FanPost

How much do natural effects (temperature, air pressure and elevation) change the distance a baseball is hit?

Question: How much do natural effects (temperature, air pressure and elevation) change the distance a baseball is hit?

Why I asked the question? I wanted this answered for several reasons. Do batters heat up during the summer or does the ball travel farther? Is pitching better in the playoffs or is it just cooler temperature limiting offense? Which parks, do to their elevation, become a hitters park? Does the ball fly further in Tucson (which 1200 ft higher) vice Phoenix area (~10 degrees warmer) during spring training?

Analysis: The changes in baseball fight distance I from natural effects are from the book "The Physics of Baseball" by Robert K Adair. There is a brief summary of the book at:

http://www.bostonbaseball.com/whitesox/baseball_extras/physics.html

The three effects I wanted to take into account were temperature, air pressure and elevation. Here are the effects each one has on a ball hit 400ft:

 

1000 feet of increase in altitude

+7 Feet

10 increase in degrees of air temp

+4 Feet

1 inch drop in Barometer

+6 Feet

I compared all hit balls using a baseline of a stadium at sea level that is at 70 degrees F and at 29.2 in of pressure. Elevations were collected from various location while the weather information was collected from:

http://www.worldclimate.com/

After collecting the weather effects I went ahead and added park dimensions and park factors.  The information could be used in several way such as comparing a new stadium to other parks with similar attributes.  There are a few studies I plan to examine, but I am tired of looking at the data. 

Note: I had problem getting pressure for all location and those that don't have pressure information are marked with an asterisk (*).

Here is the link to all Major and Minor league stadiums with information on natural effects, stadium size and park effects:

http://tucsonroyal.com/Ballpark_info.xls

Major League Baseball Team Park April May June July Aug Sept Oct
Arizona Diamondbacks Chase Field 407 411 415 417 417 414 409
Atlanta Braves Turner Field 402 406 409 409 409 407 402
Baltimore Orioles Oriole Park at Camden Yards 394 398 402 404 403 400 395
Boston Red Sox Fenway Park 391 395 399 401 400 397 392
Chicago Cubs Wrigley Field 396 400 404 406 405 402 398
Chicago White Sox U.S. Cellular Field 396 400 404 406 405 402 398
Cincinnati Reds Great American Ball Park 397 401 404 406 405 402 397
Cleveland Indians * Progressive Field 396 400 404 405 405 402 398
Colorado Rockies Coors Field 428 432 435 438 437 433 428
Detroit Tigers Comerica Park 395 399 403 405 404 401 396
Florida Marlins Dolphin Stadium 401 403 404 404 405 404 403
Houston Astros * Minute Maid Park 400 402 404 405 405 404 400
Kansas City Royals * Kauffman Stadium 399 403 407 409 408 405 401
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Angel Stadium of Anaheim 397 399 400 402 403 402 400
Los Angeles Dodgers Dodger Stadium 400 401 402 404 405 404 402
Milwaukee Brewers * Miller Park 394 398 402 404 404 401 397
Minnesota Twins Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome 407 407 407 407 407 406 406
New York Mets Shea Stadium 393 397 400 402 402 398 394
New York Yankees Yankee Stadium 393 397 400 402 402 399 394
Oakland Athletics Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum 394 395 397 397 398 398 396
Philadelphia Phillies * Citizens Bank Park 393 397 401 403 402 399 394
Pittsburgh Pirates PNC Park 397 401 405 406 405 402 398
St. Louis Cardinals Busch Stadium 397 401 405 406 406 402 397
San Diego Padres PETCO Park 396 397 398 400 400 400 398
San Francisco Giants AT&T Park 394 394 395 395 396 397 396
Seattle Mariners Safeco Field 391 394 396 397 397 395 393
Tampa Bay Rays * Tropicana Field 400 400 400 400 400 400 400
Texas Rangers * Rangers Ballpark in Arlington 402 405 408 410 410 407 403
Toronto Blue Jays Rogers Centre 391 395 399 401 401 397 393
Washington Nationals Nationals Park 394 398 401 403 402 399 394

Trending Discussions