.  Ebbets Field alone accounted for 30 % of that total.  At Ebbets Field for these ten seasons, bounce home runs (88) outnumbered Inside-the-Park-Home-Runs (58).  In these ten seasons, the only other ballparks with substantial numbers of bounce home runs were Baker Bowl in the NL (57), and Yankees Stadium in the AL with 36 in eight seasons.  Baker Bowl had close LF bleachers with a short fence.  and Yankee Stadium had stands close to both foul lines as well as close RF bleachers.