Many baseball fields all over the country have a similar design, but they all have some unique dimensions and characteristics. Would this hit have been a home run at any ballpark in the country? Research dimensions of baseball fields to find one example of a baseball field where the hit is a home run and another where it is not.

Question

Question 1

What pieces of information will you need to look up to help solve this problem?

Question 2

What types of credible sources will you use to find this information?

Question 3

Give an example of a ballpark where the hit is a home run and by how many feet the ball clears the outfield wall.

Question 4

Give an example of a ballpark where the hit is not a home run and by how many feet the ball hits below the top of the outfield wall.

Answer 1

To address your question about whether a specific hit would be a home run at different baseball fields, let's break it down step by step.

Question 1

What pieces of information will you need to look up to help solve this problem?

• The exact distance of the hit (in feet).
• Dimensions of the outfield walls at various ballparks, focusing specifically on the distance to the outfield walls and any variations in wall height.
• Any relevant factors such as altitude (which can affect ball flight), weather conditions (wind), or any potential barriers near the wall (like a fence or a scoreboard) that could influence the flight of the ball.

Question 2

What types of credible sources will you use to find this information?

• Official MLB websites or team websites that provide specifications for their ballpark dimensions (e.g., mlb.com, team's individual pages).
• Sports analytics websites that focus on player performance and ballpark factors (e.g., Baseball Reference, FanGraphs).
• News articles or reports that discuss the dimensions and characteristics of specific baseball fields.
• Historical data and statistics that compare home runs across different ballparks (e.g., ESPN, Sports Illustrated).

Question 3

Give an example of a ballpark where the hit is a home run and by how many feet the ball clears the outfield wall.

• Example: Coors Field in Denver, Colorado. This ballpark has a distance to the center field wall of approximately 400 feet, making it one of the more favorable parks for home runs. If the hit were 405 feet, it would clear the wall by about 5 feet.

Question 4

Give an example of a ballpark where the hit is not a home run and by how many feet the ball hits below the top of the outfield wall.

• Example: AT&T Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco, California. The distance to center field is around 399 feet. If the hit is 390 feet, this means the ball would hit about 9 feet below the top of the outfield wall, resulting in it not being a home run.

Feel free to adjust the specific dimensions based on accurate data for the hit in question you’re examining.