The Wire Fence in Chicago

Remembering the short-lived Pat Seerey Pasture

The Wire Fence in Chicago

I came across this one completely by accident.

I was messing around with old 1949 newspapers when I read a report about the White Sox taking down a wire fence in Comiskey Park.

I did a little bit of research, and, yes, there was a wire fence at Comiskey for the first few weeks of the 1949 season. And I had never heard anything about it.

Let’s see if we can figure out what happened.

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The Beginning

The fence was preceded by pushing home plate at Comiskey forward a bit.

The best numbers I could find for the left and right field lines in 1948 were 352 feet each. According to this article, which was repeated over wire services in early March 1949, the White Sox shrunk that distance a little bit:

From The Statesville Daily Record (North Carolina), March 2, 1949, page 14

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find any articles from The Chicago Tribune about this. I’m guessing that some of those Tribune pages weren’t scanned properly, which is an issue that pops up from time to time.

You’ll note that this short article implies that the fence won’t make a huge difference. Later printings of the same article in papers around the United States said specifically that there would be no “cheap” home runs in Chicago in 1949.

The actual wire fence was announced about a week later:

From Chicago Daily Tribune, March 10, 1949, part 4, page 3

Note the reference to Greenberg Gardens in Pittsburgh, which lasted from 1947 to 1954. We’ll talk more about that later.

During the first preseason game at Comiskey against the Cubs, the wire fence was reported as a huge success, and proved instrumental in the White Sox’ 3-1 victory:

Both clippings from The Chicago Sunday Tribune, April 17, 1949, part 2 page 1

When the White Sox played their 1949 home opener, the home run fence was a main feature.

From Chicago Daily Tribune, April 22, 1949, part 3 page 1

However, the crowd of just under 10,000 for that home opener wasn’t treated to a blow over the new home run fence.

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Things Go Wrong

Things went wrong in a hurry.

Look — the 1949 Chicago White Sox weren’t a good team. I mean, this wasn’t even an average team. This was a poor team, and it really showed.

The worst showing came on May 3, when the Washington Senators belted 7 home runs at Comiskey Park, one short of the record.

From Chicago Daily Tribune, May 4, 1949, part 4 page 1

The very next day, the Senators overcame a 7-0 White Sox lead to win, benefitting largely from that wire fence:

From Chicago Daily Tribune, May 5, 1949, part 4 page 1

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Down Goes The Fence

The announcement came before the Yankees came in on May 6th. The fence was torn down, and things went back to normal.

From Chicago Daily Tribune, May 6, 1949, part 4 page 1

It didn’t help, of course, as the White Sox lost to the Yankees, 7-5. Maybe Chicago should have spent that $5,000 looking for better pitching.

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The Impact

This is where it gets interesting.

Our baseball statistics assume by their very nature that games during the season are played under uniform rules.

In other words, there is no mechanism in our statistical understanding of baseball to account for things like sign stealing through a telescope in center field, or an air conditioning system that only comes on when the home team is at bat, or a buzzer system hidden under the infield that communicates signs covertly to the batter, or some dude smacking on a trash can lid in the clubhouse to relay the signs.

The statistical world of baseball also has no way to deal with oddities like an inner fence that cut off 20 feet for the first 8 home games of the season.

8 games might not seem like a lot, but it does account for over 10% of the White Sox home games played in 1949. And it did make a difference, like it or not.

The White Sox hit 8 home runs during those 8 home games. For the rest of the season, the White Sox managed only 7 home runs at home. In other words, 53% of Chicago’s home runs at Comiskey came during those first 8 games.

The White Sox pitchers gave up 15 home runs in those 8 games (is it any wonder why they tore the fence down?). They gave up an additional 37 home runs at home during the rest of the season, giving them a grand total of 52 home runs allowed. I’m guessing that the ballpark wasn’t stifling the offense as much as ownership thought. Anyway, 29% of the home runs Chicago’s pitchers gave up at home came during those 8 games.

Now, can you tell me how you’re supposed to calculate an accurate park factor given this? You need to include those home runs, but you can’t account for the fact that the park itself changed so dramatically after a little over 10% of the home games were played. And it wasn’t a trivial difference, either, as I just showed you. It mattered.

If you’re really interested in trivia, The Sporting News contained a list of the home runs that were attributable to the short fence:

From The Sporting News, May 11, 1949, page 10.

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Legacy

Here’s a brief summary from this excellent page:

Sadly, I haven’t yet been able to figure out when that American League rule went into effect. That will take more time and more research.

At least the wire fence hasn’t been completely forgotten. Just mostly.