The top three "pitching parks" of all time (1901-present)

[Knick9]

I might as well make one for the parks that are pitcher's dreams. Name your top three pitching parks, but by process of elimination, honorable mentions or anything like that to get to your top three is okay, too. Post away!

[RuthMayBond]

you guys can come up with better but here's some ideas
Pro Player
Astrodome/Colt45
Dodger Stadium
Qualcomm/Petco/Jack Murphy
3Com/PacBell
South Side II
Griffith
Yankee Stadium I
Oakland Coliseum
Safeco

[efin98]

Braves Field from 1915-1927 has to be up there with the fences at 402 down each line and 550 at the deepest part of the park.

[csh19792001]

I might as well make one for the parks that are pitcher's dreams. Name your top three pitching parks, but by process of elimination, honorable mentions or anything like that to get to your top three is okay, too. Post away!

At least in numerical terms, these questions are pretty much answered in the Schell book. He adjusts it for the offensive context of the times, and does it by timeframes. The book was written in 2004.

Maybe we can synthesize these and figure out which was the worst overall. I'll try to include the ones that recur, and omit those that were only the best/worst for only a short span of time. I'll look at post 1900 parks only.

Worst Parks for Runs
#1. County Stadium (1953-58)
#2. Dodger Stadium (1962-68)
#3. Qualcomm (1998-2003)

Honorable Mention- #4. Dodger Stadium (1994-2003)

Worst Park for Home Runs
#1. South Side Park III (White Sox, 1901-09)
#2. Crosley Field (1920-33)
#3. Griffith Stadium (1914-55) (that's 30 years)

When looked at overall, Griffith was the easily the worst park for homerun hitting in modern baseball history.

Worst for Batting Average
#1. South Side Park III (1901-1909)
#2. Dodger Stadium (1994-present)
#3. Crosley Field (1938-45)

(Also high on the list- Qualcomm- 1998-2003)

Worst parks for Doubles/Triples
#1. Polo Grounds V (1926-57)
#2. Dodger Stadium (1969-2003)
#3. South Side Park (1901-09)

Best parks for strikeouts (for pitchers)
#1. Polo Grounds IV (1891-1910)
#2. Yankee Stadium (1923-36) (This has to be distorted a ton by Ruth)
#3. Ebbets Field (1922-35)

(#4 in the modern era- Qualcomm 1998-2003)

Worst Parks for OPS
#1. South Side Park III (White Sox, 1901-09)
#2. Griffith Stadium (1914-35)
#3. Crosley Field (1920-33)

Honorable Mention- Dodger Stadium (1962-present)- shows up twice in the top 10.

Just eyeballing it, it looks like overall, the worst seem to be Dodger Stadium, Crosley, Qualcomm, the old White Sox Park are up there. Griffith was a death sentence for homerun hitters, and brutal for power hitters overall.

I might go with South Side or Dodger Stadium as the best pitcher park.

[csh19792001]

Braves Field from 1915-1927 has to be up there with the fences at 402 down each line and 550 at the deepest part of the park.

Astute observation.

#9 alltime, behind South Side Park in the 1900's, Crosley in the 20's, Griffith (in the teens/20's and also 40's and 50's Fenway in the 1910's/20's.

Among modern parks Braves Field was 7th worst during that exact timeframe.

[RuthMayBond]

Does anyone understand BBRef's park factors? How can a park be ranked high (or low) for hitting AND for pitching? :confused:

[csh19792001]

Does anyone understand BBRef's park factors? How can a park be ranked high (or low) for hitting AND for pitching? :confused:

I know! That always really confused me. I'll second that ":confused: "

[csh19792001]

I know! That always really confused me. I'll second that ":confused: "

This should be moved to the history forum, where people will actually see it.

Could a mod move this over there?

Thanks in advance.

[cubbieuk]

the top 3 today should include some of these.. petco, turner field, dodger std, shea & oakland col

[jrh31584]

Astute observation.

#9 alltime, behind South Side Park in the 1900's, Crosley in the 20's, Griffith (in the teens/20's and also 40's and 50's Fenway in the 1910's/20's.

Among modern parks Braves Field was 7th worst during that exact timeframe.

Braves Field probably would have been the worst, except with such a large outfield, it would be hard for only three outfielders to cover everything...probably a good triple and inside-the-park home run park.

[baseballPAP]

According to Total Baseball....the single season worst park factor is 89, Candlestick Park in 1999. Followed by 1938 Braves Field, 1964 Dodger Stadium(AL), 2001 Dodger Stadium, 1977 Jack Murphy Stadium, and 2000 Wrigley Field???? all at 90.

Did the wind blow in the whole year?