Infinite MonkeysLast Tuesday, Rhino Brian and I went and saw the San Diego Padres beat the Dodgers at Petco Park. This completed the "NL West" segment of my informal goal of visiting every Major League ballpark. While watching the game, Brian noted that the Padres' dugout was on the first base line, which was contrary to both of our experience in other parks, at least as far as we could remember.
So, today at lunch with Deuce I was discussing this experience, and he was kind enough to find this page that explains the breakdown. Short version: No rules about it, tradition is split, current AL parks are evenly split in configuration, while the NL is 11:5 in favor of first-base dugouts.
Posted by RobbL at June 19, 2006 03:39 PMWhen a runner grounds out or flies out, it's a shorter distance to return to the first base dugout. Some ballparks are so configured that one dugout is in the sun while the other is in shade during a day game. The New York Yankees originally used the third base dugout, but now use the first base dugout.
Posted by: Mark at June 20, 2006 01:09 PM