Andre Chiefs

Medford, MA- Forget the dead ball era! Welcome to Huskins Field where pitchers frolic and hitters frown. 

ICL observers are starting to ask the question, “why can’t anyone hit or score runs at Huskins Field”, home of the Chiefs. 

Prevailing summer wind always seeming to blow in?  Quality pitching? Wood bats? Humungous dimensions? 354’ down the left field line? 379’ plus in the gaps? 410’ to center? Poor hitting? A thick carpet like lush infield? Great defense? Lots of room in foul ground? Take your pick. 

There is no doubt that the perfectly manicured field on the campus of Tufts University in Medford is one of the finest natural grass surfaces in New England. It has just become a place where offensive baseball is virtually non-existent come the summertime. 

Consider this - the ICL’s batting average at Huskins Field is 52 points less than any other field in the ICL, 59 points below the ICL average and 106 points less than what ICL batters hit at Ferullo Field in Woburn. Toss in the fact that all batters are close to the Mendoza line, hitting a paltry .205, with an on base percentage of just .294 and slugging percentage of .260, which are all league lows. 

If you throw aside the Chiefs’ 12-7 opening night win against the Tanners and the Americans 11-5 win in early July, when the wind was blowing out on both occasions, there have been a total of 42 runs scored in the other twelve games. Without having everyone reach for the calculator, that number translates into the fact both teams are combining for 3.5 runs per game.

Aside from the aforementioned two games, there have only been 84 hits in the remaining dozen games or an average of 7.0 per game. In league like the ICL that is stacked with outstanding hitters, those numbers are staggering! The average linescore at Huskins has been 1.75 runs and 3.5 hits per game, per team. 

The Chiefs have played 26 games so far this season, 13 at Huskins and 13 on the road. Here's how the numbers stack up.

Astute observers would argue that a field with such big dimensions would have plenty of room in the alleys and therefore yield plenty of gap shot extra basehits. Not so! At Huskins there have been only 15 doubles, two triples and just four home runs, all to right field.

Incredibly, ICL batters strike out with less frequency at Huskins than any other field in the ICL. Simply said, batters are making contact but the ball is going nowhere. That provides solid reasoning as to why the average ICL game at Huskins takes less than an hour and a half.

2009 Intercity League Batting by Field

So batters beware and pitchers rejoice! Huskins is ready to humble you. - Bruce Tillman