Warning!

Last Friday night I was one of the lucky few who got to chaperone our school's choir trip to Anaheim, joining hundreds of other students in singing the National Anthem prior to the Angels v. Nationals baseball game.

It was a particularly fun assignment given the chaperones were also allowed onto the field, left to loiter on the outfield's warning track. It was a thrill for a baseball fan like me, but also got me to wondering about the origins of this rather eclectic circle of dirt.

It turns out the warning track was instituted by MLB in 1949, in an effort to improve player safety. Architects of this earthen halo believed changing the surface just in front of the outfield wall would allow players to "feel" the transition from grass to dirt, prompting them to alter their gait and thus avoid full-speed collisions.

Unfortunately, no uniform measurements for this feature were agreed upon. And with so many other factors at play (running speed, approach angle, sun glare, etc.), the warning track has done little to address the danger.

That said, I'm no fraidy cat! Bring on the wall!

"The warning track is like driving on a highway with a speed limit of 70 mph, then all of a sudden you're in a school zone and the speed limit has dropped to 25 mph, with a brick wall staring you right in the face." - Doug Glanville