Looking for an explanation for all of the homers in Yankee Stadium? It’s the walls, stupid:
After analyzing the 29 games played and the 105 home runs hit at the new Yankee Stadium, AccuWeather.com has determined that a portion of the home run derby that has taken place this season cannot be directly attributed to the weather. As it turns out, walls, not weather, are the homer helpers for 19 percent of the home runs thus far in the new Yankee Stadium.
The difference is in the dimensions. For someone attending a game at the new Yankee Stadium, or watching on TV, the size of the playing field appears to be the same. The dimensions at select corners of the field are identical - and the posted numbers on the walls reflect that. However, detailed schematics of the park reveal some nuances that have significant implications.
Specifically, AccuWeather notes that the change from a curved to a flat wall in right field to accommodate a new scoreboard causes the fence to jog in between four and nine feet. As a result, AccuWeather calculates that that 20 of the 105 home runs would not have flown out of the old stadium. Over the course of the season, that will account for 56 homers that would have fallen short of the fence in the old joint. That’s not an insignificant number of home runs.
What to do about it? Well, returning the wall to Old Yankee Stadium dimensions would require removing a couple of rows of seats, it would seem, and if we know anything about the Yankees, we know that they’re not about to sacrifice a revenue stream. And it’s not as if there’s much room to move home plate back, as it’s already very close to the wall as it is.
Eureka! Remove the seats behind home plate! It’s not as if anyone is sitting there anyway . . .
