Oakland Park Baseball

Hey folks, DeFremery Commish Scott here......

So, I just got back from practicing at our beloved DeFremery Park, and the field was recently mowed and the infield appeared to have been dragged again.

Anyway, we discussed making upgrades on the field. I already bought a few landscaping tools and have been making the batter's box and 3rd & 2nd base areas less stiff/more pliable. And we're definitely going to paint the foul poles so they're easier to see for next game.

What I want to know is does anyone have a lawn mower?

I'm not talking about mowing the field. I'm talking about mowing the foul lines only. It should only take like 5 minutes. This, along with the foul poles being painted, will make fair/foul ball calls much easier.

We're trying to find an affordable chalking device which would be ideal of course. But even if we find that, we'll need to mow the lines or the chalk will just sort of fall out of view into the grass. Even when mowed, the grass is fairly high.

So let me know if you have a lawn mower and would be willing to use it at DeFremery. Again, just talking about the foul lines on each side, from the infield to the fence.

Hopefully Michael P. will bring the measuring device next game, and we can actually measure the dimensions of the field. After that we can make some signs to put up on the fences that tell how far they are from home plate. That's the plan.

Scott

We can spary-paint the foul lines. Thats what my high school did!

And Jason, you said you had a large mesuring device to mesure the outfield walls?

When I first started playing with ya'll back in the summer, I was curious to the dimensions at deFremery. So I looked at a satellite photo and used the supplied scaling to come up with the following measurements. It would be nice to see how close they would come to an accurate measurement with an instrument.

Right: 225 ft.
Center: 312 ft.
Left: 200 ft

http://mapstacker.ousd.k12.ca.us/script ... lick.y=364

Scaling 1:1000 1" = 50 Ft.

Hew now.... the scaling on that map says its 1 inch = 67 feet. Using that, and gussing where homeplate is (I used the conservative mesuments.):

Left: 310'
Center: 463'
Right: 310'

Then I zoomed out, to chech the mesurments on a mapa that was 1 inch = 89 feet. I got:

Left: 311'
Center: 422'
Right: 311'

I'm odd, so I zoomed way in, to chech the mesurments on a map that was 1 inch = 50 feet. I got:

Left: 325'
Center: 450'
Right: 325'

So, yeah, we should mesure the feild and get this right

Hmm... the numbers I came up with are of course approx. due to scaling. However, even if I change the scaling, I still get comprable numbers. 325' to left ? 463' to center ? That would mean deFremerians are jacking up 400 ft and 500 foot homeruns on a regular basis (Recalling the homerun hit across the street in dead center a few months ago) C'mon... I don't think so... Heck, the Coliseum is only 330 to left and 400' to center and that 's one of the larger pitcher friendly parks-- Remember Canseco wanting to move the fences in ? Either the mneasurents are off or ".... I didn't know that Gatorade I bought came from BALCO."

I have never seen one hit to dead center! Ever! Remember the shape of the field. Even a HR just off dead-center is much less far than a HR hit to dead center.

I would not be surprised if the fences down the line were about 310. That's my guess. We are adults! Personally, I know the furthest I've ever hit a ball (not in a game) was about 350.

By the way, the Coliseum is a pitcher's park cuz of 3 things: the nigh walls, the huge foul territory, and the moisture of the air. Canseco said that he couldn't hit a HR at night because the air is so much wetter. Besides, we're not facing real pitching, which makes is vastly easier to center on the ball and crush it.

Hahahahahaha

I'd love to find out that the HRs I've hit at DeFremery (all to LF) went 300 ft. However, I just find that incredibly hard to believe. My guess is 250 max. The way I still feel impressed with myself (despite it being so shallow) is I think about how high that fence is! The fence in LF has got to be 20 feet tall, if not more! (?) So that means, if there were a normal 8 foot fence, HRs hit out to LF at DeFremery would probably go 20 more feet. Meaning of course that the heighth of the wall requires an even bigger hit than would be necessary with a normal height wall. That's probably my favorite aspect of DeFremery is the LF wall, to me it's like the Green Monster at Fenway.

I can't wait to find out the dimensions!

As long as we're talking maintenance, I've been wanting to bring some dirt or sand to fill in that dangerour hole in RF (plus any others I dont know about). Unfortunately I never seem to remember before leaving home. Maybe someone could bring some in case I forget, or maybe someone knows of other holes that need to be filled in.

We can file this under the "Who Cares File" but since I'm at work staring at a computer with absolutely nothing to do and I have an insatiable appetite to be right , I used the same satellite photo source to measure the Coliseum's field as a sort of control (since we know the dimensions) and using the same measurement technique (crude as it is) I get numbers that are only a few feet off (between 6.5 and 12 feet) from the stated measurements. That being said, I KNOW I'm in the ballbark within about 5-to-10 feet at deFremery. A nice 500' LASER measuring device would confirm me though.

One of the last game I played in before last Sunday's game... I believe in October during the playoffs... there was a game where about 4 or 5 (maybe 6) homeruns were hit. I believe this was the first time one person hit three. I remember because it was the only game I ever hit a homerun. Someone (bad description but... stocky white guy who usually plays third and usually hit a homerun every other at bat he came up) hit one to dead center across the intersection of 16th and Poplar... I know because I went to go retrieve it on my bike along with the two that Carlos hit over right field off the warehouse on Poplar.

BTW... All your assertions on the reasons why the Mac is a pitcher friendly park are well known and documented. I was just saying that when Canseco wasn't (allegedly) sticking needles in McGwire's azz, he was asking to have the fences moved in a bit- undoubtly due to the conditions you mentioned. BTW, I'm not bashing Canseco for (allegedly) rubbing on McGwire's tush to get the needle in just right... I was and am a big Canseco (and for that matter McGwire) fan.

The fact we are not facing real pitching really means we aren't CONSISTENTLY hitting 300' + jacks. We pitch at about 40-50mph. It's much harder to blast a pitch that slow that far as opposed to 75-95 mph game situation pitching or BP pitching between 60-75 mph.

Yeah, again I think LF is probably 225' (add 20' to take into account tall fence), RF 290' and CF 320'.

So what's the story behind that avatar, Anthony?

PS: Since I love to pack my posts with tons of useful info.... apparently NIGHT GAMES AT DeFREMERY look like they're possible. I'm talking about playing at DeFremery under the lights! This will come into play when it gets hot as hell during the daytime this summer. There's a $150 deposit to pay, then a small fee of $30. Apparently, the only days you can have night baseball are weekdays, so we'd have to switch the given game to a weekday.

That will be awesome to play under lights at DeFremery away from the daytime heat! Start saving up to kick down some $$$ to help with the fee/deposit. Obviously get deposit back after the game.

Would they let us play on that field? We're a bit older than the people that field was built for!

If we told them we were playing baseball they would say NO since deFremery is a "softball" field as are most of the fields in Oakland are. But if you said "uhhh yeah we will play softball " and switch balls it would be ok. The only problem is when we break dude's window across the street and he calls the police.

My avatar is a picture from my junior year at Oakland Tech High School. Many pepperoni pizzas ago.

I've been thinking about the maintenance of DeFremery a lot lately. Since I started playing back in August of '03, I've bought that set of catcher's gear, a few dozen balls, 3 bats <<all still intact... even the one I use to bash the shit out of rocks, and not even I can believe that thing is still in one piece>>, a tote bag (even though I keep my stuff in Scott's) and a pair of batting gloves. Scott's bought countless baseballs, gardening equipment, the scoresheet holder, bases, bats, pants, braces, etc., etc. And I can't fail to mention how well Rich has kept us stocked with authentic cowhide balls.

Well, now we're talking about buying a line chalker (I like calling 'em "chalkbarrows"), painting the foul posts which I think should be outright replaced, making distance markers, even getting a lawnmower so the chalk sticks. All this adds up after a while, and I can't help but remember a question brought up when this all started; a question that I find appropriate now that this has become so popular we have to turn people away:

Should we bring a jar for donations? I say $1 per person suggested donation, but pay what you think is fair. If you can't afford it, no worries. If you want to put down more, more power to ya. What does everyone else think about this?

Only seems fair to me. So I'm down. This could also be furthered to support a little BBQ for after the games every once in a while... ya know a few sausages on the grill (or some grilled eggplant teryaki for the veggie crowd)

Oh, I am so totaly down with this idea.

Scott and I also talked about the idea of everyone paying a buck to someone who maybe doesn't wanna play baseball, but could be our official scorer. What do people think of that idea?

Shoul I make that a new thred?