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Experts Agree: Metrodome produces heavy home field advantage

Discussion in 'Sports Forum' started by Andy T., May 15, 2007.

  1. Andy T.

    Andy T. Active Member

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    In wacthing the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball Game between the Tigers and Twins, they mentioned that the Twins are getting a new outdoor stadium in 2010. I did not realize this, and when I heard it, I danced a jig! The announcers Jon Miller and Joe Morgan both discussed how the Metrodome has given the Twins a decided home field advantage over the years. They mentioned that in their talks with Jim Leyland (manager of the Tigers) that he will be glad to see the Metrodome go because of that fact. On the flip side, in their talks with Ron Gardenhire (manager of the Twins), he admitted that he is disappointed that the Metrodome is going away, because he admitted that it gives them a decided home field advantage.

    Case closed, my friends! :laugh:
     
    #1 Andy T., May 15, 2007
    Last edited by a moderator: May 15, 2007
  2. PastorSBC1303

    PastorSBC1303 Active Member

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    :laugh: Give it up man, and move on!
     
  3. Jimmy C

    Jimmy C New Member

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    Pastor SBC

    I went over to your blog - what adorable girls! good luck on the softball - my daughter is 14 and a volleyball and softball player for her HS, great times!
     
  4. PastorSBC1303

    PastorSBC1303 Active Member

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    Thanks Jimmy, I appreciate that! They are having a blast playing and I am having a blast watching.
     
  5. Bro. Curtis

    Bro. Curtis <img src =/curtis.gif>
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    It's the biggest dump in baseball. Good riddance.

    But I think if the baggie dome had such an advantage, wouldn't they have won more than 2 W.S. ?
     
  6. EdSutton

    EdSutton New Member

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    Well said, PastorSBC1303!

    As I posted last year, the largest homefield advantage was Tampa Bay which finished, even with that, at the "bottom of the heap". Personally, I hate the idea of any brand new "Cookie Cutter Stadiums" that are designed to look different, but really are not. Let's keep Fenway, and Wrigley, as the uniqueness of such as Crosley Field, with the terrace, the 'old' Yankee stadium with a 296' foul line in right field, and 'old' Tiger/Briggs Stadium with a 340' right field are long gone, and even Yankee and the Metrodome with the right field 'sack' are fast being consigned to only memories. And as I also previously posted, there were some years where some had a losing record at home, even while winning overall.

    Why should not a team be able to build its roster around some who can take advantage of the uniqueness of their own home field, with pitchers and hitters? Didn't the Yankees, to name the most prominent team, who incidentally have the greatest home field advantage in history, and that is largely due to left handed power hitters from Babe Ruth through today?

    Note the Tigers didn't stock such left handed power to hit one over 340'! Nor did the Giants hunt for dead center power hitters for the Polo Grounds with the center fielkd base at 500'!

    Ed
     
    #6 EdSutton, May 15, 2007
    Last edited by a moderator: May 15, 2007
  7. Andy T.

    Andy T. Active Member

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    Well, home field advantage isn't everything. You still have to field a good team in order to be competitive. That said, I maintain that the Twins wouldn't have won a single World Series had it not been for their horrific stadium. Case in point: In their two World Series appearances ('87 and '91), they were 8-0 at home and 0-6 on the road. Methinks if the Twins were unlucky enough to have made the World Series in even-numbered years, they would now stand as 0-2 in those W.S. appearances. Luck of the draw for the Twins to have made it in odd-numbered years.
     
  8. EdSutton

    EdSutton New Member

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    Which proves exactly what? That a team built itself to take advantage of their home field? I like that, personally! Be a fan of whomever you like. Just don't degrade another team for taking advantage of a legitimate opportunity. Is that a fair request?

    Ed
     
  9. ccrobinson

    ccrobinson Active Member

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    Joe Morgan is your expert? :laugh:

    I don't care what the people at ESPN think of him, he's not much of an expert from what I've read. There is a site that I'm not going to promote because I know some will be offended by what they find there, but it dissects and mocks bad baseball writing and announcing, picking mostly on Joe.

    IMHO, using Joe Morgan to back up your contention about the Metrodome doesn't help your cause. :)
     
  10. Andy T.

    Andy T. Active Member

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    No, I don't think it proves that with the Twins. I too have no problem with teams building their teams around their parks. But the Twins didn't do that. Their success was by accident, if you will. They had the advantage of playing in awful conditions for 81 games during the season year in and year out. They got used to those conditions and learned to play within the stadium's quirks, as only a team could do by playing there for 81 games a season. The opposing teams did not have that luxury and did not fair so well. I have no problem with home field advantage - that is part of the game. I do have a problem with bad and abnormal playing conditions, though. And that is what the Metrodome has given us for 25+ years. Bad and abnormal playing conditions that the Twins players learned to play with to give them a decided home field advantage over the years - moreso than the typical home field advantage that is inherent for other teams playing in their home park with normal playing conditions.

    And as much as we are allowed to root for any given team, we are also allowed to 'hate' any given team. Such is the subjectivity of sports.
     
    #10 Andy T., May 15, 2007
    Last edited by a moderator: May 15, 2007
  11. Andy T.

    Andy T. Active Member

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    Joe may not be the best announcer to come down the pike, but I wouldn't dismiss his overall baseball knowledge. As a player, he was consistently lauded as a 'smart' player. He has been around the game his whole life. He lives baseball way more than you or I do. I expect that he knows what he is talking about, even if he does not communicate it effectively.
     
  12. ccrobinson

    ccrobinson Active Member

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  13. Bro. Curtis

    Bro. Curtis <img src =/curtis.gif>
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    The man could hit, though. With his elbow going up & down, I'm still smartin' from the '75 world series.
     
  14. EdSutton

    EdSutton New Member

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    Does not (or did not) Yankee Stadium give an "unfair advantage to" left handed power hitters? How about the Ivy covered walls of Wrigley that can actually "eat" a baseball, or cause the 'rebound' to be far less than usual, hence giving the Cubbies an "unfair advantage" that they have never seemed to overcome? :laugh: :laugh: Or the "Green Monster" and the weird left field projection near the foul line that causes a shortstop to have to field a "hooked " fair ball that in virtually any other park in history, would be fielded by an outfielder? I agree with PastorSBC "Give it up, already!" There is nothing unfair about it, any more than it was unfair for the Cards to get into last years Series, under the rules, at only one game over .500 (82-80), when teams that were apparently far better than them were left out. We all understand you do not like the Metrodome! Do you have the same loathing for Yankee, Wrigley, Fenway, or Devil Rays Stadium, which happened to be the most advantageous to the home team in 2006? Or is it you just hate the Twins for beating out your own personal favorite team, by following the rules, and playing well at home? That seems to be it!

    Do you 'pine' in the absence of Briggs/Tiger Stadium or the old Cosmisky, Forbes, Polo Grounds, Ebbets, Crosley, or Municipal Stadium in Cleveland, the "Mistake on the Lake"? Personally, I miss them! Granted they mostly were replaced by more up to date facilities, save Ebbets where the Dodgers moved to LA from, and with the possible exception of Jacobs, all with basically the same sterile characteristics, especially in field configuration. I like the idea that one must hit a home run to dead Center field in the Polo Grounds, over the statue, (BTW no one ever did) that took a lick of 500'+, but could pull one out in right, at a mere 260', or hit one "in the gap" in the power alleys and potentially a fast rumnner couod score an "inside the park home run", far easier than in most parks, or to "pull one out to right, in old Crosley took a poke of 366', but one could hit one out to strait-away center at a mere 387'. Why do you find this sort of individuality, including the "sack" right field 'wall' at the Metrodome so wrong? Or is it once again, specifically directed, as it seems to be, at the Twins, whom you apparently have an extremely great dislike for?

    FTR, I am not a Twins fan, by any means, but could be persuaded to embrace Minnesota sports, should "Tubby" lead the UM Huskies to some glory and the fans don't expect him to do the impossible, unlike my own UK "fair weather" fans, who think that the 'roundball' title should automatically be taken by the UK Wildcats, at least two of every three years, or the Program is in the hopper! :laugh: :laugh:

    Ed
     
    #14 EdSutton, May 15, 2007
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  15. Surfer Joe

    Surfer Joe New Member

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    The Metrodome {edit} The Twins {edit}. But I like a few of their players.

    That said, there is nothing unfair about a homefield advantage. That is one of the good things about baseball, each park being unique.
     
    #15 Surfer Joe, May 15, 2007
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  16. TomVols

    TomVols New Member

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    I'm starting to wonder when I as a Moderator should kill these constant "The Metrodome is the source of all evil" threads.

    I'm not going back to the numbers that show that the Metrodome is not all that big of a HFA. It's simply a bromide. Andy has admitted in the past that he has a bone with the Twins and the Dome, ergo, the constant attacks.

    Leyland and 2 ESPN announcers (who John Kruk just said are coached into saying things for entertainment value regardless of their veracity) are your experts? Joe was a great player and is articulate, but sometimes he is off the wall.

    The numbers don't lie. The Twins' records over the years don't lie.

    I think Minnesota building an open-air stadium is a bad idea. Snow-outs and 35 degree first-pitches are not my idea of baseball weather. However, I'll be glad to see them build a new yard. Maybe Andy will then give this a rest, though I doubt it :laugh:

    Yes, I'm in a bad mood because of the collapse of my Reds :tear: I appreciate you, Andy, because I like any knowledgable baseball guy, even though you do like to bend the numbers to skew your points.
     
  17. TomVols

    TomVols New Member

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    UM is the Golden Gophers :)
     
  18. Surfer Joe

    Surfer Joe New Member

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    I'm offended by the words Golden Gophers. Can BB leaders deem them inappropriate? :laugh: :thumbs:
     
  19. Surfer Joe

    Surfer Joe New Member

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    By the way, Minnesota should use the best option. That being a dome stadium with a retractable roof so they can still play during snow outs, etc.
     
  20. TomVols

    TomVols New Member

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    No, but we can deem any post by Andy criticizing the Twins and/or the Metrodome as such. But if we did, he'd have nothing to write about :laugh:

    Just kidding with you Andy!
     
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