Two new stadiums debuted this April: Citizens Bank Park, the new home of the Phillies, and PETCO Park, home field of the Padres. Both these ballparks replace multi-purpose concrete stadiums and offer retro styling and a baseball-only design.
Both debuts were met with criticism. Citizens Bank Park is certainly an improvement over god-forsaken Veterans Stadium, but it is virtually identical to the many ballparks that have opened during the last dozen years. It must be bitterly ironic to Phillies fans that after a generation of watching baseball in an anonymous oval, their new stadium is yet another indistinguishable clone.
Criticism of PETCO Park has come from an unlikely source -- the players themselves. PETCO was designed as a pitchers' park, and its mammoth right-field dimensions have humbled left-handed sluggers -- most notably, Barry Bonds.
Players hate pitchers' parks, knowing that with every homer that turns into a long out, they lose free-agent dollars and MVP votes. Fans have also criticized PETCO's anti-offense design, claiming 10-9 slugfests are more entertaining than low-scoring pitchers' duels.
But is the players' and fans' sentiment justified? Recently, teams in pitchers' parks have enjoyed disproportionate success. The Marlins, Yankees, Giants, Mariners and A's all play in ballparks that favor pitching, while Boston is the only consistently successful team to play in a hitters' park.
Teams in pitchers' parks enjoy a subtle but significant advantage. Since games are lower scoring, starters throw fewer pitches and pitch more innings. Thus the teams use fewer relievers and the better relievers pitch a higher proportion of the time. Sometimes, rather than wasting a roster spot on a 12th pitcher, the teams carry an extra position player and gain a slight strategic advantage.
In hitters' parks, pitchers nibble at the corners, afraid to throw mistake pitches that can be hit for easy home runs. On the other hand, the spacious buffering dimensions of a pitchers' park frees pitchers to challenge hitters and work efficiently. In particular, change-up pitchers, vulnerable to easy dingers in a cozy stadium, can pitch freely on the larger fields. Combined with a top defensive outfield, a pitchers' park can transform a mediocre, flyball-inducing rotation into a juggernaut. For example, the Mariners' recent success with Mike Cameron and a soft-tossing rotation.
So would you rather have home runs and slugfests, or the subtle advantages of a pitchers park? Players and fans might protest now, but winning cures all ails. While Colorado and Texas are busy scoring runs by the handful, quiet teams in spacious parks will be winning games and championships.
TOP THREE BALLPARKS IN BASEBALL:
1)Fenway Park: Unique, historical, and gorgeous. Like Yankee Stadium, except with better sightlines, a better location, better architecture and better food.
2)Wrigley Field: The best bleachers in baseball. There is nothing better in the world than a summer day game at Wrigley with a Chicago-style Hebrew National and a delicious Old Style on tap.
3)[Tie] SBC Park (ne Pac Bell)/Camden Yards: The best of the retro parks. These two distinguish themselves with great architecture and a sense of place.
