What is a warning track in baseball?

Warning track in baseball is a wide strip of dirt that leads along a wall or fence that surrounds the field. In a field that enters grass or artificial lawn and a dirty track, he should notice different surfaces under his feet and knew he was approaching the wall, even without looking in this direction. The warning track is designed to help prevent injuries that could occur if the player in the field that ran to catch the fly came into the wall - even a padded wall - without warning. Many baseball fields have a warning track along each wall or fence, but others have only one along the wall of the outer field. Some fields, such as those used by teams in youth, for medium or recreational leagues may not have a warning track at all.

Help with Fielders

In addition to increasing safety, the track also helps outfielders better time jumping catches. Many outfielders will watch the musselsKy, when we look through their shoulders, so they don't see that they are approaching the wall quickly. Therefore, they will use their first step on the track as an indicator to help them know when to jump to get through the wall and catch what would otherwise be home run. The warning track frees the field of vision to watch the ball instead of having to look and see where the wall is. If the field in the field had to take off his eyes from the ball and look at the wall, he could be able to find the ball again, so he could not catch him before he landed.

width

There is no set distance that must be a warning track. The general rule used in many fields is that the track should be probably the width of three running steps, which is considered to be a sufficient warning for players in the field. In most of the main league ballparks, the track is about 15 or 20 feet (about 4.6 to 6.1 m) Wide. At other baseball levels, it can be 6 or 10 feet (1.8 or 3.0 m) wide or other width in a similar range.

History

The first use of the warning track came at the New York original Yankee stadium, which was opened in 1923 and was used until 2008. Red Cinder Track, which operated the entire baseball field, was originally served as a cross -country surface for events with track and field. The players began to realize that once they hit the garbage bin, they were approaching the wall. The warning track was born and began to be included in all baseball parks in the main leagues.