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Homers flying out of Yankee Stadium at record pace
Source: Agencies |
April 22, 2009, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
HOME runs are flying out of Yankee Stadium at a record pace for a new ballpark.
Twenty were hit in the first four games alone as New York and Cleveland split the opening series that ended on the weekend. That's easily the high for the first four games at a major league park, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, topping the 16 when Oakland started the 1996 season at Cashman Field in Las Vegas.
"There are a couple ballparks out there that the ball just travels well. This might be one of them," New York's Mark Teixeira, who hit two of those home runs, said after a game against Oakland was rained out.
Fourteen of the home runs have been hit to right field, raising concern that there might be a wind tunnel in the US$1.5 billion ballpark, which has wide, open concourses, as opposed to the narrow hallways in the original Yankee Stadium on the south side of 161st Street, which remains standing.
"Angle of the seating in the new stadium could have an effect on wind speed across the field," AccuWeather's Gina Cherundolo said on the company's Website on Monday. "The old Yankee Stadium had more stacked tiers and a large upper deck, acting like a solid wall, in effect, which would cause the wind to swirl more and be less concentrated.
"The new Yankee Stadium's tiers are less stacked, making a less sharp slope from the top of the stadium to the field. This shape could enable winds to blow across the field with less restriction. In addition, the slope of the seating would also lead to a 'downslope' effect in the field which, depending on wind direction, could cause air to lift up in right field."
Cherundolo said if the shape of the seating is the issue, winds from the west above 16kph will cause the boost, and that weather pattern is most typical during spring and middle-to-late fall. The opening series was played in weather that was unseasonably warm for April in New York.
While the Yankees maintain the dimensions are exactly the same as in the ballpark last year, a diagram attributed to Greg Rybarczyk on the Website waswatching.com claims right field is slightly shallower and that center and left-center are a little farther from the plate.
According to Elias, there were eight four-game spans of 20 or more homers at the original Yankee Stadium, some of them overlapping: one in 2000, two in 2003, one in 2004 and four in 2007. The high of 26 was from July 31-August 2, 2007.
"It's not something that I want to see a lot, unless it's all ours. But it was an interesting four days," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "I didn't think the ball carried yesterday. I thought it was different yesterday than it was the first three days. So who knows what's going to happen? I mean, it's a small sample."
Twenty were hit in the first four games alone as New York and Cleveland split the opening series that ended on the weekend. That's easily the high for the first four games at a major league park, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, topping the 16 when Oakland started the 1996 season at Cashman Field in Las Vegas.
"There are a couple ballparks out there that the ball just travels well. This might be one of them," New York's Mark Teixeira, who hit two of those home runs, said after a game against Oakland was rained out.
Fourteen of the home runs have been hit to right field, raising concern that there might be a wind tunnel in the US$1.5 billion ballpark, which has wide, open concourses, as opposed to the narrow hallways in the original Yankee Stadium on the south side of 161st Street, which remains standing.
"Angle of the seating in the new stadium could have an effect on wind speed across the field," AccuWeather's Gina Cherundolo said on the company's Website on Monday. "The old Yankee Stadium had more stacked tiers and a large upper deck, acting like a solid wall, in effect, which would cause the wind to swirl more and be less concentrated.
"The new Yankee Stadium's tiers are less stacked, making a less sharp slope from the top of the stadium to the field. This shape could enable winds to blow across the field with less restriction. In addition, the slope of the seating would also lead to a 'downslope' effect in the field which, depending on wind direction, could cause air to lift up in right field."
Cherundolo said if the shape of the seating is the issue, winds from the west above 16kph will cause the boost, and that weather pattern is most typical during spring and middle-to-late fall. The opening series was played in weather that was unseasonably warm for April in New York.
While the Yankees maintain the dimensions are exactly the same as in the ballpark last year, a diagram attributed to Greg Rybarczyk on the Website waswatching.com claims right field is slightly shallower and that center and left-center are a little farther from the plate.
According to Elias, there were eight four-game spans of 20 or more homers at the original Yankee Stadium, some of them overlapping: one in 2000, two in 2003, one in 2004 and four in 2007. The high of 26 was from July 31-August 2, 2007.
"It's not something that I want to see a lot, unless it's all ours. But it was an interesting four days," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "I didn't think the ball carried yesterday. I thought it was different yesterday than it was the first three days. So who knows what's going to happen? I mean, it's a small sample."
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