4/1/2016: Manchester, NH – The Manchester Maulers baseball club is proud to announce significant alterations to the dimensions of Whiten Field, a park that has long offered one of the most distinctive playing environments in the Planetary Extreme Baseball Alliance.  Whiten Field’s asymmetrical dimensions heavily favored left-handed power hitters and pitchers, while its cavernous left and center fields presented a major challenge to right-handed batters.

The alterations for the 2016 season, which have been planned since the conclusion of the 2015 campaign, eliminate much of this asymmetry even as they preserve some of the park’s most distinctive features.  Whiten Field’s famous 45-foot tall steel wall in right field – affectionately dubbed “The Iron” by Maulers fans – retains its imposing presence.  Meanwhile, the enormous left and center field dimensions that have long been the bane of right-handed hitters have been significantly shortened in order to better reflect the state of ballparks across the PEBA.

According to Maulers’ General Manager Morris Cooley, the changes were necessary in order for the club to offer hometown fans the best possible team.  Cooley released the following statement:

While the distinctive configuration of Whiten Field has long been one of its most endearing characteristics, we felt that it was time to normalize its playing dimensions.  Too often over the last nine seasons, we have seen these dimensions hurt the development and performance of promising young players, a fact that forced us to compensate by heavily favoring a particular skill set – left-handed batting – that has left our PEBA lineup unbalanced and our minor league system severely constrained.  This move, which admittedly does sacrifice some of the distinctive charm of our park, puts us in a much better position to pursue our ultimate goal: bringing the Rodriguez Cup to our loyal fans in Manchester.

The changed dimensions of the park are as follows:

• Left field foul line: 325 feet (shortened by 60 feet), 8′ fence (heightened by 3′)
• Left field: 365 feet (shortened by 42 feet), 8′ fence (heightened by 3′)
• Left-Center field: 395 feet (shortened by 68 feet)