When I covered the Orioles for the Baltimore Sun many years ago, there were pitchers on the team’s staff convinced that the 364 feet listed on the fence at Camden Yards was an exaggeration. According to their telling of a tale at the time, a couple of them dragged a tape from home plate to the outfield and measured it at markedly less than 364 feet.
I have no idea whether this actually happened, but regardless, Camden Yards is regarded as a veritable shoe box by pitchers and hitters, a place where you can stand on the mound and feel as if you can reach out and touch the wall in left-center field, a place where average power hitters can put up accented home run numbers.
Which brings us to former Orioles first baseman Chris Davis, who carries incredible power numbers into free agency.
Over the past four seasons, Davis has clubbed 159 homers, an average of just about 40 homers per season, and while he has generated a lot of strikeouts along the way at a time when some teams are reassessing the question of whether all outs are created equal, there can be no doubt about this: He is best available home run hitter among the free agents.
His numbers make that apparent, and he looks the part as well, with the body of an outside linebacker: 6-foot-3 and 230 pounds. If you watch him take batting practice, you could be satisfied that he would hit the ball out of any park, whether it be Camden Yards, AT&T Park or Yosemite National Park.