Little Billy Makes His Play

Little Billy squeezed the handle of his new bat so hard his knuckles were glowing white. His new high performance stick with the composite barrel and optimum swing flex was supposed to eliminate all of his hitting flaws—at least that’s what his dad was banking on when he tossed his credit card onto the counter [...]

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The Chase-inator and his Double-edged Sword

When Hanley Ramirez limped jogged casually strolled after a baseball that he had Pele’d down the left field line on May 17th, my first reaction was to cover the eyes of my two kids, who are young ballplayers. I didn’t want them to think that what Ramirez did was even possible. Saying that he [...]

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Meet the new Park Factors -- Part III

Taming the Wind

“This will be one of the most beautiful baseball parks of all time.”

—Vice President Richard Nixon, 1960, opening day at Candlestick Park

So many were fooled.

Players, sports writers, and even future presidents were in awe of the new home of the San Francisco Giants. Mesmerizing visitors with its lush green grass and the largest [...]

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Meet the new Park Factors – Part II

[In Part I, we saw that traditional Park Factors do have a place in baseball—just not for measuring ballpark impact. In Part II here, we’ll mix some physics with home run trajectories to help us understand how a future system for rating ballparks might be designed. In Part III, we'll see what this system might [...]

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Meet the new Park Factors - Part I

“It’s a park that could make you a hero or a bum.”

– Stan Musial on the Polo Grounds, 1957

Stan Musial was truly one of the most consistently great hitters baseball has ever seen. With a lifetime average of .331, his slumps were like comets—showing up every few years, then disappearing in a flash.

Yet, the [...]

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