What Field Had A Hill In Center

Not all of Minute Maid Park's unique features are still present. Tal's Hill, a 30-degree sloped section of the field in deep center that featured a flag pole in play, was removed prior to the end of the 2016 season. Address 501 Crawford St., Houston, TX, 77002 Minute Maid Park Photos

The 90-foot wide, flagpole-topped incline in Minute Maid Park's center field will be removed at the end of this year's baseball season. Tal's Hill is named for the Houston Astros' former president

quotAs you know, Tal's Hill, some people love it, some people hate it,quot Crane said. quotWe just thought it would be a better ballpark by moving that in. It will still be a very deep center field.

In fact, poles and monuments were commonplace among the old quotJewel Boxquot stadiums, with other parks including Forbes Field in Pittsburgh which also contained batting cages in fair territory, Sportsman's Park in St. Louis and the Polo Grounds in Manhattan flying the stars and stripes right on the field. A pole even graced center field at Fenway

It's been there for 17 seasons, a rare architectural quirk in a game that prides itself on tradition and uniformity Tal's Hill, the bump in center field at Houston's Minute Maid Park. But yesterday's loss to the Seattle Mariners may mark the last time the Houston Astros will get to blame that little incline dead center in the outfield. In the stadium's makeover this offseason, Tal

The hill It's called Tal's Hill -after Astro President Tal Smith and Major League baseball hasn't seen anything like it since the Reds moved out of Crosley Field in 1970. Yes, there is actually a grass-covered hill that is in play on the far side of the dirt warning track in deepest center field . . . and on this hill there's a flag pole also in play just within the fence.

It became one of the most bizarre sections of a ballpark in Major League Baseball featuring a massive center field measuring 436 feet deep, a hill with a 15-degree incline, and flag pole in the

By 6 p.m. Thursday, Isotopes Hill was demolished.The last hill in professional baseball had been destroyed, removing the final field oddity across all professional baseball.

Tal's Hill, seen in the back corner of center field. Oddities, though, like Yankee Stadium's once in-play monuments, relatively common in decades past, have slowly been dying from the game as the

Ballpark Quirks is a series on the distinctive features and oddities that make up each of MLB's 30 parks. Today's Pick Minute Maid Park and its centerfield hill. For past stories in the