Sports History

Did the Roof Rob the Padres? Here Are 5 Times a Stadium Really Did Decide the Game

A roof cable turned Ty France's 9th-inning drive into an out in Milwaukee. From the Polo Grounds to the Fog Game, here are 5 times the building really did pick the winner.

The sun comes through the glass at AT&T Stadium.

The Padres were down 3-2 in the top of the 9th of Game 1 of the NLDS on Saturday night in Milwaukee, with a man on first and 1 out. Ty France hit a fly ball toward the left-field corner off Brewers closer Trevor Megill, 105 mph off the bat. It never came down where he wanted. It hit a cable hanging from the American Family Field roof, over fair territory, and dropped to Jackson Chourio on the warning track. Under the park's ground rules, a ball that hits the roof over fair territory is still in play. France was out. Jackson Merrill lined out to end it, and the Brewers won 3-2.

"It hit a wire, took a right and the guy caught it," France said. The Padres challenged and lost.

Was it a home run? Probably not. Statcast said it would have been gone in exactly 1 ballpark, Houston's, and Brewers manager Pat Murphy said, "It was going to be a foul ball for sure." So the roof may not have robbed anybody. These 5 buildings did change the result.

5. The sun at AT&T Stadium (2024)

A billion-dollar stadium, and nobody thought about the sunset.

The Cowboys' stadium runs east to west, and the west end zone is a wall of glass. Late on fall afternoons, the sun comes straight through it and into the eyes of anybody looking for a pass.

Late-afternoon sun pours through the west end zone at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

On Nov. 10, 2024, against the Eagles, Dallas had 2nd-and-goal at the 3. Cooper Rush threw to CeeDee Lamb, Lamb lost it in the sun, and the Cowboys settled for a field goal on the way to a 34-6 loss, their 4th straight at home. Asked whether the team should hang curtains, Lamb said, "Yes, one thousand percent." Jerry Jones' answer: "Let's just tear the damn stadium down."

CeeDee Lamb at AT&T Stadium. He wanted curtains "one thousand percent."

The Dallas Morning News' report on the 34-6 loss to the Eagles, as it ran in the Tyler Morning Telegraph on Nov. 11, 2024.

On Thanksgiving 2025, George Pickens lost a ball in the same glare. For the World Cup this summer, the stadium finally hung black curtains over the west windows. For the Cowboys' home opener in September, they were gone.

4. The Ice Bowl, Lambeau Field (1967)

13 below zero, and the $80,000 heating system didn't work.

Before the 1967 season, Vince Lombardi had General Electric bury an $80,000 grid of electric heating wire under the Lambeau Field turf. It was supposed to keep the field soft. On Dec. 31, for the NFL Championship Game against the Cowboys, it was 13 below zero at kickoff, and when the tarp came off, the moisture under it froze. The Packers and Cowboys played on ice. Referee Norm Schachter's whistle froze to his lips on the opening kickoff and tore the skin when he pulled it off, so the officials called the rest of the game by voice.

Bundled up on the Packers' sideline during the Ice Bowl, Dec. 31, 1967.

Dallas led 17-14 with 16 seconds left and the Packers at the 1-yard line, with no timeouts left. A running play that came up short would end the game. Bart Starr told Lombardi he could sneak it. "Run it," Lombardi said, "and let's get the hell out of here!" Jerry Kramer and Ken Bowman double-teamed Jethro Pugh, Starr fell in behind them, and Green Bay won, 21-17.

"I didn't feel that cold," Lombardi said afterward. "I didn't feel it at all." Tom Landry did. "We were all suffering out there," he said, "and it got worse as the game went on."

The pile at the goal line after Bart Starr's quarterback sneak won the Ice Bowl.

The Capital Times in Madison, Wis., Jan. 1, 1968. The AP had it at 13 below at kickoff and "minus four points" for Dallas at the finish.

3. The Fog Game, Buffalo Memorial Auditorium (1975)

Almost 90 degrees at ice level, and no air conditioning.

Game 3 of the 1975 Stanley Cup Final was played in Buffalo on May 20, an 82-degree day, in an arena with no air conditioning. At ice level it was close to 90. The warm air hit the ice and turned to fog, and play stopped "an even dozen times," as the Buffalo Evening News put it, 5 in regulation and 7 in overtime, while players and rink workers skated laps and waved bedsheets to clear it.

The Sabres and Flyers skate through the fog at Buffalo Memorial Auditorium in Game 3 of the 1975 Stanley Cup Final.

That wasn't even the strangest part. In the first period, a bat swooped down over the ice, and Sabres center Jim Lorentz swatted it dead with his stick. Buffalo still calls him Batman.

In overtime, René Robert shot from a sharp angle near the goal line, through the fog, and beat Flyers goalie Bernie Parent. "I saw Robert's shot too late for me to come out and stop it," Parent said. Robert wasn't sure how it went in either: "It's almost impossible to score from that angle." Sabres 5, Flyers 4, at 11:55 p.m., almost 4 hours after the opening faceoff. Philadelphia won the Cup anyway, in 6.

The Buffalo Evening News, May 21, 1975: "Sabres Come Out of Fog Back to Cup Contention," with the Flyers' logo standing in for the F.

2. The Heat Game, Boston Garden (1984)

97 degrees on the court. The Lakers needed oxygen.

The 1984 NBA Finals were tied 2-2 when Game 5 tipped off at Boston Garden on June 8, during a heat wave. The Garden had no air conditioning, and it hit 97 degrees inside. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 37, sat on the Lakers' bench with an oxygen mask. The Boston Globe printed a box the next morning: "How hot was it? Outside 85°. In Garden 97°." Referee Hugh Evans left at halftime, dehydrated.

Larry Bird against the Lakers at Boston Garden.

"It was like we were running in mud," Kareem said. Larry Bird, from French Lick, Ind., wasn't bothered: "I play in this stuff all the time back home." He scored 34 points on 15-of-20 shooting with 17 rebounds, Kareem shot 7 for 25, and the Celtics won by 18, 121-103. Boston won the series in 7, and Bird was the Finals MVP.

The Boston Globe, June 9, 1984: "No sweat for Celtics, 121-103," with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on oxygen. (Globe photo by Stan Grossfeld)

1. The Polo Grounds, 1954 World Series

A 420-foot out and a 260-foot home run, in the same game.

The 1954 Cleveland Indians won 111 games, an American League record at the time. In Game 1 of the World Series, on Sept. 29 in New York, the Polo Grounds beat them twice.

The Polo Grounds was shaped like a bathtub. Center field was 483 feet deep, and the right-field line was 258. In the 8th inning, with the score tied 2-2, nobody out, and Larry Doby and Al Rosen on base, Vic Wertz hit a ball more than 420 feet to dead center. In almost any other park, it's a home run. In this one, Willie Mays had room to run it down with his back to the plate, then spin and throw. "I had it all the way," Mays said. It's still just called The Catch.

Willie Mays makes The Catch at the Polo Grounds, Sept. 29, 1954.

In the 10th, Dusty Rhodes pinch-hit against Bob Lemon with 2 men on and lifted a fly ball down the right-field line. The Daily News' Dick Young measured it at "some 259½ feet": it came down in the first row, off the hands of a fan standing at the wall. Giants 5, Indians 2. Cleveland manager Al Lopez called them "the longest out and the shortest home run of the year." The Giants swept the 111-win Indians in 4.