Game Delayed, Sun



Home plate entrance to the Sam Lynn Ball Park, Aug-2008.


The seating bowl, as seen from the top of the first-base bleachers.


The sun has just set behind the tall screen on a beautiful evening in Bakersfield.


Quick Facts:
Chronological Tour: Stop 72
Rating: 2 baseballs
I’ll admit, I didn’t do my homework. Until recently, I had no idea who Sam Lynn is or was. (A correspondent from Bakersfield told me in early 2001 that he was the local Coca-Cola bottler who brought professional baseball to the city.) His name, however, remains on the old ballpark in Bakersfield, Calif., the home of one of the two “sun delays” in professional baseball (along with Wahconah Park in Pittsfield, Mass.).

Sam Lynn and Wahconah have the joint distinction of a line from home plate through the pitcher’s box to second base running nearly due west. When the park was built in the 1940s, this wasn’t a problem; however, with the advent of lights, the setting sun can get into the batter’s eyes.

As a result, the folks in Bakersfield have erected a huge screen in the outfield, and the starts of games here are often delayed until the sun dips behind the screen. Games in mid-summer start no earlier than 7:30, as opposed to the usual 7:05 start around the league. The other oddity about this park is the 354-foot fence in straightaway center field, which I believe is the shortest in professional baseball.

The old wooden grandstand behind the plate, which was also covered, has been replaced with a concrete structure with no roof. This is not much of a problem, though, as the club plays only night games and it seldom rains in this part of California in the summer.

A new park has been proposed for Bakersfield, but so far it hasn’t happened. As I arrived here for a 2008 game, a rumor broke that the franchises in Bakersfield and Adelanto were being shifted to the Carolina League. One may move into the ballpark in Richmond, Va., which is being vacated by the Triple-A Braves franchise.


Game # Date League Level Result
154 2-Sep-1994 California A BAKERSFIELD 8, Stockton 4, 10 inn
940 2-Aug-2008 California A Lake Elsinore 12, BAKERSFIELD 3
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This page updated 11-Aug-2009