Historical Parks & Park Factors

thehef · 11-14-2008, 12:43 PM

I started a historical league in 1901. The game seemed to know to put the Boston Americans (Red Sox) into Huntington Avenue Grounds, and then - in 1912 - to change the park to Fenway Park I. Four questions:

1) Are the park factors for Huntington Grounds accurate or random?
2) Am I correct in that, in 1912, in the ballpark list, Huntington Grounds is overwritten by Fenway Park I (Huntington ceases to exist in my list of ballparks)?
3) Assuming the answers to 1 & 2 are "accurate" and "yes," respectively, do the factors for the park in this example change in 1912, when it changes from Huntington to Fenway I?
4) I am assuming that - in reality - park factors for particular stadiums change over time, that they do not remain static. Assuming (perhaps an incorrect assumption) that the answer to 1 is 'accurate' and the answer to 3 is 'yes,' do these changes happen in OOTP9 automatically? If the answers are, instead, 'accurate' and 'no' (IOW, the park factors are accurate but do not change), then what park factors are used? First year? An average?

If there is an existing post that discusses how the game handles historical park factors (NOT a post that dives into the statistical analysis of park factors), then please point me towards it.

Thanks in advance.

Garlon · 11-16-2008, 03:22 PM

I created the ballparks file myself for OOTP and Markus implemented it into the game. It took me months of work to complete it all. The ballpark factors are indeed accurate and yes OOTP will update the factors and the changes in ballparks as you progress thru history as long as you have "Automatically Adjust League Strategy" selected in the League Setup>Options screen.

The ballpark factors from 1901-1956 were created by running the park's scoring factors thru a quadratic formula along with the league's offensive totals to generate a Batting Avg and HR Factor to reproduce the park's scoring environment. From 1957-present we have the actual park totals of all offensive categories so I was able to calculate the BA/2B/3B/HR factors for the parks directly from the data on a per AB basis. The Bill James' method of weighting the surrounding seasons was also used to provide a bigger data sample size for the park factors.

I suggest playing with Neutralized Player stats when using the park factors.

SteveP · 11-16-2008, 08:02 PM

Is there a simple way to toggle between using ballpark factors and not using them? I have been playing with CubbieFan's roster, which I believe is real stats, so I probably want ballpark factors to be neutral. Just haven't come across an easy way to do that.

SteveP · 11-16-2008, 08:13 PM

Never mind. I discovered how to neutralize the park factors.

thehef · 11-17-2008, 02:27 PM

Awesome stuff, Garlon. And yes, re your suggestion of "playing with Neutralized Player stats when using the park factors," that's what I'm doing and that's why I asked. :-) Thanks!!

More out of curiosity than anything else: Are the park changes (i.e, moving from Huntington Grounds to Fenway I in 1912) built into the game and just happen when doing a historical sim, or does that come from the teams.csv file?

Also, in my question #2 above, is the answer YES (Fenway I overwrites Huntington in 1912 in the list of ballparks)? Assuming so, does the image file I've selected for Huntington become the image for Fenway I?

Thanks in advance.

Garlon · 11-17-2008, 10:09 PM

The ballpark data is in the era_ballparks file in the database folder. OOTP references the teamID with the ballpark data in that file and updates it each season. So if you wanted the Red Sox to continue to play in Huntington grounds beyond 1911 you could edit the file. Or you could even have them play in "Hef Stadium" by editing the file.

I would suspect that OOTP would retain the ballpark image you selected even though the ballpark changed. So you'd probably need to manually select a new image for Fenway.

11-14-2008, 12:43 PM	#1
thehef Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 5,345	Historical Parks & Park Factors I started a historical league in 1901. The game seemed to know to put the Boston Americans (Red Sox) into Huntington Avenue Grounds, and then - in 1912 - to change the park to Fenway Park I. Four questions: 1) Are the park factors for Huntington Grounds accurate or random? 2) Am I correct in that, in 1912, in the ballpark list, Huntington Grounds is overwritten by Fenway Park I (Huntington ceases to exist in my list of ballparks)? 3) Assuming the answers to 1 & 2 are "accurate" and "yes," respectively, do the factors for the park in this example change in 1912, when it changes from Huntington to Fenway I? 4) I am assuming that - in reality - park factors for particular stadiums change over time, that they do not remain static. Assuming (perhaps an incorrect assumption) that the answer to 1 is 'accurate' and the answer to 3 is 'yes,' do these changes happen in OOTP9 automatically? If the answers are, instead, 'accurate' and 'no' (IOW, the park factors are accurate but do not change), then what park factors are used? First year? An average? If there is an existing post that discusses how the game handles historical park factors (NOT a post that dives into the statistical analysis of park factors), then please point me towards it. Thanks in advance.

11-16-2008, 03:22 PM	#2
Garlon Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 4,271	I created the ballparks file myself for OOTP and Markus implemented it into the game. It took me months of work to complete it all. The ballpark factors are indeed accurate and yes OOTP will update the factors and the changes in ballparks as you progress thru history as long as you have "Automatically Adjust League Strategy" selected in the League Setup>Options screen. The ballpark factors from 1901-1956 were created by running the park's scoring factors thru a quadratic formula along with the league's offensive totals to generate a Batting Avg and HR Factor to reproduce the park's scoring environment. From 1957-present we have the actual park totals of all offensive categories so I was able to calculate the BA/2B/3B/HR factors for the parks directly from the data on a per AB basis. The Bill James' method of weighting the surrounding seasons was also used to provide a bigger data sample size for the park factors. I suggest playing with Neutralized Player stats when using the park factors.

11-16-2008, 08:02 PM	#3
SteveP Moderator Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 3,109	Is there a simple way to toggle between using ballpark factors and not using them? I have been playing with CubbieFan's roster, which I believe is real stats, so I probably want ballpark factors to be neutral. Just haven't come across an easy way to do that.

11-16-2008, 08:13 PM	#4
SteveP Moderator Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 3,109	Never mind. I discovered how to neutralize the park factors.

11-17-2008, 02:27 PM	#5
thehef Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 5,345	Awesome stuff, Garlon. And yes, re your suggestion of "playing with Neutralized Player stats when using the park factors," that's what I'm doing and that's why I asked. :-) Thanks!! More out of curiosity than anything else: Are the park changes (i.e, moving from Huntington Grounds to Fenway I in 1912) built into the game and just happen when doing a historical sim, or does that come from the teams.csv file? Also, in my question #2 above, is the answer YES (Fenway I overwrites Huntington in 1912 in the list of ballparks)? Assuming so, does the image file I've selected for Huntington become the image for Fenway I? Thanks in advance.

11-17-2008, 10:09 PM	#6
Garlon Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 4,271	The ballpark data is in the era_ballparks file in the database folder. OOTP references the teamID with the ballpark data in that file and updates it each season. So if you wanted the Red Sox to continue to play in Huntington grounds beyond 1911 you could edit the file. Or you could even have them play in "Hef Stadium" by editing the file. I would suspect that OOTP would retain the ballpark image you selected even though the ballpark changed. So you'd probably need to manually select a new image for Fenway.