Field Options, for mid-Feb live Game, and Beyond
Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2006 4:18 pm
So, I apologize at the outset for bringing up a topic we've already discussed adnauseum....
I anticipate us having a Live game against some outside participants in mid-February.
Curt Flood works but has the downside that the pitching rubber on that mound has such a trench on the homeplate side of it that it is virtually impossible to pitch from the windup. Because of the trench, it's probably a 10 inch drop from where the pitcher's feet begin, to where they must land on his way to the plate. I'm talking about the area they would push off the rubber with. It should be a few inches, not a 10 " drop.
The easiest idea is probably to repair that area around the pitching rubber to deal with this problem.
Another, less easy, option is to use a different field entirely. So here we so with talking about other field options. (The net results of this discussion will be useful even beyond this mid-Feb. live game.)
I figure we should create a master list of options we haven't already decided won't work. Then, I'll go check out the ones we all think are the best. So here's the suggestions I've gotten so far, for which I haven't heard arguments against them. Ok, one of them is an old option, but I'm going to bring it up again, damnit.
McConnell Field. This is the field that's somewhere like Olive and 78th, deep in Oakland. The team that wants to play us in mid-Feb has been using it, so it's got to be minimally useful. They don't prefer it because they feel the left field distance isn't far enough. This field has no CF fence (there's another, smaller field in CF), but has good fences for LF and RF. I felt LF and RF were adequate distances until I heard this critique from the fella running this other team. My feeling is that the location is not an issue, despite being in a part of Oakand we haven't played in before.
Nichols Park: This is in Richmond at Lavonya DeJean Middle School, near the Richmond BART. Antmo gave us some nice overhead views of this field (someone please link to that other thread, or repost the actual links to those overhead views), and it's actually 3 fields from what I can remember, of varying sizes. The impression I have is this is a pretty good option, though I haven't seen it firsthand.
Oakland High School: This is at Park Blvd and MacArthur. I know very little about the field or its availability.
Caldecott Field: This field is not far from the Caldecott tunnel, near Highway 24. I believe it can be seen by using maps.google.com for Tunnel Road in Oakland, then look on the other side of Hwy 24. I've been told the satellite funtion via this method is an old picture, however.
So please give any input you have about backup fields, and also confirm whether you agree with my initial statement that, at least for now, we should repair the Curt Flood mound for the mid-Feb game.
I anticipate us having a Live game against some outside participants in mid-February.
Curt Flood works but has the downside that the pitching rubber on that mound has such a trench on the homeplate side of it that it is virtually impossible to pitch from the windup. Because of the trench, it's probably a 10 inch drop from where the pitcher's feet begin, to where they must land on his way to the plate. I'm talking about the area they would push off the rubber with. It should be a few inches, not a 10 " drop.
The easiest idea is probably to repair that area around the pitching rubber to deal with this problem.
Another, less easy, option is to use a different field entirely. So here we so with talking about other field options. (The net results of this discussion will be useful even beyond this mid-Feb. live game.)
I figure we should create a master list of options we haven't already decided won't work. Then, I'll go check out the ones we all think are the best. So here's the suggestions I've gotten so far, for which I haven't heard arguments against them. Ok, one of them is an old option, but I'm going to bring it up again, damnit.
McConnell Field. This is the field that's somewhere like Olive and 78th, deep in Oakland. The team that wants to play us in mid-Feb has been using it, so it's got to be minimally useful. They don't prefer it because they feel the left field distance isn't far enough. This field has no CF fence (there's another, smaller field in CF), but has good fences for LF and RF. I felt LF and RF were adequate distances until I heard this critique from the fella running this other team. My feeling is that the location is not an issue, despite being in a part of Oakand we haven't played in before.
Nichols Park: This is in Richmond at Lavonya DeJean Middle School, near the Richmond BART. Antmo gave us some nice overhead views of this field (someone please link to that other thread, or repost the actual links to those overhead views), and it's actually 3 fields from what I can remember, of varying sizes. The impression I have is this is a pretty good option, though I haven't seen it firsthand.
Oakland High School: This is at Park Blvd and MacArthur. I know very little about the field or its availability.
Caldecott Field: This field is not far from the Caldecott tunnel, near Highway 24. I believe it can be seen by using maps.google.com for Tunnel Road in Oakland, then look on the other side of Hwy 24. I've been told the satellite funtion via this method is an old picture, however.
So please give any input you have about backup fields, and also confirm whether you agree with my initial statement that, at least for now, we should repair the Curt Flood mound for the mid-Feb game.