http://baseballengineer.com/2010/04/13/meet-the-new-park-factors-%e2%80%93-part-ii/ Analyzing the career numbers of ballplayers throughout history. Wed, 06 Jul 2011 18:29:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://baseballengineer.com/2010/04/13/meet-the-new-park-factors-%e2%80%93-part-ii/comment-page-1/#comment-132 Meet the new Park Factors — Part III «Baseball Engineer Mon, 24 May 2010 20:38:32 +0000 http://baseballengineer.com/?p=577#comment-132 [...] parts I and II of this post, we talked about how a ballpark’s dimensions and atmosphere can impact the [...] [...] parts I and II of this post, we talked about how a ballpark’s dimensions and atmosphere can impact the [...]

]]> http://baseballengineer.com/2010/04/13/meet-the-new-park-factors-%e2%80%93-part-ii/comment-page-1/#comment-80 John Cappello Fri, 30 Apr 2010 11:33:22 +0000 http://baseballengineer.com/?p=577#comment-80 Yeah, but that's from all those times Dr. Leek hit him on the head with his metric ruler. Yeah, but that’s from all those times Dr. Leek hit him on the head with his metric ruler.

]]> http://baseballengineer.com/2010/04/13/meet-the-new-park-factors-%e2%80%93-part-ii/comment-page-1/#comment-79 Vince Palladino Fri, 30 Apr 2010 03:02:26 +0000 http://baseballengineer.com/?p=577#comment-79 John, I called Mr. Hofer...His head hurts too!!! John, I called Mr. Hofer…His head hurts too!!!

]]> http://baseballengineer.com/2010/04/13/meet-the-new-park-factors-%e2%80%93-part-ii/comment-page-1/#comment-75 John Cappello Mon, 19 Apr 2010 17:20:33 +0000 http://baseballengineer.com/?p=577#comment-75 Joe, I could shrink these two posts down to seven words from my dad: "a home run is a home run." How's that? Joe, I could shrink these two posts down to seven words from my dad: “a home run is a home run.” How’s that?

]]> http://baseballengineer.com/2010/04/13/meet-the-new-park-factors-%e2%80%93-part-ii/comment-page-1/#comment-74 Joe Goetz Mon, 19 Apr 2010 13:35:58 +0000 http://baseballengineer.com/?p=577#comment-74 John - I would like you to show your versatility. After these last two articles of conversing with the Mr. Hofer Admiration Society - I would like to see you dumb one down and speak to us on a 1st Grade level. The topic really doesn't matter. Please keep it simple. How about the history of the baseball glove. I think we can handle that. Doug has gone thru 10 bottles of Advil. Don't worry - you can dumb it down again and write another article a week after this next one so that Dave can understand it. John – I would like you to show your versatility. After these last two articles of conversing with the Mr. Hofer Admiration Society – I would like to see you dumb one down and speak to us on a 1st Grade level. The topic really doesn’t matter. Please keep it simple. How about the history of the baseball glove. I think we can handle that. Doug has gone thru 10 bottles of Advil. Don’t worry – you can dumb it down again and write another article a week after this next one so that Dave can understand it.

]]> http://baseballengineer.com/2010/04/13/meet-the-new-park-factors-%e2%80%93-part-ii/comment-page-1/#comment-70 John Cappello Thu, 15 Apr 2010 19:55:58 +0000 http://baseballengineer.com/?p=577#comment-70 Doug, here are my comments: Wind theories: I'd like to see more science to understand wind at ballparks in a manner that we can characterize it better. Bonds and 73: I believe you'll find that PacBell was a pitcher's park in 2001 for everyone BUT Bonds, thanks to some new vitamins he was taking with his diet. Domed Stadiums: One of my "outtakes" for part I of this post included home/road splits of top four Twin HR leaders during that "pitcher's park" year of '07. Morneau (15/16), Cuddyer (8/8), and Kubel (6/7) were neutral, whereas Hunter (11/17) was skewed toward the road. The point is, these performance splits (which determine Park Factors) is too circumstantial to use as an indicator. The hope is that a true BPI system will show more consistency in what a park actually gives from year to year. Retractables: I don't know much about what dictates when roofs are opened or closed, but I've heard that Az likes to get their grass as much sunlight as possible before closing the roof and removing the 115 degrees from the fans. Target vs. TrashBag: I would expect the HR-BPI of Target Field to fluctuate more wildly than the Bag, maybe more of a pitcher's park in April/Sept., but a hitter's park during the summer's peak temps and humidity. Head hurts: Sorry, but I warned you to drink caffeine beforehand. HOF Voting: Now my head hurts. Doug, here are my comments:
Wind theories: I’d like to see more science to understand wind at ballparks in a manner that we can characterize it better.
Bonds and 73: I believe you’ll find that PacBell was a pitcher’s park in 2001 for everyone BUT Bonds, thanks to some new vitamins he was taking with his diet.
Domed Stadiums: One of my “outtakes” for part I of this post included home/road splits of top four Twin HR leaders during that “pitcher’s park” year of ’07. Morneau (15/16), Cuddyer (8/8), and Kubel (6/7) were neutral, whereas Hunter (11/17) was skewed toward the road. The point is, these performance splits (which determine Park Factors) is too circumstantial to use as an indicator. The hope is that a true BPI system will show more consistency in what a park actually gives from year to year.
Retractables: I don’t know much about what dictates when roofs are opened or closed, but I’ve heard that Az likes to get their grass as much sunlight as possible before closing the roof and removing the 115 degrees from the fans.
Target vs. TrashBag: I would expect the HR-BPI of Target Field to fluctuate more wildly than the Bag, maybe more of a pitcher’s park in April/Sept., but a hitter’s park during the summer’s peak temps and humidity.
Head hurts: Sorry, but I warned you to drink caffeine beforehand.
HOF Voting: Now my head hurts.

]]> http://baseballengineer.com/2010/04/13/meet-the-new-park-factors-%e2%80%93-part-ii/comment-page-1/#comment-69 John Cappello Thu, 15 Apr 2010 13:57:06 +0000 http://baseballengineer.com/?p=577#comment-69 Mr. Hofer. That's awesome. This post is all his fault! Doug, I have to step out for a few hours to visit a client, but you do raise some interesting points I'd like to at least comment on...later on. I could tell this stuff keeps you up at night. Mr. Hofer. That’s awesome. This post is all his fault! Doug, I have to step out for a few hours to visit a client, but you do raise some interesting points I’d like to at least comment on…later on. I could tell this stuff keeps you up at night.

]]> http://baseballengineer.com/2010/04/13/meet-the-new-park-factors-%e2%80%93-part-ii/comment-page-1/#comment-68 Doug Stefano Thu, 15 Apr 2010 03:48:25 +0000 http://baseballengineer.com/?p=577#comment-68 Please forewarn me for the next article that I will need Mr. Hofer to interpret! Wouldn't you be able to prove/disprove wind theories just by studying homeruns hit in notoriously windy parks such as Wrigley and old Candlestick? Can we please just evaluate Bonds 73 season and find out that really 20 were wind aided and with BPI factored in he really didn't break any records? Why don't players in Dome stadiums hit HR's more consisitently since the climate is controlled? Why do teams (Ariz/Hou) open and close roofs? What will the BPI impact be of playing outdoors in Minn as opposed to the Trash Bag? My God my head hurts. Can't we argue the merits of the Hall of Fame again? I still say we should go back in time and undo the injustices of the good ole boy network and revoke Phil Rizzuto, Tinker/Evers/Chance, Bill Mazeroski et al and put in Blyleven, Marvin Miller and Curt Flood! Please forewarn me for the next article that I will need Mr. Hofer to interpret! Wouldn’t you be able to prove/disprove wind theories just by studying homeruns hit in notoriously windy parks such as Wrigley and old Candlestick? Can we please just evaluate Bonds 73 season and find out that really 20 were wind aided and with BPI factored in he really didn’t break any records? Why don’t players in Dome stadiums hit HR’s more consisitently since the climate is controlled? Why do teams (Ariz/Hou) open and close roofs? What will the BPI impact be of playing outdoors in Minn as opposed to the Trash Bag? My God my head hurts. Can’t we argue the merits of the Hall of Fame again? I still say we should go back in time and undo the injustices of the good ole boy network and revoke Phil Rizzuto, Tinker/Evers/Chance, Bill Mazeroski et al and put in Blyleven, Marvin Miller and Curt Flood!

]]> http://baseballengineer.com/2010/04/13/meet-the-new-park-factors-%e2%80%93-part-ii/comment-page-1/#comment-67 John Cappello Wed, 14 Apr 2010 16:41:43 +0000 http://baseballengineer.com/?p=577#comment-67 Apparently, I did tweak the theory of physics on a couple of points, so I made two minor edits to this post. I updated the "Magnus force" image so that this force is correctly pointing in a direction perpendicular to the ball's flight—not opposite from gravity. Note that the Magnus force would point in the opposite direction as shown in this figure if the ball had topspin. Thank you Alan Nathan. Alan also noted a misinterpretation on my part regarding a bat barrel's speed through the bat-ball collision. I removed that particular paragraph to avoid confusion. Apparently, I did tweak the theory of physics on a couple of points, so I made two minor edits to this post. I updated the “Magnus force” image so that this force is correctly pointing in a direction perpendicular to the ball’s flight—not opposite from gravity. Note that the Magnus force would point in the opposite direction as shown in this figure if the ball had topspin. Thank you Alan Nathan. Alan also noted a misinterpretation on my part regarding a bat barrel’s speed through the bat-ball collision. I removed that particular paragraph to avoid confusion.

]]>