Delmon Young was one of the heroes for the Tigers in their 2-1 win over the Yankees in Game 3 of the ALCS in Detroit on Tuesday.
The Tigers DH drilled a line drive to left field off Phil Hughes in the fourth and it barely cleared the fence at Comerica Park (unofficial distance 370 feet) to make it 1-0 Detroit.
When talking about the home run after the game, Young jabbed Yankee Stadium.
“I knew I hit it hard enough, but we weren’t in Yankee Stadium, so I had to wait an extra 30 feet for it to land,” he said.
Comerica Park is 346 feet down the left field line, and 402 feet to left center (full dimensions here). Yankee Stadium is 318 feet down the left field line, and 399 feet to left center (full dimensions here). Though Yankee Stadium gets deeper toward the gap, it is almost 30 feet shorter than Comerica Park down the line just like Young said. Yankee Stadium is particularly friendly toward left-handed hitters, with the dimensions even shorter down the line and to the gap. That’s part of the reason Curtis Granderson, Mark Teixeira, and even Ichiro have had strong power numbers since joining the team.
The difference between the two stadiums’ dimensions was brought up to Tigers manager Jim Leyland recently, who said Miguel Cabrera would probably hit 60 home runs if he played at Yankee Stadium.
Young is now the Tigers’ career leader in postseason home runs with seven. Two have come this postseason, and five came last year. Amazingly, five of his postseason home runs have come against the Yankees.
Below is video of Young’s home run:
