What is the significance of chicken wire in baseball history?

In baseball, as in life, timing is everything. Before the 1949 season started the White Sox GM Frank Lane had a chicken-wire fence installed in front of the existing walls in Comiskey Park. The new wire fence shortened the field by 20 feet to 332 down the lines and 425 to center.

It didn’t take the Senators long to take advantage of the shorter fence by belting seven home runs and beating the White Sox 14-12 in 10 innings. At the time this was the only time seven home runs were hit by one team in an extra inning game.

The Senators will hit another 3 home runs on May 4th as they beat the White Sox 8-7. The next day after the Senators left the windy city Lane ordered the chicken wire fence torn down.