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

[Bob Haas]

I'd say that it would be fairly easy to get empirical data on this from the
major league ballparks.  Most hitters hit into left, so it makes sense to
make it more difficult.  Dead center just doesn't come into play that often.

Yoicks, look what I found on Microsoft Bookshelf:

Team                Stadium (year opened) Surface  LF   Center RF  capacity
Anaheim Angels     Anaheim Stadium (1966)  Grass   333   404   333   64,593
Baltimore Orioles  Camden Yards (1992)     Grass   333   400   318   48,188
Boston Red Sox     Fenway Park (1912)      Grass   315   420   302   33,871
Chicago White Sox  Comiskey Park (1991)    Grass   347   400   347   44,321
Cleveland Indians  Jacobs Field (1994)     Grass   325   405   325   42,400
Detroit Tigers     Tiger Stadium (1912)    Grass   340   440   325   52,416
Kansas City Royals Kauffman Stadium (1973) Grass   330   400   330   40,625
Milwaukee Brewers  County Stadium (1953)   Grass   315   402   315   53,192
Minnesota Twins    Hubert H. Humphrey  Artificial  343   408   327   56,783
                    Metrodome (1982)
New York Yankees   Yankee Stadium (1923)   Grass   312   410   310   57,545
Oakland A's        Oakland-Alameda County  Grass   330   400   330   43,012
                    Coliseum (1968)
Seattle Mariners   The Kingdome (1976) Artificial  331   405   312   59,856
Texas Rangers      The Ballpark (1994)     Grass   332   400   325   49,178
Toronto Blue Jays  SkyDome (1989)      Artificial  328   400   328   50,516

Draw your own conclusions.  I've not the time to transfer the data for the
National League parks.  They used to be older (I'd guess), but hmm, hard to
say.  There is a tendency to make left field a touch more difficult, and
this table says nothing about fence height.  There's no notice in the Fenway
entry of the Green Monster.

bob

On 3/27/01 12:56 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:

> At 1:12 PM -0500 3/27/01, RonButters at AOL.COM wrote:
>> In a message dated 2/28/01 10:39:01 AM, laurence.horn at YALE.EDU writes:
>>
>> << What makes us prefer "out of/in left field" is, I've
>> always assumed, the general association of leftness with the weird or
>> unconventional (due to properties of both handedness and politics).
>>>>
>>
>> I always thought that it was because the left-field fence was often placed
>> farther away from home plate than the right-field fence
>
> Often, but usually?  Is there empirical confirmation for this claim?
> (Actually, center field is ALWAYS farther away from home plate than
> either left or right, but I don't think we ever get "out of/in center
> field, so sheer proximity can't be the whole story.)
>
> Larry
>
>>  (because more long
>> balls are hit to left field than right). Hence "way out in left field" is as
>> far away as one can get from the center of the action.