Baseball Engineer » Citizens Bank Park

Meet the new Park Factors — Part III

John Cappello — Mon, 10 May 2010 06:02:22 +0000

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 [...]

Meet the new Park Factors – Part II

John Cappello — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 13:14:05 +0000

[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 [...]

Meet the new Park Factors – Part I

John Cappello — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 03:49:18 +0000

“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 [...]

Drama King

John Cappello — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:17:57 +0000

So I’m sitting in the stands at Game 4 of the NLCS in Philly. It’s the bottom of the ninth, and Jimmy Rollins is up with two on and two out—and I’m having the surreal moment of my life. Leaning back on my retracted seat, I wasn’t sure I wanted to watch. Out maker or [...]