"out of left field" (Why "left"?)

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

In a message dated 3/27/01 2:13:11 PM, laurence.horn at YALE.EDU writes:

<< Actually, center field is ALWAYS farther away from home plate than
either left or right >>

not so, Larry! at least in some of the older parks, the left field fence was
even farther away than center field--I think it depended in part on whether
the home team depended more on their hitters or their pitchers--I seem to
recall somee kind of controversy years ago (in Chicago? St'