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Old 05-17-2013, 03:49 PM   #50
Hendu Style
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A New Stadium for a New Legend

"The House That Crowley Built."

That was the headline in 1938, when JJ Fritz Field was constructed following another epic season by Northgate slugger Sam Crowley. Thanks to Crowley's second Triple Crown campaign in three seasons (.360 average, 33 HR, 121 RBI), fans were running out of room to watch baseball's greatest player in the cozy confines of Knight Stadium (max capacity 8,100).

So a new ballpark was constructed to hold these boisterous fans. There would be room for some 32,000 Knight faithful. And the ballpark happened to be tailored to Crowley's left handed pull swing.

There was an outcry from opposing teams in the Pioneer League. Fort Dodge's Colt Lincoln, the career leader in homeruns at the time with 388, remarked that he would've had 500 homers if he played in a tailor-made ballpark.

Truth be told, the new stadium was only modestly suited to Crowley's swing. Crowley corner jutted inward from right field at 328 feet, which is close to standard dimensions. But the real stink (literally) came from leftfield, which extended 387 feet down the line, so the stadium could hug the shoreline of Lake Rozier. The lake, especially during the hot summer months, gave a most unpleasant stench to those out in the left field bleachers. These seats were typically the last to get filled on gameday, while Crowley Corner routinely filled up during batting practice to witness their star's prodigious homeruns.

Upon seeing "The Fritz" for the first time, Crowley is said to have quipped, "They better hope I don't start hitting the other way."
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Last edited by Hendu Style; 05-20-2014 at 04:58 AM.
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