Scoreboards – Baseball

Many people may not know that the famous Tiger Stadium in Detroit started out in 1895 as just a simple ballpark. George Vanderbeck was the then owner of the Detroit Tigers, and built the stadium and called it Bennett Park. It had wooden grandstands and a peaked roof of wood in the outfield with the infield surrounded by bleachers. Ropes were used in some locations to mark off the outfield.

Many changes were made to ‘The Corner’, as it was lovingly coined. From 1911 to 1938 various owners changed, added and enhanced to encourage fans to attend. In 1961, John Fetzer decided to rename the location to Tiger Stadium. It seemed the name brought good luck because from 1968 and 1984, they held the seasons of the World Series championship. The historic feel of the stadium earned the love of the local Detroit fans; and that says a lot, because Detroit fans are some of the most devoted in the country. Roger Maris hit his very first homerun at the stadium.
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From 1915 through 1952 the Braves Field was known for hosting the then Boston Braves of the National League franchise. The original owners made a little known name change to the team, calling it the Boston Bees, and the field picked up the name of “The Bee Hive”.

The intended purpose of the field was to offer the ability to have more inside home runs. So, a stadium was constructed in the then ‘outskirt area’ of Boston. Sadly, the fans had to sit in stand areas that were literally outside of the foul marked areas. There were also strong breezes that entered into the field. Fences that were originally 400 feet away were often relocated based on the interests of the owners. This on again, off again relocation was much to the chagrin of both fans and players alike. It would be ten years before someone hit a home run to go up and over the outer wall. Other than that, it would always be referred to as a “pitchers park”.
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Mile High Stadium in Denver, Colorado was originally constructed in 1948 with a capacity seating of 17,000. It’s hard to believe in today’s stadium comparisons that so much was invested in such a small venue. The initial concept was that this would be the stadium for the Denver Bears and so when it was completed it was called Bears Stadium.
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In 1922 a local Baltimore sports fan would not recognize the name Memorial Stadium. At the time of its opening, it was called Baltimore Stadium. Later it would also carry the names Venable Stadium, Babe Ruth Stadium and Municipal Stadium. It was lovingly referred to as “The Old Grey Lady of 33rd Street” and also not so lovingly as “The World’s Largest Outdoor Insane Asylum.”
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If you have never heard of, you must have been living under a rock. Even if you aren’t a New Yorker, everyone in the world knows of Shea Stadium, home at one point of the famed New York Mets, New York Jets, New York Yankees and the New York Giants.
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Is there anyone in the world that hasn’t heard of Yankee Stadium? To say that this arena was iconic is a pure understatement. To this day, when someone says ‘Yankee Stadium’ – visions of hot dog vendors, sports music played on that famous Hammond organ, crowds filled with excitement and the electricity of the games fills the senses. When it opened in 1923, it was destined to be associated with everything good and wholesome about America and New York.
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Almost every player gets injured at some point during their career, but the most hungry players fight the injury, work super hard, and get back into the team with a bang! On the other hand, there are players who either don’t have the fight, or have suffered from a truly debilitating injury, are they unable to gain their previous form after their comeback. In this baseball scoreboards feature, I have taken a look at 4 players who were brilliant prior to getting injured, but who have lost their momentum after an injury. Sad but true.
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There are times when a player truly deserves a MVP award but for one reason or another does not get it (Matt Holliday in 2007 anyone?!). On the other hand, there are times when a player (according to the fans consensus) does not deserve a MVP award but somehow gets it anyway. In this baseball scoreboards feature, I have taken a look at the players who deserved the biggest award in baseball least of all..

5. Maury Wills
Maury Wills received the MVP award in 1962 for no reason. Yes, his statistics showed 104 stolen bases but this alone was surely not sufficient to get an MVP award. MVPs are selected through voting and this statistic clearly influenced the voters as they thought that he was the best of that year. In that particular season a truly deserving candidate for the MVP was Millie Ways. Ways was way ahead of Wills according to the statistics. He was leading the league in home runs as well as in wins above replacement (WAR). Other statistics like walks, runs, batting average etc also indicated that Wills should have been the MVP for 1962.
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