History of Sliding Pits in Baseball Fields

[OnWis97]

I feel like I've heard sliding pits in the fairly recent past, but never cutouts.

 

When they were still prevalent in the 1980s, I don't think I ever heard any term for them. I think people would just say something clunky like "only has dirt around the bases" or "doesn't have dirt all the way around the infield."

[McCall]

35 minutes ago, jlog3000 said:

Also I wonder if an artificial turf-designed ballpark could work on a natural grassed stadium, even if that stadium is domed (so that we won't have to worry about weather issues, unless that dome has a roof leak a la Metrodome).

Are you asking if the cut outs/sliding pits would work on natural grass fields? Because, as others have already pointed out, they wouldn't. The grass will get so worn down on the base paths, much more than the outfield. Just growing up playing baseball in our backyard, I can confirm this to be the case. This is the whole reason for the mostly dirt infields to begin with.

[Sec19Row53]

1 hour ago, OnWis97 said:

I feel like I've heard sliding pits in the fairly recent past, but never cutouts.

 

When they were still prevalent in the 1980s, I don't think I ever heard any term for them. I think people would just say something clunky like "only has dirt around the bases" or "doesn't have dirt all the way around the infield."

Outside of this thread, I've never heard of them as sliding pits . I mean, they aren't pits.

[McCall]

2 hours ago, Sec19Row53 said:

Outside of this thread, I've never heard of them as sliding pits . I mean, they aren't pits.

In the initial post, I thought he was referring to some kind of actual pit/trench and I was trying to remember when they ever used those. Almost created some kind of Mandela effect in my mind until Sport clarified what he was talking about.

[Sec19Row53]

28 minutes ago, McCall said:

In the initial post, I thought he was referring to some kind of actual pit/trench and I was trying to remember when they ever used those. Almost created some kind of Mandela effect in my mind until Sport clarified what he was talking about.

I swore that Herman Munster used one in the episode where he tried out for the Dodgers, but I can't find evidence of it