Bakersfield Life

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It’s a mystery.

For decades, that’s all that could be said about Sam Lynn Ball Park’s odd west-facing configuration.

No one knows – and no one will ever know; or at least that’s what they said. It’s simply a mystery, and hardcore baseball fans and media around the country, as well as minor-league players and managers, come to Sam Lynn Ball Park every year and ask the same questions.

Why would a baseball field that was planned to be the home of professional, up-and-coming baseball superstars be built facing west? How could a construction company, even way back in 1940 when Sam Lynn Ball Park was built, sit at home plate staring into the setting sun thinking, “Wow, this is a good idea”?

“Whenever Bobby Bonds came to town, the only thing he would complain about – other than the low shower head in the coach’s office – was why the ball park was built backward,” says Tim Wheeler, Bakersfield Blaze official scorer and local baseball historian. “Even when Bob Feller was here, I wanted to talk to him about what it was like to face someone like Ted Williams and all he wanted to talk about was the backwards stadium.”

It is currently – and will forever be – the lone professional baseball field in the country that forces its batters to face west into the setting sun. Building a baseball stadium facing west is as smart as being an obnoxious visiting fan at an Oakland Raiders game – but without the physical consequences.

“That’s the one thing that everyone asks about whether it’s scouts, fans who come here for a while, or new employees,” Wheeler says. “It’s been an ongoing mystery, sort of like the existence of the Loch Ness Monster or which came first, the chicken or the egg.”

But the truth has apparently been found.

After decades of trying to find blueprints and developing numerous theories, the actual reasoning why Sam Lynn Ball Park faces west is a fairly simple one, and back in the early 1940s it actually made sense.

In short, the ballpark was built inside the mile-long horseracing track at what was the Kern County Fairgrounds on Chester Avenue, according to a Dec. 4, 1940 article written in The Bakersfield Californian. The story begins, “Preliminary work of grading and planting grass seed was under way today by the county work relief department within the mile race track at the fairgrounds in preparation for the 1941 baseball season, when Bakersfield will be represented in a Class C professional league.”

Another key to finding out the truth to the Sam Lynn mystery comes in the next paragraph of that article: “Present plans call for moving lights over from the softball diamond, constructing dressing rooms and depending largely on the present grandstand for seating facilities.”

There are really two reasons why that one line helps to answer some questions. But to answer those questions, it’s necessary to step back and look at one of the myths about Sam Lynn’s western-facing mistake. That myth says that the lights that were originally planned for Sam Lynn Ball Park were donated to the military for World War II. Without lights, it wouldn’t matter what direction the field was facing because all games would be played during the day.

The myth continues, saying that over the years, lights were installed to play night games, and that’s when the problem with the setting sun in the batter’s eyes came about.

Clearly, The Californian reported that to be incorrect when it said that lights would be moved over from the softball field, but more research even further backs up that claim. On April 22, 1941 – the day of the Bakersfield Badgers’ first home game at Sam Lynn Ball Park – The Bakersfield Californian wrote, “The game will begin at 8:15. Flag raising exercises will be held at 7:45 in a special ceremony.”

So much for the day-game theory. Even the very first game played at Sam Lynn was at night. In fact, games were scheduled at either 8 or 8:15 p.m. every year until 1974 when game times were pushed back to 7:45 p.m. Game times moved to 7:30 p.m. in 1978 – simply too early to start with the sun the in the batters’ eyes. That was 37 years after the original ballpark was built, however, and there were likely few who remembered the original configuration of the ballpark. Interestingly enough, game stories in The Californian from 1955 list game times “to start on or about sundown, 8 p.m.”

All of this was important information to solve the Sam Lynn mystery, but there was still one missing piece needed – and it was found in the basement of the Kern County Museum. If the stadium was simply built inside of a racetrack, it should have been able to be built in any direction. But aerial photos found at Kern County Museum’s extensive historical photo collection show a smaller racing course, probably a quarter mile, sitting inside the mile track leaving just a small area to fit the stadium into.

Home plate would be forced to sit near the quarter-mile track with the outfield fence hugging the inside of the mile-long track. Any other configuration simply wouldn’t fit. And with an old newspaper article and scratched black-and-white photo, the mystery of Sam Lynn Ball Park was solved.

“It would seriously be like solving the hardest crossword puzzle you’ve ever done,” Wheeler says. “It’s something that has intrigued people for years and there have been a number of theories, but hard-core baseball fans, all the past players and coaches who have gone through here, and people interested in Bakersfield’s past really want to know why Sam Lynn was built backward.”

While the Sam Lynn mystery has been solved, the original – and oftentimes comical – theories will finally be put to rest. But it might be fun to take a look at them one more time, just for old times sake.

Some of the theories took the local landscape into account. One such theory included the local fog. The legend says that the ballpark started construction in the winter when the fog rolled in off of the river and direction was difficult to ascertain. And that’s how the field got turned around.

Or, being so close to the Kern River forced home plate to be where it is today simply out of fear that the damp soil would deteriorate and make the ground unstable.

And then there’s the one about the blueprints being held upside down, forcing the stadium to be built facing the west instead of east.

The myths can now dissipate and the truth has finally been found. While it is well known that Bakersfield’s legendary Sam Lynn had nothing to do with the stadium being built the way it was, the quirky stadium now has it’s own quirky story to tell, not just a handful of myths.

But maybe this story shouldn’t have been told at all. Maybe the myth was more interesting than the truth. Maybe the mystique of Sam Lynn Ball Park will deteriorate now that the real story has been told.

It really doesn’t matter, though. What does matter is Bakersfield’s hometown baseball stadium – for good or bad reasons – is well known throughout the country as being a weird little wrong-facing stadium that starts games later than anyone else in professional baseball because of the sun.

And now the mystery is solved.

 




Side box

The Mystery Solved

While many in Bakersfield have accepted Sam Lynn Ball Park as being a quirky stadium, it is easy to forget that hundreds of potential major leaguers come through the stadium each year. With that, the mystery of Sam Lynn’s west-facing field has continued to grow. Here are just some comments found on the Internet and elsewhere about this mystery, which has finally been solved.

“Much like the search for the Holy Grail, the mystery of why Sam Lynn Ball Park was built with home plate facing the setting sun will most likely never be known.” – National sportswriter Carl Shimkin.

“Quite possibly, whoever built it just didn’t know baseball very well and didn’t realize what they were doing as the stadium was going up.” – Andy Kehe, former Californian columnist in a column written earlier this year.

“Despite the great players who have passed through Bakersfield, Sam Lynn Ball Park is probably best remembered for being built backwards (the sun sets in the hitters’ eyes) and the shallow 354-foot centerfield, perhaps the shallowest in professional baseball.” – Bakersfield Blaze Web site.

“It is the only ballpark in organized professional baseball where the batter faces west, and as such, faces directly into the setting sun. This forces the Blaze to start most games later than any team in professional ball. From mid-June to mid-August, it’s not unusual for games to begin as late as 7:58 p.m.” – Wikipedia