Baseball Humidor? Is this only in Colorado?

[Gurgi]

http://pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/pirates/s_532659.html

DENVER - It was during a duck hunt six years ago that the idea for the Coors Field humidor was born.

An employee in the Colorado Rockies' engineering department noticed his leather boots had dried up and shrunk over the summer. He wondered whether cowhide baseballs were doing the same thing in Denver's thin, bone-dry air.

The ballpark had earned the nickname "Coors Canaveral" for all the home runs that were launched over the walls -- the fences already were deeper than most parks because of the altitude.

Maybe that's why pitchers were complaining that it felt as if they were throwing billiard balls, they were so slick.

So the Rockies tested the baseballs and discovered that, sure enough, employee Tony Cowell's theory was correct.

"What we found was the balls were getting smaller and traveling farther," said Colorado manager Clint Hurdle, whose team faced the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 3 of the NLCS at Coors Field on Sunday night.

And baseball at a mile high has never been the same.

At times, Coors Field can play just like any pitcher's park, as evidenced by the Rockies' 2-1 squeaker over Philadelphia that wrapped up their sweep of the Phillies in the humidor's playoff debut last week.

There were 13.4 runs per game scored at Coors in the year before the humidor's introduction; that number was down by nearly three runs this season.

In 2001, there were a major league-high 268 homers hit out of Coors Field. This year, there were 185, which ranked 10th.

The first decade of big league baseball in downtown Denver was dominated by the Blake Street Bombers. Balls flew out of Coors Field with such regularity that no lead was safe and box scores resembled Sunday softball slugfests.

Now, it's a place where pitchers no longer fear to tread, where they don't have to worry about feigning injury to avoid the hits to their ERA and psyche.

Although it's a spacious outfield that turns singles into doubles, at least lazy fly balls settle into outfielders' gloves instead of the seats -- gloves, which by the way are oiled often to keep from drying out.

"Before, the ball is flying like crazy here," said Game 3 starter Livan Hernandez of the Diamondbacks. "I think it's better for me, for any pitcher. Before, no one wanted to pitch in Colorado. It's difficult. Right now, you go and you don't see too many home runs in a game, and you see more bloopers than home runs. I think it's great."

After the Rockies' playoff run, he thinks it's only going to gain favor across the league.

"I'll tell you what, if the Rockies get through us and reach the World Series or even win it, there's going to be a lot of general managers that are going to be thinking about adding a humidor," Cirillo suggested. "Everybody's a copycat."

He wonders if that would give other teams a homefield advantage.

"I'm still a big believer that a ballpark should play the way it's going to play. Petco Park is big, it's heavy air at night, the Padres, there's elements to their game. If the ball's heavier there, do you lighten the ball?" Cirillo asked.

"So, is the humidor a good thing? Ultimately, for the integrity of the game? No. But for the good of the game? For sure."

[Gurgi]

So any other parks using the Humidor? I would think that Arizona might want to use one. Maybe LA.

I heard last year that some sinkerballers have a horrible time in Arizona because the air doesnt bite on the baseball the same way and wont sink. Maybe its not the air and its the dry ball?

[aggro5288]

So any other parks using the Humidor? I would think that Arizona might want to use one. Maybe LA.

I heard last year that some sinkerballers have a horrible time in Arizona because the air doesnt bite on the baseball the same way and wont sink. Maybe its not the air and its the dry ball?

Brandon Webb seems to sink the ball just fine there..

[Orioles West]

The only MLB one thus far is out here at Coors.

And, now after seven years with it, some players still walk in thinking they can swing away, based on the original mile high numbers bashed out by the Blake Street Bombers.

I still see a national story or two every year on this to unravel the mysteries of The HUMIDOR.

Arizona is dry enough, it could make a difference there. LA is plenty humid.

-Don

[RShack]

Recently, in some other thread there was a discussion about moving fences in and out.

If each team had a humidor (or, actually, a humidifier/dehumidifier), they could accomplish something similar by adjusting the control knob on the device.

Not saying they should, only that they could (rules permitting, which they probably don't).

Or, if MLB wanted to bump scoring up or down in general...

[Orioles West]

Recently, in some other thread there was a discussion about moving fences in and out.

If each team had a humidor (or, actually, a humidifier/dehumidifier), they could accomplish something similar by adjusting the control knob on the device.

Not saying they should, only that they could (rules permitting, which they probably don't).

Or, if MLB wanted to bump scoring up or down in general...

It is a little different than moving fences, but could be used in a similar fashion. They tried farther fences with the new stadium, which is a much deeper park than the original Mile High Stadium (a band box), where the AAA Denver Bears (later the Zephrys, ugh) played forever. And that made little difference.

The ball still travels approximately 10 percent farther at altitude, they were just trying to get baseballs to act, like baseballs at every other park. When they showed what happens to a box that sits around in the dry air, they get smaller and harder (whew, that line would be grim taken out of context).

Could teams get an anti-humidor to make them fly farther? I suppose. I doubt the pitching coach would be excited about it, but I could see the A's or Rangers trying something like that this year.

As I saw each "era" unfold here (before and after) there are days I miss the power displays, but now there are nights when the weather can help the ball carry out or not, like everywhere else. It simply creates a greater opportunity for pitching duels, which were near impossible with every baseball a missile that doesn't break as much at altitude.

-Don

[Gurgi]

Is it the altitude that makes balls not break normally or the dryness of the ball or the humidity of the air at the stadium?

[Orioles West]

Is it the altitude that makes balls not break normally or the dryness of the ball or the humidity of the air at the stadium?

Looks like some of both.

Here is a study that followed up on the book Physics of Baseball by Dr. Robert K. Adair.

http://webusers.npl.uiuc.edu/~a-nathan/pob/Denver.html

[RShack]

Is it the altitude that makes balls not break normally or the dryness of the ball or the humidity of the air at the stadium?

I'm guessing both. However, I wasn't a physics major.

The story about the guy's boots sounds like it's the dryness = the ball gets smaller and lighter.

Extra-humidifying the balls would make them fatter and heavier.

But even with equal dryness, the thin air lets the ball go farther.

The Launching Pad in ATL was the highest-altitude pre-DEN stadium, and it's pretty soggy there.

[Migrant Redbird]

Brandon Webb seems to sink the ball just fine there..

Jason Marquis has a career ERA split of 2.51 in Coors, compared to his overall career ERA of 4.55. While it's difficult to draw emphatic conclusions from a sample of only 4 starts (5 games, 28-2/3 innings), it certainly would appear that altitude and thin air aren't a significant impediment to Jason using his sinker at Coors.

[Orioles West]

Jason Marquis has a career ERA split of 2.51 in Coors, compared to his overall career ERA of 4.55. While it's difficult to draw emphatic conclusions from a sample of only 4 starts (5 games, 28-2/3 innings), it certainly would appear that altitude and thin air aren't a significant impediment to Jason using his sinker at Coors.

Guys who rely on a big breaking ball have the most trouble at Coors Field. Sinkers generally don't lose as much here. They still have to hit their spots, but not as much break to lost in most cases.

I guess we'll see if Marquis' sinker success holds up this season.

-Don

[Gurgi]

Great link. This probably finishes the question. Thanks much.

[Orioles West]

Great link. This probably finishes the question. Thanks much.

You're welcome! I learned from that link as well. It was a decent update with a unique stadium v. stadium study.

-Don

[Migrant Redbird]

Even more interesting to me than the article on the effects of the humidor at Coors was an article linked from it on the effects of corked bats.

... corking the bat leads to higher swing speed but to a less efficient ball-bat collision. These two effects roughly cancel each other out, leaving little or no effect on the hit ball speed or on the distance of a long fly ball.... It is quite unlikely that corking the bat will produce any appreciable effect, either of a beneficial or a detrimental nature, on the distance of a long fly ball. It is likely to result in higher batting averages for contact-type hitters.

Nothing really new there, of course. We've read or heard that before. However, I found the article itself fascinating, and better written than the humidor article.