1:55 Union City High School. Y'know, I'm gonna go ahead and stand up to applaud the architect on this one. Someone told them to build a school with a baseball and football field on top of it, and that person not only managed to do it, but it actually looks pretty cool and the dimensions are pretty nice. That home run well really is a nice touch. I'd like to play a game on this field. The mysterious architect can rest easy knowing they gave their employer exactly what they wanted. I salute you.
I bet you at the Union City High School field no center fielder ever tried robbing someone of a home run in fear that they might fall 4 stories to their death.
As a former track and field athlete, some of these oddly shaped tracks around the oddly shaped fields are making me very curious about how meets are conducted and distances measured.
I'd imagine they'd just take a yard/metre wheel thingy-me-bob and measure up much track to be marked for specific races, though I think the weirdly shaped ones are totally cool for track and field though. Almost entertaining.
@@bobbyriggs3656 i never understood why the tracks look always the same. For me the big problem with track and field on a high level is that were pushing phyaical boundries and records are rare. So why not build different track layouts?
I played an away game at Hull, and there were about 50-60 foul balls that game just because of ocean winds, AND at least a fourth of those went into the actual ocean😂😂😂
These highschools definitely put up temporary fences for games, at least that's what mine does, so these weird dimensions wouldn't actually get used during games.
I figured as much, but it depends how lazy the school is. I saw a field where they didn't put up a fence and a ball wandered to the track while a meet was going on. Weirdest one I played at was a grass parking lot where they put 4 mounds of dirt for the bases and a bigger mound of dirt for the pitchers mound. They put up a temporary fence that had to make the field about 300 in left and 230 to right. I saw a guy blooped one to right, the right fielder fell ove the fence, crushed it, the ball landed on top of the crushed fence and rolled over for a home run.
Yay, El Camino made the list! A couple of things about that one, because I've played there a few times in my life... and I was a center fielder: 1) When I played there (circa 2003-2006), the corners didn't use to cut off like they do now. The field used to just be a big right triangle, and be like 360 feet down the lines or something. 2) Regarding the center field wall, clearing the wall and hitting the trees is a ground rule double, but CLEARING the trees (to the umpire's discretion) is actually a home run. It's funny that our team always had an adage for some of our flyouts/lineouts to center field in other parks though, where we'd say: "That's a double at El Camino," or: "That's a single at El Camino. 3) Center field didn't have a warning track so to speak, but the area where the grass meets the fence has a few feet of dirt before it where the descending slope begins, and as everyone knows: where there are trees, there are roots. That's right, there were roots basically as our warning track to that fence, which made rolling an ankle a big possibility each time you were out there. Also to address your thing about the tennis courts and such, they are WAY downhill of that center field fence. So unless they plan on doing a bunch of landscaping, they couldn't change that area at all even if they wanted to. 4) You can't see the cemetery from the field at all. If I didn't move near there later in my life or if I didn't have Google Maps, I wouldn't have even known that it was there. Behind the first base dugout is a massive upward slope (those bleachers behind the dugout are about 20 feet above field level), and we essentially knew that foul balls back that way were tough to get because it was very separated from the field by fences and slopes galore. Either way, even though it's not the Golden Gate National Cemetery, and it's still a pretty inviting and beautiful establishment to tour. It doesn't feel "scary" or "haunted" at all. If you've been there, you know what I'm talking about. 5) One thing not mentioned (and probably true of other parks, but not sure), I always felt claustrophobic batting there because there was ALMOST NO FOUL GROUND WHATSOEVER. Running to first base, the dugout is right on top of you. It's crazy, they've really cramped it all up. All told though, I actually enjoyed playing there for its unique characteristics. Not as a home ballpark, but just once a year was cool enough for me. Being in center field, I tried to do the kinds of things that they were talking about in the video, but it was also important for me to play deep because the corner outfielders would cover a little more line, and balls would deaden off the chain link fence. My best two accomplishments there were forcing a guy out at second base on a routine ground ball single up the middle (because I was close enough) and deking a baserunner when the ball went off the fence but I was playing like I was going to catch it, holding the runners only at 1st and 2nd. EDIT: Looking at it now on Google Maps, they've changed a lot of that field. The bleachers are now at field level, and the dugouts are far away from home plate. Interesting renovations.
@@jagerbombing Oh cool! I taught there for a year. Their field is way different now, I think from a private donor. It faces the other way, which means the wind probably now helps the ball to right field. The last time I recall playing there (in the original orientation), the wind knocked down my potential grand slam fly ball, and all I got was a sacrifice fly to the warning track haha. Anyway, good looking out!
Brandon Robinson you are right about the private donor. Same person/people who put in the football field. I taught there for a couple years too. I’m not sure I like the turf infield idea, but the clubhouse is super nice. Anything is better than what was there when I played. The lack of fences killed home runs if the outfield played deep.
This takes me back to playing softball in NYC. We would get one of 2 field types: 1. The Upper Manhattan park constrained within a narrow city block. The right field wall was less than 200 feet, so going yard counted as an out. 2. Randall’s Island. A lot of shared outfields. We had to look out for each other and warn the outfielders from the other game (whose backs were to our infields) when a ball was incoming.
@Lighthouse in the Storm Its on top of a school and still somehow fits a baseball field and football field while still having roughly correct dimensions. That my friedn is impressive.
Whit Siever well we do. and since we have a fence in right that we put in for practices and games it rarely happens that we have a mercy rule, if there was no fence lefties would love our field, i got to st vincent de paul
I played high school on that field the view is nice but in the late summer the visitor side by the grandstand doesn’t let wind in and is ridiculously hot.
freaking hilarious & well done! My late father was an oddball hurler, a left-handed 'butterfly' knuckleballer in the 40s for Colorado School of Mines. He must've told me this story a hundred times over the years, that one semester their left field had to be shared with the geology department's quarry overflow of broken up boulders. All in play on balls hit more than 220 feet, fielders weaving between huge rocks to track down fly balls, etc.
Not a huge baseball fan, but I’ve always thought it was interesting how baseball fields are some of the only fields that will flex their dimensions to fit into tight spaces. I’m curious if this has to do with their history of being an urban sport. Typically soccer or football stadiums either have to tear down a large swath of a city, or be built in the suburbs, but suburban baseball stadiums are much more rare. A good example is BB&T ballpark (likely to be renamed Truist Ballpark soon) in Charlotte, home to the minor league Charlotte Knights. Not only does it face almost due East, but it’s dimensions are reduced down the right field line to allow for additional seats on the relatively small lot.
8:20 I live less than a mile away from El Camino HS now, and it's amazing that their field is real. The outfield situation can be somewhat explained by a substantial 20- to 25-foot drop from CF down to the 10 (!) tennis courts below, which isn't easy to see on Google Maps. The campus footprint is quite small and sadly doesn't allow for any better situation without serious land redevelopment. As for the cemetery to the right side of the field, that's Holy Cross Cemetery in the neighboring town of Colma. Joe DiMaggio is buried there, and the Yankee Clipper likely rolls over in his grave with every double hit over the center-field fence.
My HS played a game there once. I seem to remember that a "center field double" was changed to a homerun because the ball hit a tree that grew from outside the double zone. To say the least it was weird playing there.
Between the missing outer half of the outfield, and the whatever number it is of tennis courts, it doesn't even look real. It looks like something someone would have made in a city simulation game. Also, as for the Joe DiMaggio thing... Jesus. My boyfriend's a Red Sox fan but I'm pretty sure even he would find that appalling. Update: asked my boyfriend, and he does agree that it sucks that Joe DiMaggio is buried right near such a bad field.
Not only was I pleasantly surprised to see my grandparents’ old house at 5:29, this is one of the funniest things I’ve come across lately. Thanks for providing some much-needed laughs!
1:52 When I lived in NJ, every month we took a bus to Secaucus to do some shopping on weekends and the bus always drove past this stadium. I questioned it every time because it's so weird
I currently live a town away from that stadium, and let me tell you. This place is weird (that home run hole is actually an opening to a sitting area which is down in there 😂😂😂. Its has a good view of the nyc skyline tho 💯
2:20 whoever put that in there, whether by design or happy accident, is a friggin' GENIUS. That would be the high school baseball equivalent of kicking a kickball homerun onto the roof in elementary
MLB did this early this morning lol. Ha this will be great! The weirdest dimensions I've seen was landshark stadium where it was 420 to center with a corner.
El Chris of all the names to call that stadium, you picked landshark? The one that lasted for like 6 months? Sun life, hard rock, pro player, joe Robbie, hell I would have expected dolphins stadium before landshark. Well played.
UNLESS things have changed since I graduated high school in 1984, in my opinion, one of the ABSOLUTE worst high school baseball fields I ever saw AND played on was at Jean Ribault High School in Jacksonville, Florida. How bad was it? Very little grass and maybe 99% sand and dirt, not to mention the infield was so shoddy they had to dig holes out after a rain storm to put the bases in place. Now I did NOT attend there, but granted, they tried so hard to make it accommodating, but seemed to fail at every attempt. Have to give them credit too because they had quite a small powerhouse of a team in the early 1980s...so hopefully in last 39 years they made SOME subtle changes to the field. God bless them if they did.
I’ve played here. There is also playground in left that’s in play. Also not uncommon for balls to hit the town hall and bounce almost back into the infield.
Had to do a double take when you said Canisius played in the MAC. Didn’t know there was a MAAC. What an odd coincidence that both Buffalo schools play in different conferences that sound exactly the same.
When I was growing up New England was full of ballfields with weird dimensions and wiffleball-esque ground rules. We were baseball-crazy and would squeeze a field in anywhere.
my dad went to high school there and he said that there was a metal fence they would have to stake in the ground but many years later the school didn’t want to pay for a new one so they just left it open
Oh come on , I went to Polo Grounds many times. Anything hit down the lines was a possible dinger. We’ll center field was a different story entirely. Miss those Giants and NY Titans ( Jets)and Mets all played there. I bet Casey Stengel’ ghost hangs out around the area.
If you look at the zoomout of the one in Hull (10:18), that island in the bottom left used to have an Italian POW camp and was where they filmed Shutter Island.
I know they'd probably put up temporary fences, but let's just humour the possibility they don't. There would be a good argument for 4 outfielders in some places: either 4 horizontally, or in one part of the outfield have 1 shallow and 1 deep, makes you wonder if anyone has ever done that
I remember when I was in H.S. I thought our baseball field was weird. Not because of weird dimensions or anything; but because of the infield. Instead of using sand, it was like ground up red bricks. Stuff was extremely rough - wouldn't want to have to slide into base on it.
Had that on some city league fields. Dove for a ball infield and shaved all the skin off my right elbow… then did it again the next week🤦🏻♂️ so freaking painful
Funny to see the stadium in Union City, NJ on this list. I grew up in U.C. and went to Emerson High School, one of the two public high schools in the city the closed when they opened Union City High School. I remember reading about thie new school and this concept of the athletic fields on top of the building! Your video was a great view to get full affect. Intersting. As one other comment said, you get a great view of the NY city skyline too! I played in U.C. Roosevelt Stadium growing up. This school was built on the site of Roosevelt Stadium. Roosevelt was used for Little League, high school baseball and football. From the outside, it almost looked square like 2 city blocks. Trying to remember but the demensions were something like 300 or 310 in right field and 461 in straight away center! I have some great memories from those days at the stadium!
I played on several fields like this in high school. One had a 50 ft. high cliff about 225 ft in left and a track running through right and right center field. Another field was about 150 ft down the left field line to about 250 ft at a pole in left center...it was a ground rule double for any ball hit over the fence between these two poles. Another was played on a football field but there was a fence that started at the left field line at about 325 ft. and ran to center at about 400 ft., there was no fence from center to the right field line...hit it there and run for days. Another field had no fence at all but if you hit it to the football stadium in right center, it was an automatic home run. You could find some crazy baseball fields in SWVA back in the 80s...
I wish. It seems no recent baseball game has this no brainier feature. I actually bought NCAA Baseball '06 a little while ago just because you could make your own dimensions. You couldn't get quite this crazy but it was better than nothing
@@StateoftheFranchiseSports ah, I hope they do. It would be great to make bizarre fields and see how it would affect season stats as well as game hitting mechanics
Awesome! Our high school played in the South San Francisco spring tournament in 1975, although rain caused the rest of the tournament to be switched to a soccer field after one memorable game there. Never have I seen a center fielder basically standing within whispering distance of the shortstop before. Alhambra HS in Martinez also had an odd configuration where the track doubled as part of the infield, which meant the concrete "curb" behind the shortstop was in play, making for crazy ricochets and sprained ankles for unsuspecting visiting infielders. Northern California has some of the worst high school baseball fields.
Recently, derby high school in Connecticut (6:33) had a renovation that costed over 10 million dollars. It now has an all turf baseball field, separate all turf football field. I’ve played on the baseball field and I can say it was spectacular field. Pretty crazy.
my dad went to high school there and he said that there was a metal fence they would have to stake in the ground but many years later the school didn’t want to pay for a new one so they just left it open
This reminded me of a field on a naval base near my house. I grew up on that base and only moved off when dad left active duty. I used to love playing there, really just because I didn’t know any different/better. But I went back there recently because it’s close to medical, and I still have to get referrals from a doctor on base. The field is meant for little league teams. For teams with players aged 5 to around 16. The dugouts are as nice as you’d expect from that kind of field and there’s enough foul territory for it to feel fair, but the entire field is surrounded by driving range nets and an 8ft chain link fence. Left and right field look about 270ft and center field looks around 310ft (by eye. I did get an architectural degree which made me pretty good at judging size, height, and distance. So I trust myself to make those estimates lol). First of all, how is ANY kid who either hasn’t or has barely started puberty meant to ever hit a non-ITPHR? Especially since they’d have to clear the 8ft fence. The range nets (around 60ft tall) are anchored by massive metal beams that smother the warning track. There are pads at the base of them but years of collisions, including me two times, have made them paper thin. I remember plenty of playable balls hitting those beams at weird angles, totally killing any momentum as well as ruining morale. There are also weird bumps in the turf in center field and divots on the third base side of the infield. The bumps were usually just uneven dirt, but I remember games where guys would trip over bumps that weren’t there a few days before. Even the guys who had played that field for years tripped up on the “new” bumps. As for the divots, we always just assumed it was moles or gophers. But when an exterminator was called in, they couldn’t find any evidence of tunnels even close to the field. So I never found out their origin. But the absolute worst thing about that field that I still don’t understand was a kind of booth (it looks like the kind at The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier or the ones at Windsor Castle or Buckingham Palace) that stands 3ft back from the home plate umpires position. I never saw an umpire use it, and even now, 17 years later, it’s still in pristine condition. I have no idea when or why it was built, but I’m sure it’s older than I am. We hated it, the teams we scrimmed against hated it, even the umps hated it. But MWR wouldn’t allow it to be removed. There were countless plays that failed because the catcher couldn’t ditch his mask and get behind it fast enough to get under the ball. Even if by some miracle they did, they now have a 7ft wooden rectangle blocking their line of sight. But it also acted as a backstop if there was a wild pitch or a fielder accidentally threw off target trying to get an out at home. But those plays were never satisfying and both teams complained when it happened. The pitchers would even apologize or try to cheer up the dudes it happened to. Even with all it’s awful, awful faults, I have really fond memories of that field. Practicing and playing in heavy fog, rain, 90+ degree heat with no humidity, or when it was 50 degrees out since it’s a 10 minute walk to the ocean from the field. I don’t think I’d appreciate the game as much now if I had grow up playing on a “normal” field. Maybe that’s weird to some people, but for all it’s “quirks,” I love that place.
Kurt Halbauer my dad went to high school there and he said that there was a metal fence they would have to stake in the ground but many years later the school didn’t want to pay for a new one so they just left it open
It kind of makes sense for a small school to use the outfield as your football and soccer pitch... 90% of these looks like they were ready to build the football stadium, and then parents wanted to add baseball, so they shrugged their shoulders and just put the infield on or around the football field.
Some former and current major league parks have weird features as well. The left field wall at Fenway, the right field porch at the old Yankee Stadium, the LA Coliseum before Chavez Ravine was built, the left field terrace at Crosley Field, straight-away center field at the Polo Grounds and several others.
Good ol Jelsma AKA “The Rock”. 4 of my schools players hit their first dingers in one game there. I only ever played football there but always thought it was a sorry looking baseball field. Surprisingly it is a really amazing football stadium.
Awesome football stadium. I always liked the quirkiness of the ballpark, but I’m biased. It was my home field. Did they still use a temporary fence in center when you played there?
4:27 I've run a track meet at that St. Mary's College High School field. That's probably the stupidest sports complex I've witnessed with my own two eyes. Yes, track races tend to start on a curve, but not as sharp as that monstrosity in left field. Also apparently it's where Marcus Semien went to school.
Baseball was fine there for us with plastic fences. Track was the biggest issue. And yeah, Marcus Semien went there, he’s a local. Considering that its a complete multipurpose setup, it shouldn’t be put on a list with these absolute shitstain fields
On the Barnesville, OH field, I've actually played on that field and they do run multiple games at once. I was at risk of getting hit with a softball one game as I was playing right field in the softball's left field.
Coincidentally, I played in the last football and baseball game at Derby High School in Connecticut before they did a massive renovation of the fields in 2019... When I went back to check out the final product, it was unrecognizable from when I played there; luscious turf football and baseball/softball fields compliment a massive locker room/weight room/equipment storage facility that looks better than most college athletic complexes. It went from being the crappiest sports complex in the state to the nicest in only a year!
4:55 A track guy myself how in the literal fuck you run a track meet at that school. That has to be about 600-800m around, getting splits would be hell for any coach who wasn't a damn statistician.
This gives me flashbacks to playing NCAA Baseball 06 and making the weirdest ballparks I could. Good times, good times.
I enjoyed launching HRs into cornfields on that game
Fumble dimension should do this
apparently they are adding stadium creator in mlb the show 21
They are bringing back the make field feature
@N Mussell sucks for u buddy. buy a next gen console
1:55 Union City High School. Y'know, I'm gonna go ahead and stand up to applaud the architect on this one. Someone told them to build a school with a baseball and football field on top of it, and that person not only managed to do it, but it actually looks pretty cool and the dimensions are pretty nice. That home run well really is a nice touch. I'd like to play a game on this field. The mysterious architect can rest easy knowing they gave their employer exactly what they wanted. I salute you.
the building itself and foundation has actually existed since the 60s which makes it more impressive.
I live in UC and I play football and baseball there for Union City highschool
Also, it looks like you can get some nice views of the NYC Skyline from there too
The goal there is not to homer into the well, but into the windows behind it!
ok
I bet you at the Union City High School field
no center fielder ever tried robbing someone of a home run
in fear that they might fall 4 stories to their death.
I heard that No one has
I have been there fyi
@@e_jay1112 you need to show me pics during a game
Reminds me that old wide world of sports footage of the MLB outfielder who ran right through a fence... Don't want to do that here.
You should’ve seen the old stadium that was on the site. It was worse.
As a former track and field athlete, some of these oddly shaped tracks around the oddly shaped fields are making me very curious about how meets are conducted and distances measured.
SAME BRO😭
I'd imagine they'd just take a yard/metre wheel thingy-me-bob and measure up much track to be marked for specific races, though I think the weirdly shaped ones are totally cool for track and field though. Almost entertaining.
@@tipi5586 I'm sure they know what it is before its even designed.
As a former distance runner it woulda been cool to not run in circles. Weird man. Weird
@@bobbyriggs3656 i never understood why the tracks look always the same. For me the big problem with track and field on a high level is that were pushing phyaical boundries and records are rare. So why not build different track layouts?
I played an away game at Hull, and there were about 50-60 foul balls that game just because of ocean winds, AND at least a fourth of those went into the actual ocean😂😂😂
Some of these fields should allow for a 10th fielder, the “Deep Fielder”.
You mean "Buford?"
Greg Lam Forbes Field was crazy deep and Willie Mays made that catch somehow...
That's where Scottie Smalls plays
I want to know when jomboy talks they sound the sane
Just shift the 2nd base fielder out there, and get the shortstop to cover 2nd if you need to do a pickoff or something.
These highschools definitely put up temporary fences for games, at least that's what mine does, so these weird dimensions wouldn't actually get used during games.
Luke Walsh Said fences probably fall down if you look at them too hard.
Not the ones I’ve been to...
@@jacksonowen4670 there might be lines marking where the "fences" are.
I've played on fields where they used snow fences. I don't know how many times there was a ball that would hit the fence and go through the holes.
I figured as much, but it depends how lazy the school is. I saw a field where they didn't put up a fence and a ball wandered to the track while a meet was going on. Weirdest one I played at was a grass parking lot where they put 4 mounds of dirt for the bases and a bigger mound of dirt for the pitchers mound. They put up a temporary fence that had to make the field about 300 in left and 230 to right. I saw a guy blooped one to right, the right fielder fell ove the fence, crushed it, the ball landed on top of the crushed fence and rolled over for a home run.
Yay, El Camino made the list! A couple of things about that one, because I've played there a few times in my life... and I was a center fielder:
1) When I played there (circa 2003-2006), the corners didn't use to cut off like they do now. The field used to just be a big right triangle, and be like 360 feet down the lines or something.
2) Regarding the center field wall, clearing the wall and hitting the trees is a ground rule double, but CLEARING the trees (to the umpire's discretion) is actually a home run. It's funny that our team always had an adage for some of our flyouts/lineouts to center field in other parks though, where we'd say: "That's a double at El Camino," or: "That's a single at El Camino.
3) Center field didn't have a warning track so to speak, but the area where the grass meets the fence has a few feet of dirt before it where the descending slope begins, and as everyone knows: where there are trees, there are roots. That's right, there were roots basically as our warning track to that fence, which made rolling an ankle a big possibility each time you were out there. Also to address your thing about the tennis courts and such, they are WAY downhill of that center field fence. So unless they plan on doing a bunch of landscaping, they couldn't change that area at all even if they wanted to.
4) You can't see the cemetery from the field at all. If I didn't move near there later in my life or if I didn't have Google Maps, I wouldn't have even known that it was there. Behind the first base dugout is a massive upward slope (those bleachers behind the dugout are about 20 feet above field level), and we essentially knew that foul balls back that way were tough to get because it was very separated from the field by fences and slopes galore. Either way, even though it's not the Golden Gate National Cemetery, and it's still a pretty inviting and beautiful establishment to tour. It doesn't feel "scary" or "haunted" at all. If you've been there, you know what I'm talking about.
5) One thing not mentioned (and probably true of other parks, but not sure), I always felt claustrophobic batting there because there was ALMOST NO FOUL GROUND WHATSOEVER. Running to first base, the dugout is right on top of you. It's crazy, they've really cramped it all up.
All told though, I actually enjoyed playing there for its unique characteristics. Not as a home ballpark, but just once a year was cool enough for me. Being in center field, I tried to do the kinds of things that they were talking about in the video, but it was also important for me to play deep because the corner outfielders would cover a little more line, and balls would deaden off the chain link fence. My best two accomplishments there were forcing a guy out at second base on a routine ground ball single up the middle (because I was close enough) and deking a baserunner when the ball went off the fence but I was playing like I was going to catch it, holding the runners only at 1st and 2nd.
EDIT: Looking at it now on Google Maps, they've changed a lot of that field. The bleachers are now at field level, and the dugouts are far away from home plate. Interesting renovations.
I played at that field too as a visitor back in high school (1997-2000). Loved playing there, mostly because EC wasn’t that great back then.
@@jagerbombing Awesome! I'm assuming this was high school? What school did you go to? I was Carlmont.
Brandon Robinson HMB
@@jagerbombing Oh cool! I taught there for a year. Their field is way different now, I think from a private donor. It faces the other way, which means the wind probably now helps the ball to right field. The last time I recall playing there (in the original orientation), the wind knocked down my potential grand slam fly ball, and all I got was a sacrifice fly to the warning track haha.
Anyway, good looking out!
Brandon Robinson you are right about the private donor. Same person/people who put in the football field. I taught there for a couple years too. I’m not sure I like the turf infield idea, but the clubhouse is super nice. Anything is better than what was there when I played. The lack of fences killed home runs if the outfield played deep.
This takes me back to playing softball in NYC. We would get one of 2 field types:
1. The Upper Manhattan park constrained within a narrow city block. The right field wall was less than 200 feet, so going yard counted as an out.
2. Randall’s Island. A lot of shared outfields. We had to look out for each other and warn the outfielders from the other game (whose backs were to our infields) when a ball was incoming.
That Union City ballpark is actually REALLY cool. Amazing feat of engineering.
@Lighthouse in the Storm Its on top of a school and still somehow fits a baseball field and football field while still having roughly correct dimensions. That my friedn is impressive.
These fields must house some of the highest scoring games ever, considering the potential amount of inside the park home runs.
Don't be stupid, most of these fields have temporary fences set up during the baseball season.
not even, my school is st vincent de paul and for some reason our hits r always in to right
@@wizardofharry I wonder why lol
I think some school districts enforce a mercy rule?
Whit Siever well we do. and since we have a fence in right that we put in for practices and games it rarely happens that we have a mercy rule, if there was no fence lefties would love our field, i got to st vincent de paul
Imagine hearing your coach say that your running poles on any of these fields
Most of these fields have temporary fences set up during the baseball season.
Dan Baron Except for the #1 field of the video. Chased many shots into the football field, they didn’t effing care.
the union city one is actually pretty dope
Its is. And if you go there you get a good view of the NYC skyline
I played high school on that field the view is nice but in the late summer the visitor side by the grandstand doesn’t let wind in and is ridiculously hot.
@@WillRauh those 105 summer days lmfaoo worst football practices but I love my stadium no matter what
I've played there a few times and the wind almost always blows in or left to right so I never saw anyone dink one into the home run well
freaking hilarious & well done! My late father was an oddball hurler, a left-handed 'butterfly' knuckleballer in the 40s for Colorado School of Mines. He must've told me this story a hundred times over the years, that one semester their left field had to be shared with the geology department's quarry overflow of broken up boulders. All in play on balls hit more than 220 feet, fielders weaving between huge rocks to track down fly balls, etc.
Not a huge baseball fan, but I’ve always thought it was interesting how baseball fields are some of the only fields that will flex their dimensions to fit into tight spaces. I’m curious if this has to do with their history of being an urban sport. Typically soccer or football stadiums either have to tear down a large swath of a city, or be built in the suburbs, but suburban baseball stadiums are much more rare. A good example is BB&T ballpark (likely to be renamed Truist Ballpark soon) in Charlotte, home to the minor league Charlotte Knights. Not only does it face almost due East, but it’s dimensions are reduced down the right field line to allow for additional seats on the relatively small lot.
8:20 I live less than a mile away from El Camino HS now, and it's amazing that their field is real. The outfield situation can be somewhat explained by a substantial 20- to 25-foot drop from CF down to the 10 (!) tennis courts below, which isn't easy to see on Google Maps. The campus footprint is quite small and sadly doesn't allow for any better situation without serious land redevelopment.
As for the cemetery to the right side of the field, that's Holy Cross Cemetery in the neighboring town of Colma. Joe DiMaggio is buried there, and the Yankee Clipper likely rolls over in his grave with every double hit over the center-field fence.
My HS played a game there once. I seem to remember that a "center field double" was changed to a homerun because the ball hit a tree that grew from outside the double zone. To say the least it was weird playing there.
Between the missing outer half of the outfield, and the whatever number it is of tennis courts, it doesn't even look real. It looks like something someone would have made in a city simulation game.
Also, as for the Joe DiMaggio thing... Jesus. My boyfriend's a Red Sox fan but I'm pretty sure even he would find that appalling.
Update: asked my boyfriend, and he does agree that it sucks that Joe DiMaggio is buried right near such a bad field.
Alternate Title: When you try to make a Multi-Purpose Stadium however you shape the field to resemble a football field and it goes horribly wrong
3:12 “Alright, alright, settle down class...”
Its not Pen Island, because its not an island. Its a PENISula
As a resident of the state this magnificent field is in, I couldn't stop laughing at how stupid the field design was.
Not only was I pleasantly surprised to see my grandparents’ old house at 5:29, this is one of the funniest things I’ve come across lately. Thanks for providing some much-needed laughs!
As a buffalonian I was hoping Canisius would be on this list! And you didn't disappoint!
1:52 When I lived in NJ, every month we took a bus to Secaucus to do some shopping on weekends and the bus always drove past this stadium. I questioned it every time because it's so weird
Avery the Cuban-American you are everywhere
I currently live a town away from that stadium, and let me tell you. This place is weird (that home run hole is actually an opening to a sitting area which is down in there 😂😂😂. Its has a good view of the nyc skyline tho 💯
Ah, more information about you
Watching this I forgot what what a actual baseball Field looks like 😂
That's perfectly fine, so did the architects who designed these!
I played at the Braintree field and one of my teammates broke the town hall window
Just looking at that I was also wondering what the line-item in the town budget for city hall repairs must be....
@Jack Harkins yup: French's Common
1 John F Kennedy Memorial Dr, Braintree, MA 02184
(781) 794-8100
maps.app.goo.gl/mMEAmYszjKJd55Dp7
Where they pissed
and your teammates' parents tax pay for the new window LOL
How many other Braintrees are there? :')
2:20 whoever put that in there, whether by design or happy accident, is a friggin' GENIUS. That would be the high school baseball equivalent of kicking a kickball homerun onto the roof in elementary
Did he say "Kermit the Frog getting shit-piped?" Lmao.
El Camino high's field: "This doesn't really seem that bad tbh."
Jomboy: "You can also just foul one over to the Cemetery next door."
Oh no...
Slice a foul hard enough and you can wake up Joe DiMaggio
It's okay. Ump called "Dead ball."
Is no one gonna point out the field looked suspiciously like the symbol on Superman's uniform?
A stadium where Center Field and Shortstop are basically the same position.
MLB did this early this morning lol. Ha this will be great! The weirdest dimensions I've seen was landshark stadium where it was 420 to center with a corner.
The dankest
El Chris of all the names to call that stadium, you picked landshark? The one that lasted for like 6 months? Sun life, hard rock, pro player, joe Robbie, hell I would have expected dolphins stadium before landshark. Well played.
TheLocalLt Landshark is one of the coolest stadium names ever tbf
FivePoints vids: worst baseball park
Me: what on earth am I looking at
UNLESS things have changed since I graduated high school in 1984, in my opinion, one of the ABSOLUTE worst high school baseball fields I ever saw AND played on was at Jean Ribault High School in Jacksonville, Florida. How bad was it? Very little grass and maybe 99% sand and dirt, not to mention the infield was so shoddy they had to dig holes out after a rain storm to put the bases in place. Now I did NOT attend there, but granted, they tried so hard to make it accommodating, but seemed to fail at every attempt. Have to give them credit too because they had quite a small powerhouse of a team in the early 1980s...so hopefully in last 39 years they made SOME subtle changes to the field. God bless them if they did.
We need an extra guy in center...
"Nah! I got this!"
- W. Mays.
6:01 Canisius College, I’ve played there anything hit in the gaps was automatic home run
4:35
"Pocono Raceway"
I died laughing 😂😂😂
Same i immediately thought of an oval track and was happy he mentioned that
7:03 Imagine an Important meeting happening at the Town Hall only for a line drive to go straight through the window during it 😂
i would love to see actual games there but it's mostly use for dogs now a days
Terrance Thorpe archies still plays games there
@@tommacdonaldstan6998 youre telling me the archBishop williams school baseball team plays
Terrance Thorpe yea lol I couldn’t believe it either www.awhsbaseball.com/teams/default.asp?u=AWHSBASEBALL&s=baseball&p=about
I’ve played here. There is also playground in left that’s in play. Also not uncommon for balls to hit the town hall and bounce almost back into the infield.
The only triple I've ever hit was at hull high school last year. And yes, a ton of fouls go into the water
Had to do a double take when you said Canisius played in the MAC. Didn’t know there was a MAAC. What an odd coincidence that both Buffalo schools play in different conferences that sound exactly the same.
I think this deserves a part two. You need to see Patchogue-Medford’s baseball fields. A soccer and baseball field in one
Yo I’ve played at the one in Braintree on my freshman baseball team, there was legit a tree on the left foul line with the line painted on it
Same I play there too
How about the Hull one fellow Mass-holianm? Was the Braintree one shit, like it looks like?
I’ve been there lol
When I was growing up New England was full of ballfields with weird dimensions and wiffleball-esque ground rules. We were baseball-crazy and would squeeze a field in anywhere.
9:43
I’m guessing they tried to copy Polo Grounds.
I just commented that, glad to see that someone else thought that
my dad went to high school there and he said that there was a metal fence they would have to stake in the ground but many years later the school didn’t want to pay for a new one so they just left it open
@@abunchofbspodcast ump just has to make a judgment call... "alright any deep ball to center that looks like a hail mary pass is a home run."
Oh come on , I went to Polo Grounds many times. Anything hit down the lines was a possible dinger. We’ll center field was a different story entirely. Miss those Giants and NY Titans ( Jets)and Mets all played there. I bet Casey Stengel’ ghost hangs out around the area.
Ya think?
Pekin is even worse when you know that it's within three blocks of six other ballparks. And of those six only one would be an improvement.
If you look at the zoomout of the one in Hull (10:18), that island in the bottom left used to have an Italian POW camp and was where they filmed Shutter Island.
I CAN’T WATCH BOTH OF THE VIDEOS YOU EACH MADE AT THE SAME TIME
Brandon Perna made a video with FivePoints uploaded at the same time
Easy, open two tabs, and watch them at the same time!
I know they'd probably put up temporary fences, but let's just humour the possibility they don't. There would be a good argument for 4 outfielders in some places: either 4 horizontally, or in one part of the outfield have 1 shallow and 1 deep, makes you wonder if anyone has ever done that
I remember when I was in H.S. I thought our baseball field was weird. Not because of weird dimensions or anything; but because of the infield. Instead of using sand, it was like ground up red bricks. Stuff was extremely rough - wouldn't want to have to slide into base on it.
Turface. My school used it too, hard and fast helped for hard ground balls but pants never lasted too long
Had that on some city league fields. Dove for a ball infield and shaved all the skin off my right elbow… then did it again the next week🤦🏻♂️ so freaking painful
Yo! I didn’t think Thompson would actually be recognized in this video, but I’m so happy that you covered it!
How's it going Connor, I was just as surprised you were
Funny to see the stadium in Union City, NJ on this list. I grew up in U.C. and went to Emerson High School, one of the two public high schools in the city the closed when they opened Union City High School. I remember reading about thie new school and this concept of the athletic fields on top of the building! Your video was a great view to get full affect. Intersting. As one other comment said, you get a great view of the NY city skyline too! I played in U.C. Roosevelt Stadium growing up. This school was built on the site of Roosevelt Stadium. Roosevelt was used for Little League, high school baseball and football. From the outside, it almost looked square like 2 city blocks. Trying to remember but the demensions were something like 300 or 310 in right field and 461 in straight away center! I have some great memories from those days at the stadium!
1:50
I honestly like this Stadium.
It’s a nice way to save space.
2:33 that field is sponsored by manscaped
Fucking sucked playing there
bruh in 2:40 "-'
i mean in 2:38
I MEAN AGAIN 2:39 IM A MESS
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
I've actually played against Woodson on that field for jv baseball and those corners around center are like a magnet
I played on several fields like this in high school. One had a 50 ft. high cliff about 225 ft in left and a track running through right and right center field. Another field was about 150 ft down the left field line to about 250 ft at a pole in left center...it was a ground rule double for any ball hit over the fence between these two poles. Another was played on a football field but there was a fence that started at the left field line at about 325 ft. and ran to center at about 400 ft., there was no fence from center to the right field line...hit it there and run for days. Another field had no fence at all but if you hit it to the football stadium in right center, it was an automatic home run. You could find some crazy baseball fields in SWVA back in the 80s...
If MLB the Show puts in stadium creator soon I'm creating ALL of these! 😂
I wish. It seems no recent baseball game has this no brainier feature. I actually bought NCAA Baseball '06 a little while ago just because you could make your own dimensions. You couldn't get quite this crazy but it was better than nothing
@@nandy9285 I feel SDS will finally deliver next year
@@StateoftheFranchiseSports pardon my ignorance, what's SDS? Stadium design something?
@@nandy9285 San Diego Studios, the first party studio formerly known as 989
@@StateoftheFranchiseSports ah, I hope they do. It would be great to make bizarre fields and see how it would affect season stats as well as game hitting mechanics
I have so many questions looking at these fields. “How” and “Why” starting most of them.
Jelsma Stadium puts up a temporary fence at around the 35 yard line. When you brought up Jelsma I figured you would talk about the big sandstone wall.
yes it doesn't play at 606 ft to center that's just dumb man do your homework people
I’ve played at the hull high school field I can say for you it is even weirder in person
3:52 464 in right field
Giancarlo Stanton: _Pathetic_
When your rival town appears on the list
When the field you played high school baseball was on the list
When the high school you play for is on the list.
When the field you didn't play on, appears on the list.
When you don't even play baseball why am i here
7:44 I’m going there for high school
Good luck finding the clown in that cave when u go there
Lucas Blanton There getting a new field next year
@@brianhanna6120 ohhh u so wont be able to find the clown in the cave then
Brian Hanna cool I’m from Long Island too what town u live in
Tell me you’re a baseball prospect
Please be a baseball prospect
Just to note, Canisius College puts up a fence during the season to make the dimensions more normal
Standard or adjustable based on the scout?
@@charlesmurphy3222 - ah, now here's a man that knows REAL baseball.
Also hate how he butchered the pronunciation
Awesome! Our high school played in the South San Francisco spring tournament in 1975, although rain caused the rest of the tournament to be switched to a soccer field after one memorable game there. Never have I seen a center fielder basically standing within whispering distance of the shortstop before. Alhambra HS in Martinez also had an odd configuration where the track doubled as part of the infield, which meant the concrete "curb" behind the shortstop was in play, making for crazy ricochets and sprained ankles for unsuspecting visiting infielders. Northern California has some of the worst high school baseball fields.
Recently, derby high school in Connecticut (6:33) had a renovation that costed over 10 million dollars. It now has an all turf baseball field, separate all turf football field. I’ve played on the baseball field and I can say it was spectacular field. Pretty crazy.
Yeah, I’ve played on it. It’s very nice
When the phrase "it's gonna get down, get all the way to the wall!" Has a different meaning 9:45
my dad went to high school there and he said that there was a metal fence they would have to stake in the ground but many years later the school didn’t want to pay for a new one so they just left it open
@@abunchofbspodcast last year I played there and I remember there being a fence
Stortsie _ I agree with that. The was home field for me and playing outfield sucked there. That was 10 years ago.
5:55 THAT'S a D-1 Baseball Field!!??
That makes Virginia Union's Football Field look like Mercedes-Benz Stadium!
I took the time to look up Virginia Union's football field and LOL
Michael Lyden the funny thing is I’m going to that college lolllll I was so shocked to see it here
You're being fooled. These fields have temporary fences set up during the baseball season.
Best football field in the city, unless you count the arena football monstrosity they used to put down in the Colosseum.
@@homerunman9381 is shitty stadium worse than Hovey Field?
5:28 my field, a real honor
This reminded me of a field on a naval base near my house. I grew up on that base and only moved off when dad left active duty. I used to love playing there, really just because I didn’t know any different/better. But I went back there recently because it’s close to medical, and I still have to get referrals from a doctor on base. The field is meant for little league teams. For teams with players aged 5 to around 16.
The dugouts are as nice as you’d expect from that kind of field and there’s enough foul territory for it to feel fair, but the entire field is surrounded by driving range nets and an 8ft chain link fence. Left and right field look about 270ft and center field looks around 310ft (by eye. I did get an architectural degree which made me pretty good at judging size, height, and distance. So I trust myself to make those estimates lol).
First of all, how is ANY kid who either hasn’t or has barely started puberty meant to ever hit a non-ITPHR? Especially since they’d have to clear the 8ft fence.
The range nets (around 60ft tall) are anchored by massive metal beams that smother the warning track. There are pads at the base of them but years of collisions, including me two times, have made them paper thin. I remember plenty of playable balls hitting those beams at weird angles, totally killing any momentum as well as ruining morale.
There are also weird bumps in the turf in center field and divots on the third base side of the infield. The bumps were usually just uneven dirt, but I remember games where guys would trip over bumps that weren’t there a few days before. Even the guys who had played that field for years tripped up on the “new” bumps. As for the divots, we always just assumed it was moles or gophers. But when an exterminator was called in, they couldn’t find any evidence of tunnels even close to the field. So I never found out their origin.
But the absolute worst thing about that field that I still don’t understand was a kind of booth (it looks like the kind at The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier or the ones at Windsor Castle or Buckingham Palace) that stands 3ft back from the home plate umpires position. I never saw an umpire use it, and even now, 17 years later, it’s still in pristine condition. I have no idea when or why it was built, but I’m sure it’s older than I am. We hated it, the teams we scrimmed against hated it, even the umps hated it. But MWR wouldn’t allow it to be removed. There were countless plays that failed because the catcher couldn’t ditch his mask and get behind it fast enough to get under the ball. Even if by some miracle they did, they now have a 7ft wooden rectangle blocking their line of sight. But it also acted as a backstop if there was a wild pitch or a fielder accidentally threw off target trying to get an out at home. But those plays were never satisfying and both teams complained when it happened. The pitchers would even apologize or try to cheer up the dudes it happened to.
Even with all it’s awful, awful faults, I have really fond memories of that field. Practicing and playing in heavy fog, rain, 90+ degree heat with no humidity, or when it was 50 degrees out since it’s a 10 minute walk to the ocean from the field.
I don’t think I’d appreciate the game as much now if I had grow up playing on a “normal” field. Maybe that’s weird to some people, but for all it’s “quirks,” I love that place.
You gotta do this for NYC only, I just finished 4 yrs nyc public school ball and these fields are ridiculous
When you said Jomboy I thought you said John Bois and I got excited
DUDE FUCKING SAME
I keep hoping for Jon to resurface anywhere, but sadly, I keep finding this bald crazy dude in my channel subscriptions!
Goalie lol, Jon works on projects on SB Nations UA-cam from time to time
@@goalie5733 Jons doing a 6 part series with some other guy on sb nations youtube on the history of the mariners right now
Baseball content is at its peak now!!
I'm confused on how you play in the outfield on most of these
I think you just stay at home, you'd be as effective a fielder on the couch as you would being 500+ feet from the action.
So are the outfielders
Don't be duped. Most of these fields will have a temporary fences during baseball season to establish normal ballpark boundaries.
I am sure they put lines on the grounds indicating where the "fences" would be.
You don't
polo grounds: you wanna deep center field?
jelsma stadium: **hold my beer**
Surely a temp fence is placed over the football field during games (in line with L and R field)?
Kurt Halbauer turn around... you see the joke? Just flew right over your head....
Relax.
Kurt Halbauer my dad went to high school there and he said that there was a metal fence they would have to stake in the ground but many years later the school didn’t want to pay for a new one so they just left it open
It kind of makes sense for a small school to use the outfield as your football and soccer pitch...
90% of these looks like they were ready to build the football stadium, and then parents wanted to add baseball, so they shrugged their shoulders and just put the infield on or around the football field.
Some former and current major league parks have weird features as well. The left field wall at Fenway, the right field porch at the old Yankee Stadium, the LA Coliseum before Chavez Ravine was built, the left field terrace at Crosley Field, straight-away center field at the Polo Grounds and several others.
Good ol Jelsma AKA “The Rock”. 4 of my schools players hit their first dingers in one game there. I only ever played football there but always thought it was a sorry looking baseball field. Surprisingly it is a really amazing football stadium.
Awesome football stadium. I always liked the quirkiness of the ballpark, but I’m biased. It was my home field. Did they still use a temporary fence in center when you played there?
4:27 I've run a track meet at that St. Mary's College High School field. That's probably the stupidest sports complex I've witnessed with my own two eyes. Yes, track races tend to start on a curve, but not as sharp as that monstrosity in left field. Also apparently it's where Marcus Semien went to school.
Really Marcus Semien went there?
Baseball was fine there for us with plastic fences. Track was the biggest issue. And yeah, Marcus Semien went there, he’s a local. Considering that its a complete multipurpose setup, it shouldn’t be put on a list with these absolute shitstain fields
7:39 This field is right by the Nassau Coliseum, home of the NY Islanders
Oh cool I knew that town sounded familiar
Near by the creepy, Kellenburg Memorial Field and take that freeway, is the 2 time fomer NHL tendent, Nassau Coliseum
Loved this video! On another note, I always thought you and Jomboy Media were the same person. Lol. Very similar voices and entertaining topics.
Uh... pretty sure most of the ones with super long fields just add a temporary fence during the baseball season.
Dan Baron mine had a 700 foot right field fence because of a football field, and they didn’t use retractable fences. Literally any of it was in play.
On the Barnesville, OH field, I've actually played on that field and they do run multiple games at once. I was at risk of getting hit with a softball one game as I was playing right field in the softball's left field.
Yeah same, played a game against Barnesville while their softball team was playing in our left field
8th and the worst field I went to was when the marlins used to play in the old dolphins stadium. It was so disproportionate
LCMuscles28 I thought RFK Stadium was more brutal when the Nationals first played there. That was the most cavernous CF I saw since Tiger Stadium.
I just realized this WASNT a Jomboy video! I’m so glad my two favorite sports you tubers collaborated! Hell yeah!
I was watching and I saw the kellenburg one and realized I play there in like 2 weeks
Holy shit I WENT to Woodson I never realized how messed up the field was I can assure you that is exactly how it is
8:20
Why is no one talking about how the field is shaped like an actual Diamond.
This is the best field in the history of baseball.
I was really hoping someone else noticed this!
I am literally surprised at Oakland Coliseum is not on this
Never thought I'd see my hometown Point Stadium on this video but there it is
Thanks for leaving the stadium and city names in the video, I like Googling these stadiums and that was a big help
6:42 is my favorite part lol
PLAY BALL BITCHES😂😂😂😂😂
I'm from Canada and almost all of these fields and facilities look incredible compared to our high school fields
1:41 How do you even play Rf and LF there, if there is a line drive that gets past you into the gap you're screwed.
edit: 3:58 same problem
3 58 is horrible. Homeruns on the right are probably impossible
@@ethansprague2005 alot of in the parkers lol
I can tell you from experience! I’m a right fielder who got their first HS hit at that park. They bring in a temporary fence
When you look at it closely from overhead, it actually looks like the shape of home plate a bit 🤔
9:48 looks like a high school wanted to replicate the polo grounds
Worst i've personally ever played at is Garfield high school in Seattle
1:58 that’s actually a legendary baseball field
Legendary for what exactly
@@CODYoungGunna its probably not the best to play on but the creativity and just the look from above are great
@@datfatcat9323 Its known for football not baseball
You've heard of Babe Ruth Clearing the polo ground's center field but nobody heard of someone hitting a 606 mega bomb in that last one lmaooo
1:30 *polo grounds flashbacks*
Coincidentally, I played in the last football and baseball game at Derby High School in Connecticut before they did a massive renovation of the fields in 2019... When I went back to check out the final product, it was unrecognizable from when I played there; luscious turf football and baseball/softball fields compliment a massive locker room/weight room/equipment storage facility that looks better than most college athletic complexes. It went from being the crappiest sports complex in the state to the nicest in only a year!
4:55 A track guy myself how in the literal fuck you run a track meet at that school. That has to be about 600-800m around, getting splits would be hell for any coach who wasn't a damn statistician.
Imagine hitting a ball 600 ft. and not getting a homerun
@Lighthouse in the Storm I’m not sure, even in Polo Grounds, dead center was 483 ft. Please r/woosh me if you were making a joke
[3:47] You think those are bad? Do the dimensions for the field directly to the left! You'd have like 150 ft to left field, and 700 ft to center. 🤣
Something tells me they put a movable fence
I played at hull high and it was the coldest windiest game I’ve ever played
Fr hull is straight garbage to play at
Dude, ima play in Jelsma Stadium for one of my baseball tournaments!! Can not wait!!
I’ve played on that hull field and the windy sometimes is insane, thankfully not for baseball
8:14 bath salts...not even once.