When and Why did they ever stop letting people leave the baseball parks by way of the field?

My dad told me when he went to baseball games, when it was over you could leave by way of the field, through the field and out the warning track to where the parking lots were I guess...When and why did they ever stop letting fans do that?

Public Comments

1. Now they spend alot of money on the fields and don't want anything to damage them. You know there would be some player who screwed up a play and would blame it on the "excessive" foot traffic on the field. In addition, years ago people didn't try to steal anything they can and put it on ebay
2. not sure, but some of the pitchers like to run on the warning track after the games, so i guess they felt it is too dangerous to have a fan come into contact with one or more players.
3. I dont know when but I do know that it was because of players safety. Look at how many times players have some stuff thrown at them. Imagine if the players had a bunch of angry fans that are all around them.
4. im not sure exactly why, but safety had to be a reason, if a team won a pennant or a world series, it would be like a stampede and some people would get trampled on
5. I think they did this at th ePolo Grounds or Ebbetts in NY because of the stadium design. This wasnt standard stuff for most parks. They wouldnt do it now because 30000 people tramping on the field tends to trash the surface. The really mind blowing thing was in games at the turn of the century - they let people stand in foul territory and in the outfield, and when it got crowded, they moved the ropes closer to the infield. There is a great pic of Christy Mathewson warming up in a game on the sidelines in 1908 and the fans had to move out of the way to give him room.
6. very true i believe that was possible with ebbets field and the polo grounds. However if they did that today the fields would be highly vandalized. People arent as honest today as they were 50 years ago : (
7. I don`t know when but why is because ball teams don`t want people possibly destroying the new expensive fields. Plus the grounds crew can start covering and working on the field immediately.