Ebbets Field: best season home run rate.

It's a bit odd that the Brooklyn Dodgers season home run (HR) record was only 43: Duke Snider 1956.

Rk	Player	HR	Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos
1	Duke Snider	43	1956	29	BRO	NL	151	652	542	112	158	33	2	101	99	26	101	1	6	4	16	3	3	.292	.399	.598	.997	*8/H
2	Duke Snider	42	1955	28	BRO	NL	148	653	538	126	166	34	6	136	104	19	87	1	4	6	9	9	7	.309	.418	.628	1.046	*8/H
3	Gil Hodges	42	1954	30	BRO	NL	154	678	579	106	176	23	5	130	74		84	1	5	19	13	3	3	.304	.373	.579	.952	*3
4	Duke Snider	42	1953	26	BRO	NL	153	680	590	132	198	38	4	126	82		90	3	5		10	16	7	.336	.419	.627	1.046	*8/H
5	Roy Campanella	41	1953	31	BRO	NL	144	590	519	103	162	26	3	142	67		58	4	0		13	4	2	.312	.395	.611	1.006	*2H
6	Duke Snider	40	1957	30	BRO	NL	139	592	508	91	139	25	7	92	77	12	104	1	3	3	17	3	4	.274	.368	.587	.955	*8/H
7	Duke Snider	40	1954	27	BRO	NL	149	679	584	120	199	39	10	130	84		96	4	1	6	12	6	6	.341	.423	.647	1.071	*8/H
8	Gil Hodges	40	1951	27	BRO	NL	158	681	582	118	156	25	3	103	93		99	5	1		13	9	7	.268	.374	.527	.901	*3

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Generated 2/11/2014.

40 HR eight times by three Brooklyn Dodgers.  Babe Ruth hit at least 41 HR eleven times; at least 46 nine times; at least 54 four times, twice playing his home games in the Polo Grounds.

1916 to 1957 Dodgers, BRO-Ebbets Field HR≥20:

Rk	I	Player	Split	Year	G	HR	GS	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	ROE	BAbip	tOPS+	sOPS+
1		Gil Hodges	NYC15	1954	77	25	77	326	285	53	86	10	3	58	1	1	31	47	.302	.366	.621	.988	177	5	1	4	5	0	3	.280	105	149
2		Duke Snider	NYC15	1957	65	23	61	271	222	51	70	14	2	57	3	1	45	48	.315	.430	.707	1.137	157	5	1	1	2	3	2	.307	137	198
3		Duke Snider	NYC15	1956	69	23	67	291	247	49	77	17	1	52	2	2	40	48	.312	.406	.668	1.074	165	9	0	3	1	9	0	.305	114	180
4		Duke Snider	NYC15	1955	74	23	72	320	263	65	90	23	3	77	3	2	53	40	.342	.448	.715	1.163	188	4	0	1	3	10	4	.330	121	196
5		Duke Snider	NYC15	1954	76	23	75	331	291	59	91	16	1	69	3	2	38	43	.313	.393	.612	1.004	178	5	1	0	1	8	3	.301	88	155
6		Duke Snider	NYC15	1953	76	23	74	339	294	78	104	19	4	63	5	3	42	47	.354	.438	.680	1.118	200	7	2	1	0	8	6	.362	113	178
7		Roy Campanella	NYC15	1953	70	22	64	284	250	54	86	12	2	75	2	1	31	23	.344	.423	.672	1.095	168	7	3	0	0	5	3	.312	117	172
8		Babe Herman	NYC15	1930	77	22	77	347	309	82	120	23	5	66	9	0	31	31	.388	.446	.709	1.154	219		1	6	0	0		.383	103	194
9		Duke Snider	NYC15	1951	74	21	74	328	292	53	90	15	3	55	7	4	34	51	.308	.380	.596	.976	174	11	0	2	0	1	5	.314	134	152
10		Roy Campanella	NYC15	1955	63	21	59	264	213	46	66	4	0	61	2	1	36	26	.310	.412	.624	1.036	133	8	5	4	6	5	0	.262	111	164
11		Roy Campanella	NYC15	1951	71	21	64	265	240	52	88	16	0	58	0	1	24	22	.367	.426	.696	1.122	167	12	1	0	0	4	5	.340	126	189

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Generated 2/11/2014.

Hodges hit his career high 42 HR in 1954 with 25 in Ebbets Field, the park record.  Babe Herman had his career high 35 HR in 1930 with 22 in Ebbets Field.  Snider famously hit at least 40 HR in five consecutive seasons: 1953-1957.  In all five seasons Snider hit 23 HR at home. In 1956 Snider also hit two "home" HR in Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City, NJ. The Dodgers played a total of 15 "home" games there in 1956 and 1957.

Home runs hit in Roosevelt Stadium 1956-1957. Monday, April 21, 2014

But the number of Brooklyn Dodgers 40 HR seasons is 8 and the number of 20 HR seasons in Ebbets Field is only 11 by only four players.  That doesn't seem like very many.  I was playing with this because Willie Mays boosted from 51 HR in 1955 to 60 because of his performance in Ebbets Field.

50 homers home/road splits. How many would they hit without their home park?  Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Polo Grounds:
- Ruth dropped both 50 HR seasons there:
    1920 54 to 45
    1921 59 to 51
- Mays increased: 51 to 60
- Mize dropped: 51 to 43

Ruth and Mize batted lefty, Mays righty but the park was basically symmetrical.  Mays did hit NINE against the Dodgers in Ebbets Field and another three in the Polo Grounds.  In 101 1955 plate appearances against the Dodgers, Mays was not hit by pitch.
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1916 to 1957, BRO-Ebbets Flield HR≥8 and AB/HR < 10:

Rk	I	Player	Split	Year	G	HR	GS	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	ROE	BAbip	tOPS+	sOPS+
1		Duke Snider	NYC15	1957	65	23	61	271	222	51	70	14	2	57	3	1	45	48	.315	.430	.707	1.137	157	5	1	1	2	3	2	.307	137	198
2		Joe Adcock	NYC15	1954	11	9	11	43	39	12	17	4	0	17	0	1	1	3	.436	.465	1.231	1.696	48	0	2	0	1	0	0	.286	264	316
3		Willie Mays	NYC15	1955	11	9	11	51	46	12	20	0	0	21	1	1	5	4	.435	.490	1.022	1.512	47	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333	178	278

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Generated 2/11/2014.

Ebbets Field, Brooklyn. N. Y
Acacia postcard via Wikimedia Commons

You never know what will pop up with this type of random looking around.  Snider being so efficient in 1957 was a surprise.  But Joe Adcock in 1954 having a better HR rate (39/9=4.3 wow) than Mays (46/9=5.1) was even more surprising.  Until I remembered ...  Saturday, July 31, 1954 in Ebbets Field before 12,263 fans Adcock homered off four Dodger pitchers:  Don Newcombe, Erv Palica, Pete Wojey, Johnny Podres.  Adcock also doubled off Palica.    Eddie Mathews hit two homers and former Dodger Andy Pafko one.   Clem Labine pitched one inning and was the only one of five Dodger pitchers to not allow a homer.  Braves won 15-7.  In the rest of his 1954 games in Ebbets Field Adcock was 34/5=6.8.  Giants won the pennant and World Series.  Mays was MVP in 1954.

Season Home Run record by team progressive.  Saturday, December 14, 2013

You'll note in that post that Snider's record stood long after the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.  In 2000 Gary Sheffield tied at 43.  In 2001 Shawn Green set the Dodger record with 49, which still stands; Green hit 20 HR in Dodger Stadium, 29 on the road.  No Dodger has ever hit 50 HR.

Through 1957, the Dodgers last season in Brooklyn, the Dodger season record had been exceeded 32 times by players on other teams.  Even in New York City, in 1955 Mays had tied the Giant record of 51 set by Johnny Mize in 1947 and Mickey Mantle became the second Yankee to reach 50 with 52 in 1956, his triple crown season, overshadowing Snider who led the National League for the only time with his team record 43.  Lou Gehrig had hit 49 twice: 1934, his triple crown season, and 1936; Gehrig also hit 47, 46, 41.  Joe DiMaggio hit 46 in 1937 despite the vast left field in the old Yankee Stadium.  Hank Aaron led the National League in 1957 with 44 followed by Ernie Banks with 43, then Snider with 40.

Since the advent of modern home run hitting in 1920 the only Brooklyn Dodger home run champions beside Snider were:
Dolph Camilli 1941 34, NL MVP
Jack Fournier 1924 27.

Ebbets Field dimension 1948-1957:
Left field pole - 348 ft
Left-center field - 351 ft
Deep left-center - 393 ft
Deep right-center bleacher corner - 376 ft
Deep right-center notch - 395 ft
Right-center, scoreboard edges - 344 ft and 318 ft
Right field pole - 297 ft