It's time to settle a debate one way or the other. Is Dudy Noble a graveyard?

[patdog]

I honestly don't know how this is going to turn out, but I'm going to look home runs for both teams in 2010-2011 conference games. That's 60 games total home and away against the same teams so any differences in ballparks will even out. My guess is that there will be more HRs hit in the road games but the difference won't be huge. We'll see.

2011 - 18 HRs in home games, 38 totalso that makes20 in the road games.
2010 - 31 HRs in home games, 90 total so that makes 59 in the road games.

Totals - 56 at home, 79 on the road for 41% of all home runs hit in Starkville and 59% on the road.

Bottom line, somewhere in the middle. Dudy Noble is definitely a pitchers park, but it's not a graveyard. And damn, that's a lot of home runs in 2010. </p>

 

[DawgatAuburn]

So I'll start. It doesn't account for the players on the other teams. What if a team hit 60 home runs one year, but due to the draft, transfers, etc, they only hit 25? I'd also be curious how a few other parks played out. Does DNF give up the fewest homers per game in the SEC over that time period? Interesting way to look at things though.

 

[bruiser.sixpack]

And I believe we had several with 8 or 9.

 

[Phil Wenneck.sixpack]

Yes, the gaps are bigger at Dudy than others but not by some great distance. 390 to center is on par with most. 325 and 326 down the lines are comparable. The alleys are bigger at around 376 in comparison to others but what? By 5-10 feet? Personally, I think our dimensions are fair to both pitcher and hitter but not when these weak bats are in the discussion. Bulldog Bruce can chime in here and give his thoughts but I'm pretty sure he didn't have any problem getting one out. </p>

 

[patdog]

And I agree that it doesn't take into account what each team had from one year to the next. You can never take into account what each team has in each year. But even those should average out over a large sample and this is a fairly large sample (120 total games if you consider that it looks at both teams for 60 games). You do bring up a good point about how those percentages compare to all the other SEC parks and if anybody wants to take a look at that, they're welcome to it. Took me about 15 minutes for DNF, so it should take about 3 hours if anyone has the time or desire to do so. Or if they can find a site that shows home vs. road stats in the conference it could be quicker.

One thing I will point out. I compiled my stats by counting up the HRs at every game at DNF for the 2 years and comparing that to total HRs in conference games per the season stats. I could have made some errors. But my errors should be more on the side of missing some HRs at DNF, so the actual numbers could be a little closer than I show.

 

[patdog]

I think they're absolutely killing the game of college baseball. I don't want to even think about what the 97-98 numbers would be. Somewhere in the middle is where college baseball needs to be. They've got to find a standard that restricts the bats, but not to the extent the current ones do.

 

[Phil Wenneck.sixpack]

Which would go directly back to the bats and would also somewhat disprove the Dudy is a graveyard stuff. You're right. These bats have killed baseball to me. When you start bunting in the 2nd inning to sacrifice runners, that's not baseball.

 

[engie]

as just the general "deadness" of the park. The ball just doesn't carry there for whatever reason. IF you can hit it out of DNF with the new bats, you can hit it out of any park in the country.

Dudy Noble is comparable currently to Swayze before they brought in the fences in 2004 in how the ball travels there. I was OK with it before the new bats. If the bats are here to stay, the fences need to come in.

I'd also support lowering the field(will never happen after we spent a couple mil on the new drainage system), or moving it "back" to place it closer to the grandstands. DNF has a tremendous amount of foul territory that IMO takes something away from the potential noise/atmosphere of the game. If your tweaking it, let's tweak this as well...

Ultimately, I'd like to see home moved 10ft toward the stands, the foul line fences narrowed down from the dugouts back(so that there is very little foul territory deep in the outfield and significantly less overall), and the outfield fence brought in 20ft in center(10 ft actual), 25ft in the gaps(15 ft actual) and 10-15ft in the corners(0-5 ft actual)

 

[patdog]

But in 2010 with the old bats there were close to twice as many HRs hit on the road as at home. In 2011 with the new bats, the numbers were close to equal. But that brings differences in ball parks and where we played each teaminto play. If we played a great HR hitting team (or a terrible pitching team) at home or on the road it would skew the stats. Maybe someone could look up 2008-2009 so the bats would be the same and any differences in the ballparks would average out. It won't be me though.</p>

 

[Coach34]

And I believe we had several with 8 or 9.

 

[engie]

prior to last season(the bat change) is valid unless it is used strictly as a comparison among all 12 SEC yards... which, like you say, would require researching them all. DNF has always been fairly "dead" to hit in, but I think everyone agrees that it's current dimensions was still OK before the new bats.

Current Hr:
US
9 home
9 road

Opponent
7 home
3 road

Games
31 home games
16 road games

Last year:
US
20 home
10 road

Opponent
14 home
23 road

Games
34 home games
29 road games

2yr Totals both teams(Home HR/Home Games)
50/65 = 0.77 HR/game

(Road HR/Road Games)
45/45 = 1.0 HR/game

It's a difference of about 1 homerun every 4 games, or .23/game. That's pretty statistically significant, IMO. Although, when you break it down how you did on the other one, it's 44% of homeruns at home, 56% on the road.

 

[Phil Wenneck.sixpack]

But at same time, all things equal with the old bats, I think Dudy was just as home run friendly as the average ball park. Not counting a place like Kentucky however. Another thing that's going to make historical numbers meaningless is it has to be pointed out that we had better hitting teams and more hitting talent to go along with the old bats. I dare saysome of the great hitters from the pastmay have not needed the old bats and could just as easily hit one out with the new ones. But that's just the type of thing we'll never know.

 

[State82]

foul territory down the lines, so it would get taken in anyway. Not sure there is enough space to even do it correctly. That being said, I don't see any expansion plans in DNF's near future, unfortunately. I would love to see it happen, but that project is probably way down the priority list at present.

 

[engie]

My modifications are the orange lines, of course. Threw it together and added the grandstand changes for good measure.

 

[Todd4State]

I'm assuming that you are moving the field 10 feet in.

 

[HammerOfTheDogs]

Just moving everything closer to the backstop. Personally, I like the large dimensions of DNF, and the advantage it gives our pitchers. We just need to recruit better contact hitters and baserunners...not much speed on the base paths right now. <div>
</div><div>Back before the expansion of 1987, they had a large Right Field area where you could sit and maybe even lay out a picnic. When they expanded the field, they moved everything about 30 feet to the North and took a lot of that away. That, along with the Left Field Lounge making its way to Right Field, has taken away the atmosphere for the fans who want to sit in the outfield and have a good time.</div><div>
</div><div> The LFL rigs have sidled right up to the platform, and the LFL'ers have all put tables and chairs in the way so you can't walk through. I agree with those you say we should make up the cost of putting up a rig (10 times what it is now is a start), and make a Right Field area where you can set up grills and put up lounge chairs. To make it better than Ole Miss' (which should always be our goal), cover part of it for those who want shade. </div>

 

[patdog]

The grandstand already obstructs the view from the top half of the bleachers near the grandstand. If you moved the field back to eliminate some of the foul territory, you're going to block the view from a good bit of the bleachers. What really needs to happen is we need to just build a new stadium from scratch. I don't know if or when that will be feasible, but that's really what needs to happen. DNF was not well designed and it hasn't been well maintained. Plus you could do something to help the problem of the protected grandstand seats forpeople that contributed to the stadium fund 25 years agothat we have now.</p>

 

[engie]

So no obstructed views. This matches up the angles and scoots it toward the field. It can be done, but may look awkward when we try to incorporate in angling the seats toward home plate.

I agree that I'd like to see a brand new structure, although who knows if that will ever happen, and this is the most feasible expansion.

I was trying to show the fences being shortened, although I could see why you wouldn't think that in the corners and center now that I look at my drawing. I want us to bring them in 0-5' in the corners, 15' in the gaps, 10' in center... IF the BBCOR bats are here to stay...

 

[patdog]

you'd have to move home plate out and leave the fence where it is or you'd wind up with seats in the field of play. Unless you just completely changed the angle of the grandstands on the extension, which would look terrible. I'm afraid whatever they do is going to wind up looking like a halfass job just like everything else about DNF has looked since it was built. It was miles ahead of anything else at the time, but it's become more and more obvious that it was just never designed well from the beginning.</p>

 

[engie]

but what would really need to happen would be open concourses beyond/behind the stands extensions. There is enough room there to do it and make it look good. Just have to run the aisles down on a progressive angle from the top. This "could" also allow for lounges/building beyond the stands(if the concourses are wide enough)...

But I'm with you, let's just blow it up, dig it in, and start over more on an Arkansas/Trustmark Park model... with the open concourses, separated skyboxes, etc...

 

[bruiser.sixpack]