Posted July 17, 200520 yr comment_2896259 Recently I came across a conversation discussing players benefitting from their home parks, and the name of Sandy Koufax came up. Koufax was a dominant pitcher in the 1960s who benefitted greatly from Dodger Stadium. Even on the road though, he was a great pitcher. What surprised me is this. The Dodgers moved to Dodger Stadium in 1962. Before then they played in the LA Memorial Coliseum, which had a 250 foot left field wall and a giant chain link fence. Let's take a look at Koufax from 1960-62. 1960: 8-13, 3.91 ERA, 175 IP, 100 BBs, 197 Ks, 20 HRs 1961: 18-13, 3.52 ERA, 255.7 IP, 96 BBs, 269 Ks, 27 HRs 1962: 14-7, 2.54 ERA, 184.3 IP, 57 BBs, 216 Ks, 13 HRs So Koufax moves into Dodger Stadium, cuts a run off his ERA and gives up half as many home runs. Let's take a look at his home and away statistics for 1960... Home: 1-7, 5.27 ERA, 70 IP, 49 BBs, 71 Ks, 12 HRs Away: 7-6, 3.00 ERA, 105 IP, 51 BBs, 126 Ks, 8 HRs And for 1961... Home: 9-8, 4.22 ERA, 132.1 IP, 51 BBs, 145 Ks, 19 HRs Away: 9-5, 2.77 ERA, 123.1 IP, 45 BBs, 124 Ks, 8 HRs Note the home run rates. When you look at Koufax's statistics, you see gradual step improvements in 1960-61, and a big jump in 1962. As a left handed pitcher with an incredibly shallow left field porch, Koufax pitched at a great disadvantage. By looking at the home/away splits, we can see remarkably better performance from Koufax two years before he became a great pitcher.
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