Bovard Field
The baseball field was aligned (home to center field) similar to Dedeaux Field, but a few degrees clockwise, nearly true north, but just slightly west. Home plate was located in today's E.F. Hutton Park and left field was bounded by Watt Way. Beyond first base, a large eucalyptus tree came into play; while its trunk was in foul territory, some of its branches crossed into fair territory and guarded the foul line in shallow right field.
Mickey Mantle
In March 1951, a 19-year-old Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees, about to embark on his rookie season in the majors, went 4-for-5 with a pair of home runs, one from each side of the plate against the Trojans in an exhibition game. The home run as a leftie was a massive shot that went well beyond the right field fence into the football practice field, during spring drills. He also had a triple for a total of seven runs batted in for the game, which the Yanks won 15–1.
References
- ^ "34.0218 N, 118.2853 W". Historic Aerials. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
- ^ "University of Southern California". Maps of.net. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
- ^ "Rod, the tree, recommissioned". St. Petersburg Times. Florida. Associated Press. June 5, 1973. p. 2C.
- ^ Leavy, Jane (October 22, 2011). "No true sense of history without a sense of place". New York Times. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
- ^ Eckhouse, Morris (March 26, 2011). "The homer(s) Mickey Mantle hit at USC". ESPN. p. October 23, 2015. Archived from the original on October 9, 2015.
- ^ Moore, Jordan (March 24, 2011). "USC baseball remembers the Mick". University of Southern California Athletics. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
- ^ Holmes, Baxter (March 25, 2011). "The home run that launched the myth of Mickey Mantle". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 23, 2015.