by Chris Messner

Created on: October 28, 2007

Coors Field used to be a place where the ball really flew. Since 2002, the Rockies have stored all their baseballs in a humidor, a room where the temperature and humidity are controlled and monitored.

Gone are the days of ridiculous home run totals and outrageous batting averages
by players who really weren't capable of that kind of performance anywhere
else, guys like Dante Bichette, who had never batted higher than .287 or hit

more than 15 home runs in a season before he joined the Rockies, Vinnie Castilla,
a good hitter who benefited greatly from Coors Field, and Andres Galarraga, an
outstanding hitter whose batting average and power production was greatly inflated at Coors.

The writer whose article points out the size of the field and says the Rockies
should have gap hitters like Holliday and Helton makes a good point. Todd Helton has hit over 300 homers, but his doubles totals are really where he is a standout. In 7 of his 10 full seasons, Helton exceeded 40 doubles, and had over 50 twice, including a ridiculous 59 in the 2000 season.

The size of the outfield and the deep corners at Coors Field are a reflection of the pre-humidor attempt to compensate somewhat for the added offense due to the thinner air. It didn't work.

The humidor has also resulted in a clear improvement in pitching at Coors Field. The Rockies were rightly concerned that, while they were putting up unheard-of offensive totals, the best pitchers they could get were being pounded by the visiting teams. The sword cut both ways. The humidor keeps the balls from drying out and shrinking. Pitchers get a more normal grip, thus, their pitches are nearly as effective as they would be at sea level.

The humidor has made the overall performance of both the Rockies and the opposition at Coors Field much more reasonable. Since they started using the humidor, the Rockies have also developed some excellent talent and really bonded as a team in 2007. Until the humidor, the Rockies had no realistic shot at success because the benefits of hitting at Coors Field applied to both teams, while the problems of pitching there really hurt the Rockies more, because they play half their games there every year. I'm surprised no one thought of the humidor sooner.

The exposure, investigation and increased penalties surrounding the use of performance-enhancing substances by baseball players over the past few seasons has resulted in reduced use of these substances. That reduction probably also contributed to the reduced offense at Coors Field, but also to reduced offense throughout the major leagues.

Similar conditions exist at the Rockies' Triple A franchise in Colorado Springs. The Colorado Springs Sky Sox play at Security Service Field, the highest-elevation ballpark in the country, nearly 1,000 feet higher than Coors Field, and are perennially near the top of the Pacific Coast league in offense, and near the bottom in pitching. I don't believe they use a humidor in Colorado Springs, but they might want to consider it.

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