The History of the Baseball Fields Design
Tradition might make it seem as if baseball fields have been the same for 150 years, but they haven't. While major parts of field design have not changed very much lately, the fine details are still being tweaked, changing the way the game is played and forcing players to adapt.
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Shaped By the Surroundings
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Baseball fields always have been shaped by the specific geography of the site. Stadiums that have been worked into city surroundings have not always had the room to expand to accommodate standard fence distances. For example, Ebbetts Field in Brooklyn ha a very short left-field fence and Fenway Park in Boston has the famous "Green Monster" to counter short distance with great height. Current MLB rules make it unlikely that these kinds of arrangements could be made today.
Bases
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According to Eric Miklich, between 1845 and 1856 the bases of a baseball field were set 74 feet, 3 inches apart. In 1856, the distance was changed to 30 yards and has been the same ever since. This distance maintains the value of a stolen base and encourages smart base running.
Pitching Mound
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Originally, there was no pitching mound and the hurler did his work from a simple line 45 feet away from home plate. This distance gave the pitcher too much of an edge, so a pitcher's mound was set at its current place, 60 feet, 6 inches from the plate. This distance gives the batter a better chance because he faces slightly slower pitches, but it also allows the pitcher to throw breaking pitches that change their track in the last 15 feet. According to Murray Cook, the 15-inch-tall mound was established in 1903. In the mid-60s, however, pitchers like Bob Gibson were dominating the league so completely that the height was changed to 10 inches, giving the batter a better chance.
The Infield
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Though the distance between the bases has been largely constant, the design of the grass and dirt on the field have changed. In the early part of the 1900s, stadiums had a strip of grass running from home plate to the pitcher's mound. Like many older fashions, this element of design has been resurrected by the Detroit Tigers for the field at Comerica Park. The shape of the dirt around the bases (the slide area) is also an aesthetic choice; in some fields it is round, in some, it is square.
Fences
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According to MLB rules, fences should be at least 250 feet or more from home plate, while 320 feet or more at the corners and 400 feet to center field is preferable. Individual teams, however, may tweak the design of their fences depending on how much power their team has or how many fly balls their pitchers coax out of hitters. Clem's Baseball Blog points out, for example, that Municipal Stadium, the home of the Kansas City Royals, had a right-field fence at 353 feet in 1956 that was moved in to 325 feet in 1965.
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