Park Factors

I've been trying to find out how Baseball-Reference get their Park
Factors listed in http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2011-misc.shtml
..

Then I started to wonder how you would go about measuring such a
thing.

NOT EASY.

And subject to system noise. Baseball Prospectus reduces the noise by
keeping a 3-year average (unless the park has been drastically altered
in the meantime.

At first I thought Slugging Average Home & Away would be a good 1st
hipshot step for hitters on the home team playing at that park. But
the comfort of playing at home has to cloud that whole picture. BABIP
(batting average of balls hit in play) is too dependent on the
individual team's defensive strength.

To the extent that the home team's players know their home field
angles better than visiting teams should also not be part of a Park
Factor.

There things that obviously shouldn't matter in calculating Park
Factors. Walks, Balks, stuff like that. Strikeouts....ooops, foul
territory affects that - close seating eliminates catching foul pop-
ups and would be a strike twice at the beginning of the at bat. Oops,
maybe that affects Walks as well. Yucko. But, please, secondary
effects like more baserunner do to a favorable hitter's park affecting
Balk rates? The umpiring has to have a bigger effect, like the
gravitational effect of the delivery doctor over the astrological sign
of Pluto.

Stolen Bases? Not so much. Again, secondary baserunner likelihood
buries in the other noise.

Wild pitches? YES. The area behind the plate....

Time of Year? Northern parks versus Southern Parks, the Dog Days of
August, Texas moratorium on day games in the summer sun, Fenway Park
with no rain roof during April....


Anyone have any input, websites I should check out?

- nate
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Park Factors
    ... And subject to system noise. ... hipshot step for hitters on the home team playing at that park. ... Again, secondary baserunner likelihood ...
    (alt.sports.baseball.bos-redsox)
  • Re: Park Factors
    ... I've been trying to find out how Baseball-Reference get their Park ... And subject to system noise. ... Again, secondary baserunner likelihood ...
    (alt.sports.baseball.bos-redsox)
  • Re: Proposed 111-foot-tall Great America coaster hits a bump, neighbor objects to noise
    ... objects to noise ... But at Great America this summer, it's been a proposed roller coaster ... Santa Clara's city council, in a first for the city, could keep the ... And, anyway, their lawyers told city officials, the park is already ...
    (rec.roller-coaster)
  • Re: residents just wannna complain
    ... and 4 am by this noise, but the environmental health line said it was ... Oldfield Park. ... Morford Street (Bath Chronicle March 8th) ...
    (uk.railway)
  • Re: Proposed 111-foot-tall Great America coaster hits a bump, neighbor objects to noise
    ... complex right next to an established amusement park and now they ... complain about the noise. ... park" can be countered by "We did, and one of the things we knew we ...
    (rec.roller-coaster)