Home Field Advantage

Authors Note: During my Dad’s childhood he kept a scrapbook of newspaper clipping, pictures, ticket stubs, and the like of the 1962 Dodgers. Each Sunday I’ll be sharing those memories as I search through the scrapbook.

It’s no secret that Dodger Stadium has always been a pitchers park. Though park dimensions are only 330ft. down the line, it’s the depth of the power alleys that give pitchers the advantage. From baseball-statistics.com…

They used to say of this of the glove of Shoeless Joe Jackson - it was the place where triples went to die. The Shoeless One would have been right at home in Dodger Stadium's center field: although the dimensions of the park don't look too bad in straightaway center (395 ft) or in the corners (335 ft), Dodger Stadium is one of the best pitcher's parks in the game because of it's gruesome power alleys. At 385 ft, they are simply graveyards for flyballs, especially at night - the ocean is just 20 miles away, and the cold, damp night air hangs heavy and holds balls up.

Due to the factors above it’s no surprise that pitchers usually perform their best in The Ravine. Take for example the home/away ERA splits of the past few seasons.

Dodgers Season Total ERA Splits (Home/ Away)

2008 ddddd3.01/ 4.40
2007 ddddd4.24/ 4.16
2006 ddddd4.11/ 4.35
2005 ddddd3.94/ 4.85
2004 ddddd3.71/ 4.31
2003 ddddd2.57/ 3.57
2002 ddddd3.29/ 4.11
2001 ddddd3.78/ 4.75

With the exception of the 2007 club, which was unfairly handicapped by the presence of Brett Tomko, Dodger pitchers have averaged almost one run allowed lower at home over the past eight seasons. But it’s not just the past few years where this has been the case. Look no further than the great Sandy Koufax.

Sandy Koufax 1962- 1966 ERA Splits (Home/ Away)

1962 ddddd1.75/ 3.53
1963 ddddd1.38/ 2.31
1964 ddddd0.85/ 2.93
1965 ddddd1.38/ 2.72
1966 ddddd1.52/ 1.96

For all the success the pitchers have enjoyed at Dodger Stadium over the years they might be able to attribute it to a single man. From Sid Ziff of the Los Angeles Times…

Nearly everyone in the Dodger line-up except Maury Wills is capable of delivering the long ball. And even Maury has had his share of extra base blows to go with his incredible steals.

The Dodgers have brought real baseball back into fashion this season. Their “Go-Go-Go” style has restored aggressive baseball to the sport it lost when Babe Ruth started the home run craze.

The Dodger organization gambled that people would like a running game when they built their club and their new large park. As Fresco Thompson, their articulate vice president, says:

“You can’t tell me people come out to see some big lummox hit a home run and lumber around the bases. We realized we had to have a different kind of ball club for our new park with its wide expanses of outfield. So we started building early toward the future. We had this same club last year but couldn’t show it in the Coliseum. We weren’t able to use Maury Wills there as a great weapon. You couldn’t send him down to second on a steal because the batter had a better chance to hit the ball over the wall. But we Dodgers have always stressed speed. This is not a new trend in our organization.”

“We feel that Babe Ruth did a lot for baseball and a lot to hurt it. He caused the home run trend. For years, ever since, only one thing meant sense to the kids. Hit the ball out of the park. Do it and the owners will give you big money. Hit singles and drive a Chevrolet. Hit homers and drive a Cadillac.”

“I, for one, am glad we have struck out in a different direction. I like our kind of baseball, the “Go-Go-Go” kind. The game was intended to be that way. And it is going to be a lot more popular because of men like Wills an Willie Davis and the new parks like Dodger Stadium. We’d rather see Wills and Davis run any time than watch home runs.”

And the Dodgers allegedly pushed their home advantage further according to several sources in baseball. From an unknown author…

Giants manager Alvin Dark has tabbed the Dodger Stadium playing surface a “brickyard” and added he wasn’t the first to use such a description.

“It’s as hard as this,” Dark said, rapping the top of his wooden desk. “I’ve heard ten people in the know call it a brickyard. Juan Marichal hurt his leg running there this season. But a ball club has the right to fix it’s home field anyway it wants to.”

Perhaps Dark was on to something, or perhaps not. Regardless, there is no denying the advantage that Wills has while playing at home. Take for example his record breaking season of 1962 when he tallied a (then) major league record of 104 stolen bases. Despite swiping 61 bases in Dodger Stadium Wills thefted only 43 away from The Ravine. Also note Willie Davis who racked up 32 thefts of his own in 1962, though only 12 of them came courtesy of the road.

Did the Dodgers, knowing they had speedsters on the bases, and aces on the mound, build a park specifically designed to play to their strengths? You’d have to be foolish not to believe so.