Earl Webb joining Hammerin' Hank?

[Mayfly]

Fenway is a small-park anomaly, but the larger the park, all other things held equal, the better a chance for the big guys to get doubles. There is more area down the lines to get them, and more areas in the gaps, even bloop opportunities in front of the OFs.

But the way parks are built nowadays, all other things are almost never equal. How many symmetrical parks are there anymore? Dodger Stadium, Oakland ...

Fenway's not as much of an anomaly when you consider all the nooks and crannies and crazy dimensions at other parks.

Despite its relative symmetry, isn't Wrigley pretty conducive to doubles and triples due to the walls and corners? At least, it has been in my experience.

It's up there quite a bit, Doc. If you check out the link I put in there, Wrigley I believe is top 2 in doubles, relatively up there in triples. I would guess because of the nook in both left and right fields, and the fact that the balls ricochet off the brick.

 

[write then drink]

Proof that writing "Joe Blow is on pace for ..." is a waste of time.
"On pace for" changes every day.

so because it changes every day you can't write about it?

a team's W-L record changes every day, too. we can't mention that either?

wow

 

[buckweaver]

Absolutely, Wrigley's conducive to doubles. Simon's right in principle -- larger parks = more doubles/triples (and fewer home runs, for that matter) -- but there's never really a case for all things being equal.

 

[HeinekenMan]

Fenway is a small-park anomaly, but the larger the park, all other things held equal, the better a chance for the big guys to get doubles. There is more area down the lines to get them, and more areas in the gaps, even bloop opportunities in front of the OFs.

But the way parks are built nowadays, all other things are almost never equal. How many symmetrical parks are there anymore? Dodger Stadium, Oakland ...

Fenway's not as much of an anomaly when you consider all the nooks and crannies and crazy dimensions at other parks.

Despite its relative symmetry, isn't Wrigley pretty conducive to doubles and triples due to the walls and corners? At least, it has been in my experience.

Good question. Does the ivy factor in at all?

 

[Mayfly]

Absolutely, Wrigley's conducive to doubles. Simon's right in principle -- larger parks = more doubles/triples (and fewer home runs, for that matter) -- but there's never really a case for all things being equal.

Don't forget that wind that creeps up at Wrigley.

 

[Mayfly]

Re: Winds at Wrigley

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=197905170CHN

 

[HeinekenMan]

Absolutely, Wrigley's conducive to doubles. Simon's right in principle -- larger parks = more doubles/triples (and fewer home runs, for that matter) -- but there's never really a case for all things being equal.

Don't forget that wind that creeps up at Wrigley.

Plus, with assholes like Keith Moreland and Jacque Jones patrolling the grass, almost every ball that clears the outfield has a good shot of being a double.

 

[spnited]

Proof that writing "Joe Blow is on pace for ..." is a waste of time.
"On pace for" changes every day.

so because it changes every day you can't write about it?

a team's W-L record changes every day, too. we can't mention that either?

wow

A team's W-L record is a tangible, daily number.

"On pace for" be it a team's wins or an individual's stats is a projection that changes daily.

On May 1, A-Rod was "on pace" to hit 98HRs and drive in 239.
Now, he's "on pace" to hit 57 HRs and drive in 163.
And now he has a strained hammy and is going to miss a few days, so when he comes back, he'll be "on pace for" lower numbers.

Tell me what sense "on pace" makes?

 

[HeinekenMan]

Re: Winds at Wrigley

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=197905170CHN

Boy, the stories you could tell about the guys on the field that day.

We have Bill Buckner, Pete Rose, Tug McGraw, Bruce Sutter, Larry Bowa, Mike Schmidt, Bob Boone, Donnie Moore and Dave Kingman. Can you imagine somebody from the future gathering them together and saying,

"In the next 25 years, one of you will be banned from baseball, another will be the goat in the most notorious defensive blunder in baseball history, another will die from a brain tumor, another will commit suicide, another will be an assistant GM for the team in D.C., another will be a manager of the year."

 

[Mayfly]

Fenway is a small-park anomaly, but the larger the park, all other things held equal, the better a chance for the big guys to get doubles. There is more area down the lines to get them, and more areas in the gaps, even bloop opportunities in front of the OFs.

But the way parks are built nowadays, all other things are almost never equal. How many symmetrical parks are there anymore? Dodger Stadium, Oakland ...

Fenway's not as much of an anomaly when you consider all the nooks and crannies and crazy dimensions at other parks.

Despite its relative symmetry, isn't Wrigley pretty conducive to doubles and triples due to the walls and corners? At least, it has been in my experience.

Good question. Does the ivy factor in at all?

The thing about the ivy is that it is just the same with any wall, it depends where and how the ball hits. If the ball hits a space when the ivy is not that much, it will ricochet off the brick and shoot somewhere else. The ball will become tangled in the deep ivy or be hard to pull out, hence a lot of ground-rule doubles.

 

[buckweaver]

Re: Winds at Wrigley

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=197905170CHN

Boy, the stories you could tell about the guys on the field that day.

We have Bill Buckner, Pete Rose, Tug McGraw, Bruce Sutter, Larry Bowa, Mike Schmidt, Bob Boone, Donnie Moore and Dave Kingman. Can you imagine somebody from the future gathering them together and saying,

"In the next 25 years, one of you will be banned from baseball, another will be the goat in the most notorious defensive blunder in baseball history, another will die from a brain tumor, another will commit suicide, another will be an assistant GM for the team in D.C., another will be a manager of the year."

"... and Bruce Sutter will be in the Hall of Fame before Pete Rose." ;D

 

[spnited]

....and Dave Kingman is still an asshole who can't hit .225

 

[Mayfly]

....and Dave Kingman is still an asshole who can't hit .225

But still hit a moonshot that cleared a house at Wrigley. Well so did Glenallen Hill.

"That one's in Milwaukee!" - Chicago radio broadcaster Lou Boudreau, describing a very long Kingman home run at Wrigley Field.

 

[HeinekenMan]

Spnited is correct. We could just say that his incessant fussing is the result of a man who will be 85 next year. But that's just what he's on pace for. There's no certainty that he'll make it, especially if he gets this worked up over something as trivial as a baseball statistic.

 

[JackyJackBN]

The fact that Edgar Martinez, who could run like a deer--a stuffed deer--had 52 doubles two years in a row is one of the amazing statistics of modern baseball.

 

[buckweaver]

Not only that, but Edgar was 32 and 33 years old when he did it.

That said, Albert Pujols ain't exactly Mr. Fleetfoot himself. And he put up 51 and 51 in consecutive years.

 

[mike311gd]

Eh. Let me know when someone approaches Chief Wilson's 1912 triples mark. Wilson hit 36 in 152 games with the Pirates. Granted, it's a different time now with smaller parks and changing emphases, but it's still been 77 years since anyone's hit 23 (Adam Comorosky, also with the Pirates, in 1930).

Maybe more impressive, it wasn't until 1985 -- 55 years since Comorosky -- until someone hit 21; Willie Wilson did that, and Lance Johnson followed suit in 1996.

 

[mike311gd]

That might be why many consider it the most exciting play in baseball.

 

[Mayfly]

Eh. Let me know when someone approaches Chief Wilson's 1912 triples mark. Wilson hit 36 in 152 games with the Pirates. Granted, it's a different time now with smaller parks and changing emphases, but it's still been 77 years since anyone's hit 23 (Adam Comorosky, also with the Pirates, in 1930).

Maybe more impressive, it wasn't until 1985 -- 55 years since Comorosky -- until someone hit 21; Willie Wilson did that, and Lance Johnson followed suit in 1996.

Curtis Granderson to the white courtesy phone.

 

[JackyJackBN]

That might be why many consider it the most exciting play in baseball.

If rarity and running are what make it exciting, than the inside the park homer gets my nod. Bloomquist's homer against the Astros that caromed hard off the fence in left center and ran uphill toward the flagpole--that one's gonna stick in my memory for a while.

The claim was that Bloomquist dove for the plate, but it looked like he collapsed toward it to me.