HR to CF at the Polo Grounds

[Claymaker52]

I was just curious if any of you have ever hit a HR to straight away center at the Polo Grounds. I am yet to accomplish the feat in any game mode (including HR derby). And I have a hard time believing anyone ever did it in real life either. But it still is one of my favorite stadiums ro play in, because anything in the gap is almost always an automatic inside the park HR, unless you have Yadier Molina running, then it's just a long single or double. haha

[CabreraMVP]

Re: HR to CF at the Polo Grounds

I don't think anybody ever has in real life. I could be wrong.

Baseball stadiums have such sentimental value to them, and Polo Grounds epitomizes that. You don't see variety in stadiums today, like there seemed to be back then.

[sydrogerdavid]

Re: HR to CF at the Polo Grounds

Nobody ever hit a homerun to dead center, but a handful of players hit it into the CF bleachers. Lou Brock was one of them.

[TripleThreat1973]

Re: HR to CF at the Polo Grounds

This is what is so amazing about the ball that Vic Wertz hit (that Willie Mays caught, spun around, and prevented a runner from tagging up multiple bases) ... it was estimated to be a 454-foot fly out.

I'm not sure how Polo Grounds plays in The Show, but in High Heat the OF were "programmed" to stand a certain distance from the fence. So, the CF started off playing 400-feet away from home plate ... yeah, lots of singles fell in. *grin*

[Ghostciv]

Re: HR to CF at the Polo Grounds

i love polo grounds. i hit 1 ball in hr derby into the batter eye in the stands in center but never to deep center.

[josh44]

Re: HR to CF at the Polo Grounds

I've tried in HR derby the closest i got was like 480 feet to the center. I've hit a few out of the stadium down the line HAHA. Even the corners are hard to hit a homer. Its like 450 feet to each corner.

[Sunjah_Khan]

Re: HR to CF at the Polo Grounds

In the entire time it existed, no one ever hit that back wall (the middle, farther back one) with a fly ball. That is documented fact. There is a legend that Josh Gibson hit a HR literally OUT of old Yankee Stadium, but being a Negro league game there was no filmed coverage and limited press (if there was any, I really do not know).

The quote from above was incredibly right about the Vic Wertz's hit in 1954 as well. The Indians had beaten the 5 (FIVE, yes, that is right, 5) -time defending World Series Champion NY Yankees with a record of 111 wins during the season, a new league record for AL Wins in a year at the time. The formality of game one, and the far inferior NY Winner, seemed only to be presented as storybook fodder for the vaunted and record-breaking Cleveland Indians.

It was their year, they beat the 5-time defending Champs (still a record), had the most wins ever in a season in the AL, and Wertz's 8th inning smash to dead center, with the scored tied at 2-2, would have given the Indians, at minimum, a 3-2 lead, though Rosen and Wertz likely could've scored as well, making it 5-2. It all seemed a fairly-tale come true, that is, until a young man named Willie decided to throw his 2-cents in...

Funny thing is, the guy on 2nd tagged and went to third (Doby), while Rosen had to retreat to 1st, and the Indians failed to score that inning. "The Catch" changed history right there, no one even scored that inning, and the Giants won the series in 4, after taking this game with the infamous Dusty Rhodes pinch-hit HR in the bottom of the 10th. The Say-Hey Kid changed the proper time-line, and this year simply became knows as:

"The Year the Indians ALMOST Took It All Apart!"

(then the whole LeBron thing happened; sorry Cleveland, you seem cursed and never even traded Babe Ruth)

[Claymaker52]

Re: HR to CF at the Polo Grounds

I've tried in HR derby the closest i got was like 480 feet to the center. I've hit a few out of the stadium down the line HAHA. Even the corners are hard to hit a homer. Its like 450 feet to each corner.

Well it's only like 280 ft down the lines so.....That stadium has some wicked demensions, 280 down the lines close to 500 ft to CF.

[Ike Slider2]

Re: HR to CF at the Polo Grounds

I've hit one against the wall in deep center but never over it.

[Pirate]

Re: HR to CF at the Polo Grounds

Bounced one onto the stairs two nights ago. Couldn't come close the rest of the time. HR Derby in there is a ton of fun.

[lkluc594]

Re: HR to CF at the Polo Grounds

Two men hit Homeruns into the centerfield seats. The first was Joe Adcock of the Milwaukee Braves. The second was Lou Brock of the Cardinals.

http://www.todayinbaseball.com/cms/061710-brock

[kin9pin5]

Re: HR to CF at the Polo Grounds

Bounced one onto the stairs two nights ago. Couldn't come close the rest of the time. HR Derby in there is a ton of fun.

I've actually hit a ball onto the right staircase in center (on the fly) which HR Derby counted as a HR. Never went over the center field wall. Almost responded as if it was a ground rule. "Hit the steps on the fly, its outta here!!!!". Anyway, I think I did this in MLB The show 10, not 11 (only had 11 for about two weeks).

[Jeffster]

Re: HR to CF at the Polo Grounds

In my fantasy draft Giants franchise on MLB 10, we play all of our home games in the Polo Grounds, so I've gotten lots of opportunities. Nick Swisher has hit a couple of ground rule doubles that bounced over the wall in center (and one that bounced up the clubhouse steps and hit the door.) And just the other day, with Jim Thome, I hit about as deep a fly to dead center as I ever have but it was still caught short of the clubhouse, so I'm guessing about a 475 foot shot that would have been way out of any other ballpark.

Like claymaker said, the tradeoff is hitting those cheapies down the lines, where a routine fly in any other park is a round tripper at the Grounds. It's always really fun to play in even when the visiting team is the one that's hitting the homers. My last game there I hit one out of the stadium for the first time with Gerald Laird, went over the left field stands all the way onto the roof. Albert Pujols (of the Diamondbacks heh heh) hit one out of the stadium to right in a game a few months ago as well.

[Sunjah_Khan]

Re: HR to CF at the Polo Grounds

Two men hit Homeruns into the centerfield seats. The first was Joe Adcock of the Milwaukee Braves. The second was Lou Brock of the Cardinals.

http://www.todayinbaseball.com/cms/061710-brock

I have this bridge in Brooklyn for sale, if you happen to be interested...

[Sunjah_Khan]

Re: HR to CF at the Polo Grounds

You do realize we are talking about DEAD center, 483 feet from home plate. The fact that the article lists the distance incorrectly is the first eye-brow raiser for me.