After analyzing the 29 games played and the 105 home runs hit at the newYankee Stadium, AccuWeather.com has determined that a portion of the home runderby that has taken place this season cannot be directly attributed to theweather. As it turns out, walls, not weather, are the homer helpers for 19percent of the home runs thus far in the new Yankee Stadium.The difference is in the dimensions. For someone attending a game at the newYankee Stadium, or watching on TV, the size of the playing field appears to bethe same. The dimensions at select corners of the field are identical - and theposted numbers on the walls reflect that. However, detailed schematics of thepark reveal some nuances that have significant implications.
In right field, the newfound homer haven, the wall structure is slightlydifferent than the old park. The main difference involves curvature. The gentlecurve from right field to center field seen in the original Yankee Stadium haslargely been eliminated at the new stadium. This is due in large part to thepresence of a manual scoreboard embedded within the wall. Losing this curvaturehas resulted in a right field that is shorter by 4 to 5 feet on average, but upto 9 feet in spots.
Not only is the famed short porch even shorter in the new stadium, but thewalls themselves are not as tall. In the old ballpark, the walls in right fieldstood at a height of approximately 10 feet. At this height, it was difficultfor outfielders to scale the wall and attempt to rob a home run over the fence.
Fast forward to 2009, and the outfielders have been scaling the wall withoutany trouble. The result? The new outfield fences only rise to a height of 8feet, adding to the ease hitting a home run to right.
Taking into account the dimensions of the field and wall height,AccuWeather.com has calculated that 19 percent (20 out of 105) home runs wouldnot have flown out of the old stadium. If the first 29 games are anyindication, 293 home runs will be hit by the end of the year at the new YankeeStadium, just short of the record of 303 home runs hit at Denver's Coors Fieldin 1999. If this is the case, as many as 56 home runs could be attributed tothe size of the new playing field.
As far as the weather is concerned, there has been no consistent patternobserved in the wind speed and direction that would lead to an increase in homeruns so far this year. Rather, any weather-related changes would seem to be dueto differences between the old and new Yankee stadiums and their effects on themicro-weather regimes.
While part of the increase in home runs seen in the Bronx can be pinned onthe dimensions of the field and the height of the walls, two large factors willalways remain: the quality of the hitter and the performance of the pitcher.
Story by AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Tim Buckley.
