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Jon is texting me saying the @Padres moved the 396 sign on the outfield wall. Says no way is it same distance. pic.twitter.com/KSqKXjYkBR
— Gaslamp Ball (@gaslampball) May 6, 2014
@gaslampball Tell him to please do it.
— Jodi Paranal (@jodes0405) May 6, 2014
Watching last night's game I couldn't help but notice the center field distance marker is no longer there. It's been shifted about 50 feet to the right. I'm guessing some players complained it was sometimes distracting when trying to see a pitch. Jbox thinks I'm crazy for even bringing this up.
Here's a picture of where the distance label used to be, from a photo in 2012:
Photo credit: Jake Roth-US PRESSWIRE
I'm positive that the center field fence is perpendicular to the center line of the field itself. Therefore it can not be the same distance to home plate. But knowing that it is a right angle we can use some 9th grade math and figure out what the distance actually is. Our new distance, the hypotenuse, is the square root of the leg a squared + leg b squared. We know leg a is 396'. But what is leg b?
Using a very unscientific method (google maps) we can scale the distance to approximately 50 feet knowing that the bases are 90 feet apart. So with that info we reach a new distance of 399 feet. Maybe, I'm just weird, or it's that I like my shit precise, but I think it should be changed.