Park Batting Averages

Park                       Hits   At Bats   Avg.   Home
Dunn Field                 599    2087      .287   OVO      
Sportsman's Park III (N)   547    1920      .285   MRE      
Redland Field              612    2213      .277   BC      
Kauffman Stadium           602    2171      .277   ON      
Tropicana Field            551    2014      .274   FCF      
West Side Grounds          469    1789      .262   CF      
Three Rivers Stadium       485    1871      .259   SI      
Yankee Stadium             496    1956      .254   WTK      
Rogers Centre              433    1711      .253   LEW      
Ebbets Field               424    1680      .252   WPM      
Astrodome                  527    2098      .251   LZ      
Olympic Stadium            508    2030      .250   SM      
Fenway Park                505    2024      .250   BBB      
Sun Life Stadium           479    1920      .249   NCT      
Target Field               472    1930      .245   SPB      
Exposition Park            491    2001      .245   GH     
League Park II             483    1974      .245   CS      
Shea Stadium               402    1692      .238   NAM      
RFK Stadium                449    1932      .232   CL      
Forbes Field               491    2135      .230   IB     
Palace of the Fans         445    1955      .228   P10      
Connie Mack Stadium        456    2033      .224   DB      
Candlestick Park           431    1989      .217   KCC      
Washington Park            346    1713      .202   DT  

Stadium Photos, LA Coliseum, and Will G's a First in ATB History

“Line drives, they are murder.” .... Willie Mays

Ballpark photos uploaded to the ballpark site.  My vote for best in the leauge is the LA Coliseum:

From SABR

With a seating capacity of over 90,000, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was the largest ballpark ever to regularly host major league games.  It was also one of the strangest. Games at the Coliseum could contain 250-foot home runs to left, 440-foot flyouts to right, and fielders staggering to pick up the ball in the park’s combination of single-decked seats, bright sunlight, and white-shirted fans (some of them movie and television stars). “It was weird, weird, weird playing in the Coliseum,” said Dodgers infielder Randy Jackson, summing up the feelings of many players.  But in the four seasons the Dodgers called the Coliseum home (1958-61), the stands were often packed, and the games were seldom dull.

Full article here.  All you need to know is this... lefty HR factor was 25, righty was 172.  Will G's projected lineup...

R - Tim Salmon
R - Dick Allen
R - Joe DiMaggio
R - Frank Thomas
R - Javy Lopez
R - Kevin Mitchell
R - Nomar Garciaparra
R - Eddie Stanky

In fact, in this ATB world of incredible left handed htting, Will has just one lefty batter on the squad, plus 2 switch hitters, all of which are projected to be role players off the bench.

I have to admit, I have never seen this before in the history of ATB - a full lineup of all right handed batters.  I didn't even realize he was attempting this until writing this article.  For postery, LA Coliseum's park factors:

Vs L - 101, 60, 115 , 25
Vs R -  91, 80, 108, 172

Hat tip to you Will G, and good luck my friend!

NL West Parks

Updated AL East Park Factors

I had the wrong factors for Baker Bowl...

Parks of AL East

Parks of AL West

C'mon Joe T - you are killing us!

:)

Parks Set in the NL Central

Not many will leave the park in this division...

Parks Set in AL Central

The Polo Grounds skew an otherwise calm park evnironment

Not Many HR's in the NL East - Park Factors Set

Team General Park Factors

Baseball Reference Style

86: South Side Park (1908), Hoboken Zephyrs
89: Yankee Stadium (1952), New Orleans Clown Punchers
92: RFK Stadium ( 1969 ), Downsouth Brews
93: Dodger Stadium (1987), Albequerque Heisenbergs
93: Olympic Stadium (1993), Shamokin Miners
94: Shea Stadium (1968), Willets Point "Mechanics"
94: Sicks Stadium (1969), Seattle Pilots
95: Kingdome (1985), Ankhana Adventurers
96: Polo Grounds (1911), Planet 10
96: Roosevelt Stadium (1956), Rochester Red Wings
97: Ebbets Fields (1915), Brooklyn Cyclones
97: Wrigley Field (1944), Grumman Hellcats
97: PNC Park (2011), Hudson MadBum
99: KC Municipal (1965), Sparta Hoplites
99: Oriole Park at Camden Yards (2012), Chatanooga Lookouts
100: Palace of the Fans (1905), Spanish Harlem Pinata Beaters
101: Exhibition Stadium (1981), Flin Flon Arctic Foxes
102: Navin Field (1916), Dharma Islanders
103: Dunn Field (1918), Jeff City Blausers
104: Crosley Field (1963), Guardians of the Galaxy
104: Forbes Field (1956), Oasis Gunters
106: Busch Stadium (1972), Lakeview Zeros
106: Bennett Park (1906), Helena Handbasket
114: Fenway Park (1977), Denver RoidBoyz

AL Central Parks - Too Awesome and Powerful to Put Into Words

Actually, kinda boring.

NL West Stadiums - Don't Draft Power!

NL Central Stadiums - Competing Philisophies

NL East Parks - A Hodge Podge Of Goodness

AL West Stadiums - RFK and Everyone Else

AL East Stadiums - High Offense Without the Long Ball

Selecting Your Ballpark

A few misunderstandings came up last season with regard to reading the park factors.  Linked via the draft day page is a file labled "Basic Ballpark Resource".  In this file are the available parks to chose from.  Basically, any park DMB has published information on, which equates to all parks from 1901-2014.

The file contains:

• Factors
• Distance to Fence
• Height of Wall
• Surface Type, Temperature, Wind Speed, Foul Ground, and Rain Frequency

Only the park factors truly matter.  The other categories are only used for a more colorful play by play.  For instance, 1953 Fenway Park has Strong winds and a home run factors of 142 and 150.  The wind has already been taken into account in the 142 and 150.

Similarly, and this is the tricky part, fence distance is irrelevant as well. 1904 South End Grounds had very small fences (6ft) and extremly short distances:  250ft down the left field line and 258 ft down the right field line.  Yet, the park factor for home runs were 86 and 86.  Four our purposes, only look at the 86.

Finally, you'll see me refer to factors from time to time in the following format:

100/102, 107/115, 105/105, 105/86. 

This happens to be the park factor line for 1957 Busch Stadium.  The first set of numbers (100/102) are the factors for singles, the second set (107/115) is for doubles, followed by triples (105/105), and home runs (105/86).  

The first number before a slash is the factor for lefties, and the second for righties.  Looking at home runs only - 105/86 - this means lefties hit 5% more home runs than average, and righties hit 14% less home runs than average.  The average corresponds to the real life stats from 1957 Busch Stadium vs the rest of the National League.

In terms of ATB, Busch Stadium is 'ported' to our universe, and ATB lefty batters will hit 5% more home runs than average and lefty batters 14% fewer than average.  The average in this case is not the NL in 1957, but rather the average 'era' we play ATB in.

It's the same 'era' as ATB 16 where on average batters hit .253 / .315 / .378 and pitchers recorded a 3.65 ERA and 1.28 WHIP.  Last year ATB did not have a DH so expect those lines in the NL only.

Hope this helps!

Park Factor Averages by Division

The AL East will provide additional offense in the form of singles and triples, while home runs are just about average.  The Central really ramps up the triples while keeping singles and doubles at the average mark.  Home runs are suppressed, especially versus righties.  The West is about average with the exception of home runs, which are suppressed almost 40%.  The west also is true cookie cutter, with all fields having the same park factors for lefties and righties.

The National League east is a true home run division, with the long ball increasing 26-35%.  Triples and singles increase too (less than 10%) while doubles are about average when combining the righty/lefty factors.  The Central is an offensive minded league too, though they will accomplish it through singles, doubles, and triples.  Home runs are increased, but not nearly as much as the East. The West increases offense with singles, doubles, and triples while drastically reducing home runs by almost 60%.

Overall, owners seemed to avoid the long ball which must be related to our removal of the DH.  TJ O could care less and drafted Heavy Johnson as a first rounder, it will be mighty interesting who forsakes defense for run scoring - it just might be the 'new' edge.

Parks Page is Up

Just like modern day baseball, although for different reasons, the National League will play as a pitchers league while the American will be a hitters league.

Here's how the park factors stack up for each league (#'s are Lefty/Righty)

The NL does increase singles at the rate of 2-3% above normal while the AL reduces singles by about the same margin, but AL teams will see enormous increases in triples and home runs.

AL batters will enjoy a 27% increase in the long ball while in the NL, the same batter would see their production cut by 10% - in all a 37% swing.  Lefty batters will see a 30% swing between the leagues.

The Hitters Division is undoubtedly the AL West.  Shotgun, Gary, and Jason B all chose extreme hitters parks that increase home runs by 200-300%, though only Gary's Coors Field increases all aspects of hitting across the board.  Here's the list of real life home run leaders that will play home games in the AL West

70 - Mark McGwire (Fanclub)
61 - Roger Maris (All Stars)
57 - Luis Gonzalez (Beau Brummels)
54 - Babe Ruth (Green Sox)
52 - George Foster (Green Sox)
49 - Harmon Killebrew (Beau Brummels)

Interestingly, ATB best pitchers league is also in the AL.  In the East all aspects of batting are suppressed - singles  by 1%, doubles by 3%, and home runs by about 32%.  Key pitchers in this division include:

Greg Maddux (Hoplites)
Eric Gagne (Hoplites)
Randy Johnson (Brews)
Cy Blanton (Wildlings)
Jonathan Papelbon (Wildlings)
Red Ryan ("Mechanics)

Across ATB, the most extreme pitchers park is the infamous 1939 Bee Hive - 96 / 74 / 48 / 26.  There the Otherton Fishbiscuits will send out the best 1-2 combination in the game, Pedro Martinez and Bill Bernhard.  Can't wait to see their ERA's.

All the divisional and park to park details can be found here.

2012 Park Data Added

Choose your ballpark from any stadium and year on this list.

Basic Ballpark Resource