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| Author: | ADKbrown [ Wed Mar 09, 2005 5:14 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Artificial asterisk? |
For the Cardinals, the changeover [from artificial turf to grass] was particularly significant because the St. Louis teams of the mid- and late 1980's - teams that featured Vince Coleman and Willie McGee and Ozzie Smith - had been seen as the epitome of artificial-turf baseball, using speed to take advantage of the quick surface and the ball's high bounces. -- NYT This makes me wonder: Would Ozzie Smith have been such a standout fielder if he played on regular grass? |
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| Author: | ndugan1 [ Wed Mar 09, 2005 7:10 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
From the inaugural game in 1966 until 1970, the playing surface was grass. It switched to turf in 1970 and back to grass in 1996. Ozzie's last season was 1996, so I guess the best way to compare would be to take his fielding stats from that last year to and put them up against those of a year while he was on the turf. Of course, the difference could be due to the fact that he was on the decline in 1996 (he played in only 52 games that year, compared with 139 in the 1982 championship season). Here are his fielding stats from 1982 and 1996: 1982: G TC TC/G CH PO A E DP FLD% 139 827 5.9 814 279 535 13 101 .984 1996: G TC TC/G CH PO A E DP FLD% 52 260 5.0 252 90 162 8 36 .969 By the way, if you don't understand the statistic abbreviations, here's the list: G = games played; TC = total chances (putouts + assists + errors); TC/G = total chances per game; C = chances (putouts + assists); PO = putouts; A = assists; E = errors; DP = double plays; FLD% = fielding percentage) Although he played in fewer games, his total chances per game were only about one less in 1996, and his fielding percentage was only 0.015 percentage points less than in 1982. I'd say he'd have done just fine on the real stuff. (As an aside, I hated the turf -- I was very relieved to see real grass installed again.) |
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| Author: | ADKbrown [ Thu Mar 10, 2005 9:47 am ] |
| Post subject: | |
ndugan1 wrote: 1982: G TC TC/G CH PO A E DP FLD% 139 827 5.9 814 279 535 13 101 .984 1996: G TC TC/G CH PO A E DP FLD% 52 260 5.0 252 90 162 8 36 .969 Although he played in fewer games, his total chances per game were only about one less in 1996, and his fielding percentage was only 0.015 percentage points less than in 1982. I'd say he'd have done just fine on the real stuff. I don't find the stats conclusive in either direction. A drop of one chance per game is a fairly big drop. It suggests he was getting to 16% fewer balls. Of course, that may have been due to age. It probably would be more revealing to look at his fielding stats on real vs. artificial turf. (Of course, if there is a benefit to fielding on artificial turf, others would have benefited as well. I imagine he still compares favorably to other fielders.) |
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