11/17/06
More on humidor
When the topic turned to baseball storage Thursday, Joe Garagiola Jr. told Rockies' GM Dan O'Dowd that the platform was his if he wanted it. O'Dowd politely declined to discuss the humidor, which is behind the league's desire to create uniformity in storage methods.
Garagiola Jr., MLB's senior vice president of operations, said it's premature to suggest that humidors will be sprouting up in other ballparks until more information is gathered. Surprisingly, considering the public grousing by opposing players and managers last season, there were no complaints about the humidor Thursday.
"Nobody spoke out against it," Garagiola Jr. said.
Multiple GMs interviewed support uniform regulations regarding the baseballs, but not necessarily uniform storage. The Rockies' humidor cost $15,000 and requires man-hours to monitor and file weekly paperwork.
"We have rules regarding equipment, like bats and helmets, so it should apply to baseballs," Brewers GM Doug Melvin said. Post
9/12/06
According to Sports Illustrated's Web site, fans ranked Coors Field the second-best ballpark experience for the money in the Major Leagues, behind Angel Stadium in Anaheim.
The online survey asked fans to rate the stadiums in several areas, such as the average ticket price, average cost of concessions/souvenirs, accessibility, amenities, atmosphere, neighborhood and the team on the field.
9/4/06
So what's up with Coors this season? It can't be the humidor that's making all that difference.
It may be a bit of a one-year fluke (looking at isolated, single-season park data isn't very illuminating or meaningful), but almost certainly it's wholly the work of those waterlogged baseballs.
Before this season, Coors Field had been the most hitter-friendly park in the majors, but in 2006 it ranks 12th in terms of boosting run scoring. What made it such a hitter's haven is the thin air in tandem with the spacious outfield dimensions. When the ball didn't fly out of the park, it would often go find the expansive gaps and power alleys. This season, however, Coors is actually one of the toughest parks in the game for doubles. There's making a park more realistic, and then there's completely stripping it of its identity. The Rockies appear to have done the latter.
Part of the Rockies continued strategy to help tame Coors Field would be that the groundskeeper kept the infield and outfield grass longer than its ever been in 2006. Rockies head groundskeeper Mark Razum has kept the Kentucky Bluegrass at Coors slightly higher than in the past -- three-quarters of an inch higher in the infield, half-inch higher in the outfield. Low-cut grass was one of the factors in the park developing its offensive reputation, since balls scooted past fielders. Razum said he will monitor how the grass plays so teams don't get a cheap extra base because the ball dies in the longer grass. And ever since 2002, with the advent of the humidor - a chamber where baseballs are stored at manufacturer's specifications to keep from hardening, the franchise has openly sought ways to normalize the most offense-advantageous ballpark in major- league history.
"I would think, at this stage, people ought to stop writing about it," says Dan O'Dowd to the media. "Runs are going to be scored there. A different kind of baseball is played there. We're going to win our share of games there."
From Baseball Weekly:
Coors Field is living off its reputation, but that reputation might be all wet. The mile-high ballpark ranked smack in the middle of the pack, tied for 15th, last year in home runs allowed. Don't blame it on the young Rockies hitters. The team hit 86 homers at home, two more than visiting teams.
Consider the humidor. Since 2002, the Rockies have been storing game balls at 50% humidity to keep them from drying out. The balls simply don't fly as far at Coors anymore. Pitchers still have trouble making their breaking balls work at the mile-high altitude, but on the offensive side, the key is stamina, not strength. "We have to focus on youth because of the altitude," general manager Dan O'Dowd says.
