The Long and Short of it

		Your Junk my Happy Zone - Outta My Dreams, Into my Yard
		by Brandon Corbett

The two fields being talked about in this article are the two that utilize existing baseball fencing for their outfield walls and hit from behind second base. That is where the similarities between them end. The little difference: The Wiffle Iron uses the backstop and dugout fencing, while The Zoo uses the outfield wall. The bigger difference: one is a hitter friendly bandbox, the other a cavernous pitcher's park.

The Zoo plays HUGE. The Zoo is HUGE. It measures 120' down the left field line and 130' down the right field line. Center Field is slightly shorter, but there is no easy poke at the highlands of New Hudson. "Highlands", the Zoo is located on top of a no longer used landfill. This presents a unique and scenic view of the surrounding area while playing. It also makes the field play even bigger! Playing a few hundred feet above the rest of the area brings nearly constant wind, even on calm days, that generally blows in from left-field, knocking down even the hardest hit balls; not that many balls have a shot at 120+' in the first place. The huge dimensions do leave a lot of open space for outfielders to cover, though, and in turn a lot of opportunity for extra base hits; you know, the ones that do not go over the fence. Get it past the outfielders on a line, and you can run for days - rather, you could run for days if you were allowed more than one trip around the bases. The name may not fit so well - a zoo is quite confined, while The Zoo is anything but - however, the field itself is a great, unique addition to the league palette; think the exact opposite of Coors Field, or dead-center at old Tiger Stadium on steroids.

The Wiffle Iron on the other hand plays like right field at new Yankee Stadium with lines around 75'. The short dimensions are a welcome counter-weight to larger fields in the league, and certainly add individual character and earn the term "friendly confines". The field is perfectly symmetrical using the foul line fences and backstop of a grass tee-ball field. This layout, perpendicular fences running the lines into center, also provides the fun of sharply deeper dimensions. If you are late on a ball, you no longer have an easy home run on the short-porch. Adding to that challenge, the height of the fences increase to six feet at the dug-outs left and right center, and to ten feet in straight away center, estimated at a distance 105'. The tall wall in center field configuration is reminiscent of the Diamond Backs' stadium (whatever corporate douchebag sponsor it has now), which is an awesome feature. The Wiffle Iron is a pull hitters dream, but a solid shot up the middle can go easily unrewarded. Being located in the complex at Heritage Park also puts the Iron and Wiffleball into the, admittedly, confused eyes of spectators, which is always nice. If spreading the game is not enough, well your in luck! As this location also provides prime bleacher seating during games.

The Wiffle Iron and The Zoo could not play any more differently, and that is absolutely why home fields exist: what makes home field advantage mean something. To date the Donkeys are 4-2 on their home turf, and Belgian is 7-3 at The Wiffle Iron (* 9-3 at home, but games vs. Squirrels were played at their farm-club park, Maple Yards). .667 and .700 winning percentages at home to .450 and .500 winning percentages, respectively, on the season. Mmmm... That is the smell of home cooking!