Word of the Day: Graveyard

This is a fallow up post from yesterday's word of the day, launching pad. Also the great JFein found a site which averages how many home runs are hit in a park.

Graveyard, noun: A baseball stadium that doesn't allow an exuberant amount of home runs.

Usage Example: In San Diego, PETCO Park is an graveyard.

Word History: A graveyard is just the opposite of an launching pad. It's a place where home run hitters go to die. Take Aaron Rowand for example. When Rowand played his last season in Philadelphia, at a very friendly home run park, he hit 27 home runs. Rowand signed a huge free agent contract with the Giants. When he played his first season in San Fransisco, in a graveyard of a park, Rowand only hit 13 home runs. Graveyards are a great measuring stick to see if a power hitter is just an product of his launching pad environment, or a truly great hitter.

Hit tracker keeps track of how many home runs are hit in a ballpark and averages it out. Here is the bottom ten.

20. Washington Nationals - Nationals Park - 1.81

21. St. Louis Cardinals - Busch Stadium - 1.78

22. Seattle Mariners - Safeco Field - 1.67

23. New York Mets - Citi Field - 1.66

24. San Diego Padres - PETCO Park - 1.63

25. Oakland Athletics - McAfee Coliseum 1.61

26. Los Angeles Dodgers - Dodger Stadium - 1.44

27. Kansas City Royals - Kauffman Stadium - 1.40

28. Pittsburgh Pirates - PNC Park - 1.28

29. San Francisco Giants - AT&T Park - 1.27

30. Atlanta Braves - Turner Field - 1.13

There are no real surprises here. San Fransisco is real bad. You have a large right field wall, with a deep center field, and a deep left field. You have to have some serious power to hit home runs at AT&T Park.

Also I do find it amazing that the two brand new ballparks in New York are completely different. Yankee Stadium is a launching pad. And Citi Field is a graveyard. Also besides Manny Ramirez, Dodger Stadium is an old graveyard. It has and will never be a hitter friendly ballpark.

Also graveyards do chase away free agents. The only reason why San Fransisco keeps signing hitters is because they don't mind paying for someone. And the only reason why hitters still go to LA is because you are in beautiful Southern California. But besides these two teams, others have a hard time attracting free agents.

Good thing the majority of these graveyards are beautiful.