Mets Change Citi Field Walls: Lower, Shorter, Bluer
The Mets off-season got off to a rousing start on Monday, as the team announced long anticipated and much needed changes to the outfield wall. And for the first time in a long time, the Mets did everything right.
“We wanted to make Citi Field fair to both pitchers and hitters,” said Sandy Alderson said in an email the Mets sent out.
Indeed they did. First of all, the height of the wall has been lowered to a uniform eight feet. Gone is that idiotic 16-foot wall in left field (who signed off on that, anyway?!). Can you hear the cheers of Jason Bay? I can recall him hitting that wall at least a half-dozen times over the past two seasons, turning what should have been confidence-building home runs into disappointing doubles. The wall has also been shortened from 371 feet to 358 feet.
Also gone is the 415-foot power alley in right center, as David Wright’s glee echoes throughout the land. It will now be 398 feet. And the moronic Mo Zone nook? Also history as we knew it — the fence has been straightened out and moved in ten feet.
Here is a rendering of the new dimensions included in the email:
Here’s what left field looks like:
And right field:
You’ve probably noticed that the new wall is blue. That’s right — the Mets have apparently been reading the blogs on which we have pleaded with the team to make the wall a Mets color instead of black, which is not a Mets color despite those horrible uniforms.
“We decided to change the outfield wall from black to Mets blue, which many of our fans have wanted,” said Jeff Wilpon, perhaps the only smart thing the James Dolan wanna-be has ever uttered.
The new configuration even adds 140 new seats, 100 in left field:
And 40 in the revamped Mo Zone:
All in all, a fine job by the Mets. As Alderson said, it is now a fair park, like Shea was. The hitters will certainly be thrilled, and the pitchers probably won’t complain much as it certainly is not a bandbox like Citizens Bank Park. This could lead to more wins than any other move the Mets make this off-season.
i’m happy with this all around; i think the mets actually did get this one right. blue fences like the old ones, plus wright and bay will (hopefully) return to normal. Also, I’m glad they kept the quarks in right, as i noticed the fence on either side of the moe’s zone is still angled funny. i think this adds a bit of a homefield advantage that you don’t see in other sports, plus it adds for the greater opportunity of rarer plays like an inside the park home run. that’s just how i see it personally, i know a lot of people dislike all the quarks though