Pac Bell Stadium is the most favorable park for pitchers in the major leagues now. With the exception of the RF line, it is pretty deep to the other parts of the outfield.
Also, the weather in San Francisco, normally cold and damp, is the worst kind of weather for getting a baseball to travel far.
If Barry Bonds weren’t playing there, the effect would be even more noticeable.
On the MLB.com website, you can pull up a chart showing where each of Bonds’ homeruns in 2002 landed when he was playing at Pac Bell park. From my estimate, he hit 9 home runs to RF, 6 to CF, and 2 to LF.
Bonds rarely hits the ball on the ground to the opposite field, but he can hit home runs to LF
This is barely related to the OP, but I thought it would be interesting to add that, despite its menacing nature, the Green Monster was conquered tonight.
Hmm… Baltimore boasts of having a [poor copy of a] green monster. When they built the Camden Yards stadium, one part of the wall was made to mimick the “green monster” of Boston. There was a plan to even grow ivy, but as I recall, the plan was changed to put a mural there, instead. Whatever…it just looks stupid to me. …Boston has nothing to worry about. - Jinx
In 1964, I read a short article in The Sporting News that accused Yankee Stadium of being designed to favor left-handed pull hitters such as Ruth and Gehrig, and later, of course, Mickey Mantle (OK, I know he was a switch-hitter), Yogi Berra, and Roger Maris. The writer pointed out that, while both teams were playing in the same park, of course, the Yankees played 81 games in the Stadium while each opponent played only 9. Charles Finley, the owner of the Kansas City A’s (after the team was no longer a Yankees’ subsidiary–see the Baseball Hall of Shame), tried to rebuild the fences at Municipal Stadium in Kansas City to duplicate the foul lines at Yankee Stadium. Joe Cronin, the Al President, refused to allow any other park to have the dimensions of Yankee Stadium and threatened Finley if he did not back off. The Yankees, of course, won the pennant that year. (Gabe Paul of the Cleveland Indians said it was the Yankees’ talent that won them so many pennants. Paul said this shortly before he sent the Indians’ relief ace Pedro Ramos to New York. The Yankees just barely won the 1964 pennant over the White Sox and the Orioles. I guess Paul knew where the Yankees got talent.) :mad:
Well, even though Yankee Stadium was built to favor left-handed power hitters, the fact is that Babe Ruth hit most of his homers on the road, not at Yankee Stadium. He was not a dead-pull hitter, so the short right field was not as much of a benefit to the Babe as people assume.
Interesting story about "the Monster "at Fenway: Legend has it that Yankee owner Dan Topping had a few drinks with the Red Sox owner, and they started talking about how many homers Dimaggio could hit at Fenway, and how many homers Ted WIlliams could hit at Yankee Stadium. The story goes that they agreed to trade Williams for Dimaggio, even up… but sobered up the next morning and called the deal off.
Years later, reporter Dick Young asked Dimaggio about that, and Dimaggio replied nonchalantly that the trade wouldn’t have helped either man much. Dimaggio thought that Fenway was already an ideal park for a lefty like Williams to hit home runs in, while the Monster was much like “Death Valley” (the deep left-center field of Yankee Stadium): both prevented right-handers from hitting the ball out of the park very often. Dimaggio was a very confident guy, mind you, and was sure he’d have hit 60+ homers every year if he’d played in Ebbetts Field… but he didn’t regard Fenway Park as a great place to hit homers.
While Fenway is definitely a great hitter’s park, it is NOT ideally suited for right-handed power hitters. If, say, Harmon Kilibrew had played at Fenway, the Monster would have turned many of his homers into doubles or just loooong singles. Lefties have an easier time hitting homers at Fenway.
Unless a lot of us have been seriously misled, yes, it’s true. There’s a column about it if I remember. The ball travels a farther at high altitude. And perhaps more importantly, pitches don’t break as much in the thinner air. I think I recall Peter Gammons or someone on ESPN offering this as an explanation of why the Rockies can’t, and never really have, hit on the road. The pitches look totally different half the time.
Yes, given that the same thing happens in Colorado Springs I’d go with the consensus that Coors Field is an extreme park due to the thinner air at altitude.
This might be an apocryphal story, but nevertheless, to your point, Dougie Monty–
Ever the maverick, Charles Finley had a line painted across the Kansas City outfield to mark where the Yankee Stadium fence was located. Then, when any fly ball was caught behind the line, the PA announcer was instructed to say “That ball would have been a home run in Yankee Stadium.”
As I remember reading about this, the Minnesota Twins came to town to play the A’s, and in one inning hit back-to-back-to-back homers. The next batter up hit a fly behind the line in right, and the PA announcer dutifully intoned “That ball would have been a home run in Yankee Stadium.” At that point, Finley changed his mind about having that announcement made.
Great site, bordelond. I wanted to see the page for Sick’s Stadium, but link is broken (which seems fitting, somehow). I’ve never seen a diagram of the Polo Grounds before. 258’ down the right field line and 483’ to straightaway center, what the hell were they thinking?
I heard a different story about the end of that deal. The version I heard was that the Sox, seeing as how Williams was younger and (though it pains me as a Yankee fan to say this ) a better hitter, decided to ask for another player to even out the deal. He wanted some nobody rookie the Yanks had in the outfield by the name of Berra. Yanks turned 'em down, end of deal. I can’t vouch for the accuracy of my version, however.
In the end, however, if that deal had gone through, I think the fans in both cities would have been clamoring for both Topping’s and Yawkey’s heads.
. Essentially, it was baseball played in an Olympic track stadium. 251 down the LF line, 420 to "LF-CF" and 380 to "dead center" (which wasn't).
Zev Steinhardt
Yeah, I’ve heard about the Memorial Coliseum before (although my copy of The Baseball Hall of Shame seems to have gone missing at the moment). At least the short fence there was 42’ high, and made of chicken wire so the people behind it could see. But that was a temporary aberration while Dodger Stadium was being built. The Polo Grounds happened on purpose.
Coors Field is a hitter’s park for several reasons:
Thin air allows ball to travel farther in the air, more home runs
Huge outfield forces outfielders to play further apart and allows more balls to get into the gaps, hence more doubles and triples
Thin air also makes ground balls travel faster through the infield. More singles
Thin air gives curve balls and other breaking pitches less break. Hence, easier pitches to hit. Knuckleballs are almost useless in Denver.
The Rockies could be a good team if they got very, very good hitters. Guys who would hit .450 at Coors and .350 on the road.
But Barry Bonds is already taken. Instead the Rockies still fall for the illusion that some guys are good hitters (like Dante Bichette or Vinny Castilla) when that difference is all illusory.
I have a hard time believing that any complaints about fenway have anything to do with anything other than seating capacity. You’re now throwing out plumbing and electric. What makes you think ANYTHNG at all is wrong with fenway’s plumbing and electric service? And the “basic structure”? Is it about to fall down?
Fenway is not “about to fall down,” but it’s really not in good shape overall. The thing was built in 1912 or so, and had more than one period when maintenance was pretty slipshod. When the wooden bleachers along the left line burned down the Sox couldn’t even afford to have the rubble cleared for a few years.
Fenway is my favorite park and it pains me to say it, but that doesn’t change anything. It’s not an active hazard, but it’s not good either.
Believe me, I’m also unhappy about seating capacity, as well as the lovely view I get when my seat happens to be behind a column. But hey, it’s an old park.