Unbalanced park dimensions, wind effects

[Lex Logan]

I was wondering if, with the new engine, park effects are generated by actual park dimensions -- take the old Yankee stadium, on balance one of the most suffocating pitcher's parks of all time, but a fly ball down the right field line could be a cheap HR. Basically tailored to help or at least not hurt the Babe's HR totals. With the old engine park effects as far as I can tell were generic -- a given park either enhanced or suppressed HR's, doubles, etc., no matter which direction they were hit. From playing games in one-pitch mode (and skipping a lot of innings, so I miss most solo HR's) I don't have the impression that an unbalanced park like Fenway makes a difference whether you hit to right or left. I would expect a lot of routine flies AND line drives to left to bounce off the wall for a double. And of course Wrigley's fickle winds need to be known at game time -- the box score gives information about winds after the fact, but I can't tell if it affects the game and if it does you ought to know which way the wind is blowing while you're playing it. These are major real-world effects, independent of PBP mode, and of major significance in building a team.

[libradawg]

Clay's a Red Sox fan if I'm not mistaken. I'm guessing the absolute FIRST order of business would have been to put the Green Monster and Pesky's Pole into business. Unfortunately I haven't been able to be of any help, with the Braves playing in the definition of a neutral park. BM '13 included spray charts somewhere, didn't it? It would take dozens upon dozens of letting PBP play out games to figure this out; don't know if anyone's up for it?

[libradawg]

I was wondering if, with the new engine, park effects are generated by actual park dimensions -- take the old Yankee stadium, on balance one of the most suffocating pitcher's parks of all time, but a fly ball down the right field line could be a cheap HR. Basically tailored to help or at least not hurt the Babe's HR totals. With the old engine park effects as far as I can tell were generic -- a given park either enhanced or suppressed HR's, doubles, etc., no matter which direction they were hit. From playing games in one-pitch mode (and skipping a lot of innings, so I miss most solo HR's) I don't have the impression that an unbalanced park like Fenway makes a difference whether you hit to right or left. I would expect a lot of routine flies AND line drives to left to bounce off the wall for a double. And of course Wrigley's fickle winds need to be known at game time -- the box score gives information about winds after the fact, but I can't tell if it affects the game and if it does you ought to know which way the wind is blowing while you're playing it. These are major real-world effects, independent of PBP mode, and of major significance in building a team.

Okay, I totally have the answer for this now. I just hit a 376 ft HR that barely would have crept over the left-center field wall in most parks, but I did it in Fenway. It should have hit halfway up the Green Monster...

[Lex Logan]

So it appears the distance to the Green Monster may be there but Clay did not include wall height as a park dimension. I don't think wall heights are uniform even aside for the Green Monster, and how can a sim be realistic without that beloved park effect ?

[libradawg]

LOL, while I don't think that does any harm to the "sim" aspect of the game, it really does take away from the mystique factor in a game that lives and breathes on uniqueness. My player was probably supposed to homer in that situation, but oh how fun would it have been for it to have caromed off the wall for a long single? Answer: It wouldn't have been, lol, but hey, that's baseball. I'm very surprised a Red Sox fan didn't incorporate the Monster into this thing.

[Lex Logan]

A sportscaster recently stated that every foot of wall height was equivalent to having the fences several feet closer. Wall heights are far from uniform even within the same park, and not just at Fenway.

[libradawg]

I really don't buy too much into OF fences making much of a difference, as I very seldom see balls ricochet from just below the line back onto the field, or graze the back of the wall en route to a HR. Fenway is its own animal so it probably isn't a good example. As much as I like Home Runs, I would've been pretty tickled to see it played perfectly by the LF to hold my 65-speed slugger to a single. I also love my Turner Field walls. Sometimes boring is good. To have the most neutral park you could ever dream of is to just take a breath and build the team. No overhangs or upper decks to entice our hitters, simply if you hit it home run distance you will get your home run. Nothing sneaky, no ridiculous CF hills or flagpoles, just a ballpark in which to play baseball. Also no gimmicks. Priceless. Though I still see the attraction of Fenway and AT&T, lol.