Thursday, October 16, 2008

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?

Note: I made a major math error previously and temperature had too much of an effect on the ball, I took 4 ft for every degree F, instead of every 10 degrees F. The current values are updated and hopefully correct.

Note: Here is the link to all Major and Minor league stadiums with information on natural effects, stadium size and park effects.
http://66.37.156.70/Ballpark_info.xls

Note: Article in By the Numbers that addresses temp and offensive production:
http://www.philbirnbaum.com/btn2008-05.pdf

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

Initially for this study I look at all the major league stadiums and all the stadiums that the Royal's utilize. I will am currently getting the information on all parks and will add them as I collect the information. 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/

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


Major League Baseball Team Park Average size of stadium April May June July Aug Sept Oct
Arizona Diamondbacks Chase Field 381.5 407 411 415 417 417 414 409
Atlanta Braves Turner Field 372.8 402 406 409 409 409 407 402
Baltimore Orioles Oriole Park at Camden Yards 364.7 394 398 402 404 403 400 395
Boston Red Sox Fenway Park 364.8 391 395 399 401 400 397 392
Chicago Cubs Wrigley Field 374.0 396 400 404 406 405 402 398
Chicago White Sox U.S. Cellular Field 369.2 396 400 404 406 405 402 398
Cincinnati Reds Great American Ball Park 368.3 397 401 404 406 405 402 397
Cleveland Indians * Progressive Field 367.5 396 400 404 405 405 402 398
Colorado Rockies Coors Field 382.0 428 432 435 438 437 433 428
Detroit Tigers Comerica Park 375.0 395 399 403 405 404 401 396
Florida Marlins Dolphin Stadium 367.5 401 403 404 404 405 404 403
Houston Astros * Minute Maid Park 374.3 400 402 404 405 405 404 400
Kansas City Royals * Kauffman Stadium 376.7 399 403 407 409 408 405 401
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Angel Stadium of Anaheim 369.5 397 399 400 402 403 402 400
Los Angeles Dodgers Dodger Stadium 365.0 400 401 402 404 405 404 402
Milwaukee Brewers * Miller Park 371.0 394 398 402 404 404 401 397
Minnesota Twins Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome 373.0 407 407 407 407 407 406 406
New York Mets Shea Stadium 374.6 393 397 400 402 402 398 394
New York Yankees Yankee Stadium 372.0 393 397 400 402 402 399 394
Oakland Athletics Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum 365.7 394 395 397 397 398 398 396
Philadelphia Phillies * Citizens Bank Park 373.6 393 397 401 403 402 399 394
Pittsburgh Pirates PNC Park 366.8 397 401 405 406 405 402 398
St. Louis Cardinals Busch Stadium 370.2 397 401 405 406 406 402 397
San Diego Padres PETCO Park 375.1 396 397 398 400 400 400 398
San Francisco Giants AT&T Park 375.0 394 394 395 395 396 397 396
Seattle Mariners Safeco Field 373.8 391 394 396 397 397 395 393
Tampa Bay Rays * Tropicana Field 364.2 400 400 400 400 400 400 400
Texas Rangers * Rangers Ballpark in Arlington 373.8 402 405 408 410 410 407 403
Toronto Blue Jays Rogers Centre 367.7 391 395 399 401 401 397 393
Washington Nationals Nationals Park 370.3 394 398 401 403 402 399 394

Royal's Baseball Teams City State Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov
Kansas City Royals * Kansas City Missouri

399 403 407 409 408 405 401
Omaha Royals Omaha Nebraska

400 404 408 410 409 406

Northwest Arkansas Naturals * Springdale Arkansas

405 407 411 413 412 409

Wilmington Blue Rocks Wilmington Delaware

394 398 401 403 403 400

Burlington Bees * Burlington Iowa

397 402 405 407 406 403

Arizona League Royals Surprise Arizona



414 417 416 380

Burlington Royals * Burlington North Carolina



406 408 407


Honolulu Sharks Honolulu Hawaii






404 404 403
Surprise Rafters Surprise Arizona






413 408 403
Idaho Falls Chukars * Idaho Falls Idaho



429 432 431 428

DSL Royals Santiago de los Caballeros Dominican Republic


405 406 406 406 406

Spring Training Surprise Arizona 402 404








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