The table below shows his splits. Data from the Baseball Reference Play Index
| DiMaggio | BA | OBP | SLG |
| Home | 0.315 | 0.391 | 0.546 |
| Away | 0.333 | 0.405 | 0.610 |
Now the league splits from 1936-51
| League | BA | OBP | SLG |
| Home | 0.273 | 0.350 | 0.394 |
| Away | 0.261 | 0.335 | 0.373 |
So players normally had an OBP that was .015 higher at home and a SLG that was .021 higher. What if DiMaggio had played in a fair park his whole career and he had these same differentials?
His home OBP and SLG would be .420 and .631. If those are averaged with his road numbers of .405 and .610, he would have a career OBP of .413 and a career SLG of .621.
That is better than his actual numbers of .398 & .579. So his OBP goes up .015 and his SLG goes up .042. That would raise a team's OBP and SLG by 0.0016 & 0.0046, respectively (assuming he has one ninth of a teams ABs and PAs).
How many extra runs would this mean? I ran a regression with runs per game as the dependent variable and OBP & SLG as the independent variables for all MLB teams from 1936-51. Here is the equation
R/G = 11.19*SLG + 19.20*OBP - 6.17
Plugging in the 0.0016 & 0.0046 changes in team SLG and OBP, we get 0.0825 more runs per game or 12.7 per 154 game season. That is about one extra win per season.
DiMaggio played 1736 games. That is 11.27 154 game seasons. That times 12.7 is 143. That adds about 14 to wins to his career value.
He has 78.2 career WAR, good for 41st among position players. This adjustment would give him 92.8, putting him at 28th.
Dimensions: Left field: 280.58 (1923), 301 (1928), 312 (1976), 318 (1988); left side of bullpen gate in short left-center: 395 (1923), 402 (1928), 387 (1976), 379 (1985); right side of bullpen gate: 415 (1937); deepest left-center: 500 (1923), 490 (1924), 457 (1937), 430 (1976), 411 (1985), 399 (1988); left side of cente-field screen: 466 (1937); center field: 487 (1923), 461 (1937), 463 (1967), 417 (1976), 410 (1985), 408 (1988); deepest right-center: 429 (1923), 407 (1937), 385 (1976); left side of bullpen gate in short right-center: 350 (1923), 367 (1937), 353 (1976); right side of bullpen gate: 344 (1937); right field 294.75 (1923), 295 (1930), 296 (1939), 310 (1976), 314 (1988); backstop: 82 (1942), 80 (1953), 84 (1976); foul territory: large for the catcher behind home plate, but small for fielders down the foul lines.
ReplyDeleteFences: Left-field foul line: 3.92 (3 wire above .92 concrete, 1923), 8 (canvas, 1976); left-center, left of visitors� bullpen: 3.58 (3 wire above .58 concrete); right of visitors� bullpen: 7.83 (3 wire above 4.83 concrete), 7 (canvas, 1976); center field, left screen when up for hitters� background: 20 (1953), 22.25 (1959), 22.42 (1954); screen when down: 13.83, (canvas, 1976); right-center, right of screen: 14.5 (3 wire above 11.5 concrete, 1923); left of home bullpen: 7.83 (3 wire above 4.83 concrete, 1923); right of home bullpen: 3.58 (3 wire above .58 concrete, 1923), 8 (canvas, 1976), 9 (canvas, 1979); right field foul line: 3.75 (3 wire above .75 concrete, 1923), 10 (canvas, 1976).
Thanks for all that data. I will have to look at it carefully.
ReplyDeleteexcellent post thank u for the research on joe d...
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked it. Thanks for reading
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you'd find it worth doing, but I wonder what affects it would have on a number of players who played in parks that either favored them strongly or adversely and project some of the possible career totals those adjustments might have made?
ReplyDelete