Tigers will move in fence for '03 <!-- endheadline -->
Comerica's leftfield shortens from 395 feet to 370 <!-- endheadlineb -->
December 6, 2002<!-- enddate -->
<!-- photocredit:JULIAN H. GONZALEZ/Detroit Free Press%endphotocredit -->
<!-- cutline:In September, the Tigers experimented with moving in the fence for batting practice. The club has not unveiled the new configuration.%endcutline -->
<!-- byline -->BY JOHN LOWE<!-- endbyline -->
[font=helvetica,arial]<!-- affiliation -->FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER<!-- endaffiliation -->[/font]
Tigers pitcher Steve Sparks got to know the reaction well. It came when a Tigers hitter made a long out to left or left-centerfield at Comerica Park on a ball he crushed far enough to be a home run in almost any other stadium.
"You would see guys look up in the air, or go into the tunnel behind the dugout and destroy their bats," Sparks said. "It was tough on guys, and understandably so. They would hit a ball that may put us ahead, and time after time they got kind of cheated."
The Tigers won't experience those frustrations at home anymore. Before next season, the club will install a shorter fence at Comerica Park that runs from the leftfield foul pole to deep left-center.
"An early Christmas present," second baseman Damion Easley said.
In announcing the new fence Thursday, the club didn't unveil a drawing of the configuration, but did disclose one new dimension: the notorious 395-foot distance to left-center will be shortened to 370. That's only five feet more than the 365-foot left-center alley at hitter-friendly Tiger Stadium. With the change, the club might have created something that Comerica Park hasn't had: a hitters' part of the ballpark. Comerica's other primary dimensions will stay the same as in the park's past three seasons: 345 to the leftfield foul pole, 420 to center, 365 to right-center (with a high wall) and 330 to right.
:monsters- My bad guys. Lefties will still have a slight advantage, but not nearly as much as my initial post suggested. You would think the Tigers' website would have the correct figures on there.
arty:
