Lou Gehrig hit many more doubles on the road. Why? Apparently, the short right field porch in Yankee Stadium.

Aerial view Yankee Stadium September 1923.
Paul Plaine  Ballpark PrintsLLC

Sunday, December 22, 2013  Lou Gehrig hit many more doubles on the road. Why?

Lou Gehrig hit doubles per at bat 48.5% better on the road than at home in Yankee Stadium.
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Quick look at home/road splits for all Yankees in two seasons:

1927: 123/168

2013: 110/137

I figured I was asking about the park.  So, what was it about Yankee Stadium?  I guess the short right field porch.  As can be seen in the photo above the original Yankee Stadium had a huge center field, about 490 feet straight away and the wooden bleachers extended to the foul lines.  That is the reason for the answer to a trick question:  How many home runs did Babe Ruth hit into the upper deck in Yankee Stadium?  Answer: none.  The right field grand stand was not extended into fair territory in right field until the the 1937 season.  Ruth's last Yankee season was 1934.  The left field grand stand was extended into fair territory for the 1928 season.  The original design was for the grand stand to completely enclose the field but it was implemented in stages and never all the way, not even in the current billion dollar version.  The only constant from the original to the refurbished in 1976 to the new park in 2009 has been the short porch in right field.

Cliff Blau sent this: Seamheads.com Ballparks Database.

In only eleven of the seasons from 1923 through 2008 was Yankee Stadium above league average in rate of doubles hit.  The first such season was 1960 with only 101, i.e., only one percent above league.  The rate appears to be generally higher for righty batters than for lefties like Gehrig.  From 1925 through 1938 when Gehrig played almost all his games the doubles rate was about 70% of league average for lefties at Yankee Stadium.  So lefties were worse by about 30%.

Gehrig's doubles rate was 15 (at bats divided by doubles)  However, his home/road split was 18.7/12.6.  As mentioned in the original post: "Lou Gehrig hit doubles per at bat 48.5% better on the road than at home in Yankee Stadium."  So it appears that Gehrig suffered even more than lefty batters generally in Yankee Stadium when it came to hitting doubles.  Gehrig's biggest doubles season was 1927 with 52: 16/36.  Rate 17.3/8.5  Again, lower is better.  Gehrig's home rate was more than double his road rate.

Rk	Player	2B	Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	3B	HR	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos
1	Don Mattingly	53	1986	25	NYY	AL	162	742	677	117	238	2	31	113	53	11	35	1	1	10	17	0	0	.352	.394	.573	.967	*3/5D
2	Lou Gehrig	52	1927	24	NYY	AL	155	717	584	149	218	18	47	175	109		84	3	21			10	8	.373	.474	.765	1.240	*3
3	Alfonso Soriano	51	2002	26	NYY	AL	156	741	696	128	209	2	39	102	23	1	157	14	1	7	8	41	13	.300	.332	.547	.880	*4/HD

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/27/2013.

Lets look at the two other Yankee seasons with at least 50 doubles, one by a lefty batter (Mattingly) and the other by a righty batter (Soriano).

Mattingly: 23/30.  Rate: 13/9/12.9.

Soriano: 24/27.  Rate: 14/13.4.

Both Mattingly and Soriano were better on the road but pretty even.  Go figure.