Colorado Rockies: Where Coors Field ranks among MLB's gimmicky parks

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DENVER, CO – APRIL 5: A general view of the field during the singing of the national anthem after player introductions before the home opener of the Colorado Rockies against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Coors Field on April 5, 2019 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images) /

DENVER — I write this from Coors Field, which many will tell you is the most gimmicky park in baseball. Even opposing managers have come in to Colorado and called this place “pinball baseball.”

While the effects have calmed since the Colorado Rockies introduced a humidor in the early 2000s and perfected it later on in the decade, it’s still clearly irregular. The numbers show it’s probably more in people’s heads than impact on the game — besides singles — as Coors Field is not the No. 1 home run park.

What this story aims to do is to provide some semi-scientific story that ranks the most gimmicky parks in the game.

There are five categories that should well describe the stadiums and they have been put on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the weirdest and 1 being the norm. For example, Fenway’s Monster will pull it closer to a 5 than Kansas City’s unremarkable walls.

HOUSTON, TEXAS – MAY 28: Jason Heyward #22 of the Chicago Cubs leaps at the wall but is unable to catch a home run ball hit by Alex Bregman #2 of the Houston Astros in the sixth inning at Minute Maid Park on May 28, 2019 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images) /

Cheap Home Runs

Manny Randhawa of MLB.com did a very good story on this a few years ago. This category is more or less self-explanatory … balls that don’t normally go out, go out here. And nothing can change a game like a home run, rendering this a very important category.

Here’s a graph of just this part of the equation itself, which was simplified to a 1-5 scale.

Triples

Triples are super weird if you think about it. They only occur in parks that have different features. Coors Field has large gaps, San Francisco has triples alley, Fenway has that cutout in center field. There are some surprises once you see this list.

Dome

Domes are different. Sometimes a ball can hit the roof, like this recent play. In fact, that’s what convinced us it was time to do this story. Also the game can completely change if the roof is open or closed, which sometimes happens mid-game.

There are only seven parks in MLB with roofs and some are used way less than others.

Extreme Park Factors

Gimmick Park Total (points in parentheses)

(20) Chase Field
(19) Coors Field
(18) Minute Maid Park
(17) Fenway Park
(17) Tropicana Field
(17) Marlins Park
(16) Rogers Centre
(15) Wrigley Field
(14) Globe Life Park
(13) Oakland Coliseum
(12) Guaranteed Rate Field
(12) Comerica Park
(12) Oriole Park
(12) Oracle Park
(12) Miller Park
(11) Yankee Stadium
(11) Target Field
(11) T-Mobile Park
(11) Progressive Field
(11) Kauffman Stadium
(10) Great American Ballpark
(10) PNC Park
(10) SunTrust Park
(10) PETCO Park
(10) Citizens Bank Park
(9) Citi Field
(9) Dodger Stadium
(9) Angel Stadium
(7) Nationals Park
(6) Busch Stadium

ST LOUIS, MO – OCTOBER 07: The St. Louis Arch is seen in the bottom of the seventh inning in Game Four of the National League Divison Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium on October 7, 2014 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /

Here’s how that breaks down given the factors that were used:

Notes, Standouts:

It’s important to note that gimmicky doesn’t necessarily mean bad. Many of the recently built parks are purposely quirky to given them a jewel box feel.

About the list, having a dome automatically inflated some parks … but domes are weird. Just think about it: How many times as a kid did you play baseball in a dome? You didn’t. It’s not natural and it’s really weird and weird things sometimes happen, like losing a ball.

The names near the top or bottom aren’t surprising. However, where they rank may be.

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The top five has Chase Field No. 1. The place is like an airplane hangar if you’ve ever seen baseball there. The main entrance to the field is also where third base is and home plate is in the middle of a city block rather than the corner. That’s just the outside of the playing surface which, by the way, includes a pool. Inside there is, for some reason, a 20-foot wall in center field, some sort of Pesky’s-like poles down the lines and, of course, there’s the dryness that caused them to use a humidor that may or may not of been in place last year … and we’re not really sure. Also their carpet grass sometimes just eats players and balls. Fantastic stuff.

Coors Field is just as gimmicky to be honest, but not for the home runs and that’s the common mistake. It’s because the outfield is the size of a ranch you’d see on the side of I-70 whilst driving to Kansas.

Minute Maid Park would probably be No. 1 if it still had a literal hill … but they don’t. However, they still do have the Crawford boxes, some crazy outfield barriers and a dome.

Fenway Park is self explanatory whereas Tropicana Field is best described as sometimes home runs a hit a roof and sometimes white balls get lost in the white roof and sometimes fielders have to run over bullpen mounds which are still on the field there despite it not being built in 1920.

At the bottom of the list is Busch Stadium, which is super straight. It plays very straight up and there’s nothing wrong with that either. Baseball is cool that way, right?

dark. Next. Charlie Blackmon talks about his most recent injury

So what do you think? Is the altitude in Denver more or less gimmicky than the short fences in right field at Yankee Stadium? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Colorado Rockies: Where Coors Field ranks among MLB’s gimmicky parks

DENVER — I write this from Coors Field, which many will tell you is the most gimmicky park in baseball. Even opposing managers have come in to Colorado and called this place “pinball baseball.”

Gimmick Park Total (points in parentheses)

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