Shibe Park in Philadelphia will be home to the Team of Intrigue in 2008. It wasn’t enough that center field was 460 feet from home plate (originally 515). The team had a 20 foot high wall in straight away center, along with a fifty (sometimes sixty) foot high wall in right center, 390 feet away. The stadium was converted to the Deliverance Evangelistic Church after the Phillies left in 1970. No balls ever left the expansive stadium…don’t know about the souls.
What could work: Run, Forrest, Run! Doubles will become triples and triples will be inside the park home runs. This team could have a dozen inside the park home runs. Tony Gwynn, Bill Terry, Sherry Magee, Earle Combs and Maury Wills(running above) will trade in baseball spikes for track spikes…stirrup pants for running shorts. Even Barney McCosky and Frankie Frisch will amaze their friends. The starting rotation of “Big Train” Johnson, Whitey Ford, Red Faber, Bob Caruthers and Larry Corcoran will be striking out at least six batters a game. This staff had a penchant for the long ball (especially the latter two), but that shouldn’t be an issue in this park.
What could fail: Pitching depth. Five starters, two middle relievers and a closer, the great Dave Smith (Remember… Astros…during the orange and brown rainbow uniform years). The starters are capable of going far into the game, but what happens when the pen is called on after a five run second inning? Other teams can hit too.
Result: 82-80. Maybe a four-man rotation is in order here. Like the Sluggers, the weight of this team is on the shoulders of the arms.
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