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May 04, 2012

Calico Joe and home-field advantage

I'm reading John Grisham's new book, Calico Joe. As the name, and certainly the book's cover, indicate, this is not his latest legal thriller. It's a quick (208-page) piece of baseball fiction for which his publisher has the gall to charge $25. (Thank goodness for libraries.) A full review may be forthcoming, but for now I'd like to focus on one singular scene in the book and the question it raised in my mind.

This might be spoiling things a bit, but the seminal moment of the book is a hit-by-pitch, as the home team's hurler plunks a visiting batter. There is some speculation that the batter simply didn't see the ball, that for some reason he couldn't pick up the ball as it rocketed toward his skull.

This got me thinking. In baseball, the home team usually wears white uniforms, while visiting squads wear some sort of colored uniform—gray, blue, red, yellow, orange, teal, purple, etc. (I think the Marlins' new unis contain all these colors, and more.) How much does the fact that a white baseball is being thrown by a pitcher in a white outfit contribute to home-field advantage?

Certainly, it's easier to pick up the ball against a dark background, which is why the batters' eye in ballparks usually is painted black or dark green, and why some teams have had to remove trees and other distractions from their center-field backdrops over the years.

An aside: Jeff Sullivan at SB Nation wrote an article recently about the advantage Jered Weaver gets throwing the ball with Angels Stadium's rockpile behind him, and it's possible this benefited Weaver in his recent no-hitter. Well, that and he was facing the Twins. There is also speculation that the Marlins' new home run feature could provide a similar benefit to certain pitchers.

A quick internet search did not come up with any studies examining the impact of jersey color on home-field advantage, so I'm wondering if anyone has looked into this effect. If not, it could be an area worth exploring. With so many teams donning non-white alternate home uniforms over the last several seasons, there could be a large enough sample size to work through the noise and see if there's any impact.
Posted by: Greg Simons

September 23, 2011

Fenway Park book giveaway

*Today (Friday) is the last day to submit your story for consideration!

The good folks at St. Martin's Press have been kind enough to offer three copies of their new book, Fenway Park: The Centennial: 100 Years of Red Sox Baseball (reviewed by yours truly here) to The Hardball Times' readers.

And the powers that be at THT have allowed me to determine how the recipients of those three copies will be determined.

Let's keep this simple. In the comments below, post your favorite Fenway- or Red Sox-related story. It might be an in-person account of a trip to the ballpark, a particularly memorable game you saw on TV, or perhaps a made-up scenario you have always dreamed about (a Red Sox-Cubs World Series, for example).

The three best stories—as determined by this unbiased, non-Bosox fan judge—will have their very own copies of Fenway Park: The Centennial sent their way.
Posted by: Greg Simons

February 07, 2011

The Havana Heat is on again

There are writers of historical baseball fiction, and then there is Darryl Brock. There are the rest, and then there is the best.

It's been more than ten years since the original publication of Havana Heat, Brock's rollicking second work in the genre. His first novel, If I Never Get Back, published in 1990, was a delightful hit, a fanciful time-travel adventure in which a modern-day fellow is transported back to spend the summer of 1869 on the road with the Cincinnati Red Stockings. Havana Heat is perhaps not as well known, but if anything it's a better work than If I Never Get Back: a more serious novel, with greater depth and poignancy, dealing with tougher issues.


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Posted by: Steve Treder

August 11, 2008

Baseball and poetry

It's poetry day at Shysterball, where Craig has highlighted this lyrical poem by Jonathan Holden as well as Levi Stahl's piece drawing parallels between baseball and poetry. Levi quotes Marianne Moore:

Fanaticism? No. Writing is exciting
and baseball is like writing.
   You can never tell with either
      how it will go
      or what you will do

Posted by: Dave Studeman


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