Why were there no new baseball stadiums being built between 1923 and 1962?
85573
There was no need.  People went to the stadium to enjoy the baseball game.  Imagine that.  They didn't need luxury boxes, food courts, playgrounds, futuristic scoreboards, picnic areas, restaurants, museums, or swimming pools to entice them to go see a game.  The talent on the field used to be enough; still is for me.
690956
Teams struggled to make payrolls, and attendance was down.\n\nOne of the greatest teams in baseball history, the 1929-31 Philadelphia Athletics, had to be dismantled and sold off by its owner, the legendary Connie Mack, because of financial difficulties.  He had to sell or trade great players like Lefty Grove, Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Cochrane and Al Simmons.  This team won three straight American League pennants during a time when the Yankees had Ruth, Gehrig, Lazzeri, Dickey, Ruffing and Gomez. \n\nThe A's never recovered, and were a second division club until long after Mack died in the early 50's.  They didn't become a consistent winner again until they moved to Oakland, and won three straight World Series in the early 70's.
1081762
I believe this is the final year of the contract with the company for the use of their Umpire Information System. Only 10 stadiums/fields use the system Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Chase Field, Fenway Park, Jacobs Field, McAfee Coliseum, Miller Park, Minute Maid Park, Shea Stadium, Tropicana Field and Yankee Stadium. If the service is retained(contract renewed), most likely all stadiums/fields will be provided the service, as has been discussed and promised.
407354
In 1998, baseball added the Arizona Diamondbacks to the NL West and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to the AL East. That alone would have put 15 teams in each league, which would mean that someone would have to play an interleague game EVERY DAY. Baseball wants to keep interleague "special," so they had to put an even number of teams in each league. That meant that one team had to move, and Milwaukee was chosen. They picked Milwaukee because the old Milwaukee Braves were in the NL, so the city has some NL tradition.
790296
The security at potentially clinching games is overwhelming now.  I think the turning point game was the final game of the 1976 ALCS when the Yankee fans totallly trashed the field after Chris Chambliss won the pennant for the Yankees on a 9th inning walk off homer.  It was not a new development for the home town crowd to jump onto the field for a pennant or World Series winning moment.  I have seen films of the Bill Mazeroski walk off home run in 1960 and he had trouble crossing the plate because of the number of fans who had run onto the field in celebration.   In the 2004 ALCS, when A-Rod was called out after limp wristedly slapping at Bronson Arroyo's glove, dozens of mounted New York policeman had to surround the field as a preventative.  They did not just show up, they were obviously at the Stadium and ready to go in case of just such an emergency.
549443
i see the U.S. won in 1999 there was no game in 1998
908293
1934, 42 Polo Grounds\n1939,60, 77 Yankee Stadium\n1949 Ebbetts Field\n1964 Shea Stadium\n\nIn 73 years of all star games you have hosted 7\nThat is just under 1 in every 10 years.  Let another team host it.
555383
Fenway Park and Wrigley are the two old-school parks still in operation.  But Fenway is older by a couple of years.\n\nFenway park opened April 20, 1912 as specified on the home page: http://www.fenwaypark.com\n\nWrigley was opened on April 23, 1914 as stated on the Cubs website: http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/chc/ballpark/index.jsp\n\nOf course, the tough question is which one will stay open longer???  We won't have an answer to that one for a while...\n\n(Oh, and they played in the old polo fields in back bay before Fenway...And the Boston Braves played in BU's field on Babcock St)\n\n(Just read on fenway park.com that the polo fields were called "Huntington Grounds")
1098748
First stadium to have its entire field covered by AstroTurf, except for the cutouts around the bases and pitcher’s mound. \nFirst Hit: Felix Millan, June 30, 1970. \nFirst Home run: Hank Aaron, June 30, 1970. \nFirst Presidential Visit: Richard Nixon, July 14, 1970. \nFirst Upper deck Home run: Tony Perez, August 11, 1970. \nFirst World Series game ever played on artificial turf: October 10, 1970. \nFirst No-hitter: Ken Holtzman, June 3, 1971. \nFirst Pitcher ever to pitch a No-hitter and hit two Home runs in the same game: Rick Wise, June 23, 1971. \nHank Aaron ties the all-time Home run record with number 714: April 4, 1974. \nFirst stadium to display Metric distances on the outfield walls (100.58 meters down the lines, 114.30 to the alleys, 123.13 to center): 1976. \nHighest season attendance, 2,629,708: 1976. \nFirst Rain checks issued: August 30, 1978. \nFirst player to Hit for the Cycle: Mike Easler, June 12, 1980. \nPete Rose breaks the all-time Hit record with number 4,192: September 11, 1985. \nFirst player ever to be Caught stealing four times in one game: Robby Thompson, June 27, 1986. \nFirst Perfect game: Tom Browning, September 16, 1988. \nLongest Home run, 473': Mark McGwire, May 5, 2000.\n\nRiverfront/ Cinergy was pretty damn historic
129241
Not sure which championship you are looking for or which of the several papers in the area would help....so here is a couple links to baseball championships for that era and a full listing of newspapers in the area.\n\nGood Luck
503306
Never?\n\nDivision Champs--1976, 1977, 1978, 1981\nNational League Champs--1915, 1950, 1983, 1993\nWorld Series Champs--1980\n\nLately, the problem has been the Atlanta Braves who are in the same division and have been the division champs for 15 years straight(except the 1994 'strike' year)...\n\nThe wild card is an option for them, unfortunately, there always seem to be one team who is a step ahead of them for that as well.  \n\nPhillies have the talent to be there this year as they have for the last few years.  If they would not fall apart at the end of the season as they have in the past, they could make it.
830613
The main reason for the "death" has to be that Baseball stadiums are consistantly getting smaller to promote the "long-ball" which most fans pay to see.  For instance the Polo Grounds in New York used to be almost 500 ft. in center field...hit it past the center fielder or to the gap and it doesn't not only go to the wall, but, IT KEEPS ROLLING! allowing the baserunner to easily get to third.
1100995
The Wikipedia links have much of the story, but the real answer is that the team owners decide, usually by authorizing the league to make changes.  Today that would be a decision of all the owners on behalf of MLB, as when the leagues expanded and when the Milwaukee Brewers were moved from the American to the National League.\n\nWhy do some states (and cities) have teams in both leagues?  Competition, pure and simple.  The American League itself was founded for that reason, and it was why the original Baltimore Orioles became the New York Yankees.  In fact, part of the 1905 agreement that established the World Series as an annual affair specified that the American League would not move a franchise to Pittsburgh to compete with the Pirates.\n\nThe New York Mets and Houston Astros - indeed all of the expansion franchises and most of the recent franchise moves -also exist because of competition.  When the Giants moved to San Francisco, a minority shareholder who opposed the move, Joan Payson (who also unsuccessfully tried to buy the Giants from Horace Stoneham and thus prevent the move), had enough money to back a new major league, the Continental League, which would have teams in Atlanta, Buffalo, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, Houston, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York and Toronto.  (All these cities except Buffalo now have major league teams.)   The AL and NL folded and added four new teams, the others being the second Washington Senators franchise (now the Rangers) and the Los Angeles Angels (no "of Anaheim" in those days).  The man who organized the Continental League, William A. Shea, is the man for whom Shea Stadium is named.  Payson became the first owner of the Mets.\n\nSometimes moves occur because the team owner wishes to move to greener pastures, as with the Giants, Dodgers, Athletics, the Milwaukee (ex-Boston) Braves and the Seattle Pilots (now the Brewers).
206115
Because the rules of the game state no official size for the baseball field other than the distance between bases and the distance from the pitchers mound to home plate.\n\nMany of the differences began because baseball fields were often used for other activities and thus the shape of the stadium was defined before the team started using it. Otherwise, field dimensions are often the ultimate form of home field advantage ... such as the short porch in right field at Yankee Stadium in a park designed for left-handed power hitter Babe Ruth (and a team that has traditionally always been loaded with left-handed power). Bigger parks tend to favor smaller, speedier teams and so on ... teams build themselves to fit their own stadium, as they play 81 games a year there.
1118129
I remember when Shea was the newest stadium in baseball (1964).  We liked the decorative panels, the bright colors (orange and blue mostly, the Mets' colors, though the box seats were yellow and the upper deck light green), the long escalators and above all the roominess.  Yankee Stadium had not been renovated to remove the obstructing pillars yet.  I was even able to tread the "sacred" turf that magical 1969 season with my entry in the Banner Day contest.  We didn't talk about "nosebleed" seats then, we just plunked down our $1.30 and had fun.  Alas, I've not been back since 1970 when I moved, but last year the Mets turned up in Seattle for the first time ever and I drove down to watch them at Safeco Field, a very slick place.  Predictably, the Mets dropped all three games.  But I had my Mets banner: "Tom Seaver says, 'I'm glad I never pitched to Ichiro!' Let's go Mets and Mariners!"
926075
I tend to agree with you in that the money is a tough thing to turn down.  CitiField works for me, but I think who ever decides these things needs to at least tip their hat to Mets history.  I think naming a certain part of the stadium "Shea" would be nice compromise.  Instead of having the "Diamond Club" like they have now, call that "Shea" to retain our history.  Well, or something like that.  Maybe rename the loge or mezzanine Shea even....
991909
At the time, the championship games for the conferences were rotated amongst the divisions, regardless of which team had the better record.\n\nHome field advantage was non-existent at the time.