Donnie Baseball vs. Kirby McFeely Pants...

[MarquisEXB]

Glassjoe - Although you're correct that the Metrodome is widely considered a hitters' park, it's actually not.  Fewer HRs are hit there than in other parks, and not just because the Twins have been power-deprived for a decade and a half.  The LF fence is 343 ft., and while RF is a mildly shallow 327, it has a 25-ft.-high Hefty bag for a fence.  Also, when Puckett played there, there were 4 ft. of plexiglass on top of the LF wall, making it even harder to hit the ball out there.

The "Homerdome" nickname came about because the Twins had some heavy-hitting teams in the mid-80's (like their RBI team) and the nickname was catchy.  It's not actually based in fact, though.

Here are the park factors for hitters in the HHH for Puckett's career (over 100 favors batters):

105
106
103
104
103
107
107
105
103
102
100
99

Not until the end of Pucket's career was it anything resembling a pitcher's park. In 1994, the HR factor (not hitting, just homers) was 118! It gets stranger because in '95 it dropped to 88. The prevailing theory is that a new air conditioning system was installed, changing the way the ball carries.

Beefmaster is right about the park, today it's a homer unfriendly park, but the Twins can still score lots of runs due to the turf (lots of doubles). However back then, as far as I can tell it was a home run park (unfortunately I can't find HR stats pre-1994).

[BeefMaster]

I didn't realize that the Dome actually qualified as a hitters' park.  I knew it was overrated for homers, but I really should've factored in the turf more.  Funny you should mention the AC - there was a controversy a few months ago about a guy who claimed that in the World Series years he used to manipulate the fans so that they blew out when the Twins were batting and in when the opponents batted.  He was generally regarded around here as a crackpot, but I guess you never know.

That is really bizarre about the HR factor.  I blame the retirement of Kent Hrbek - '94 was his last year.  Of course, by the end he was barely hitting 20 a year, but I'm sure his influence meant something.

[BeefMaster]

A park factor of 100 means that the park is average for hitters.  If it's, for example, 110, that means that hitters perform 10% better in that park than in an "average" park.  A rating of 90 would mean that hitters perform 10% worse in that park.  From the numbers MarquisEXB posted, the Metrodome gave hitters a 3-7% statistical boost (except the last couple years) during the time Puckett played his home games there.

[RockRaines4life]

A thought about the parkfactor of the Metrodome:

As I understand it, parkfactor compares hitting performance in a stadium to average hitting performance across the league.  I assume that a score of 100 means that the park is average relative to the other major league stadiums at the time.  Could the fact that the park factor of the Metrodome changed in 1994/1995 be attributed to the new ballparks being built, which changed the average hitting performance for the whole league?  Those years were around the start of the trend from bigger parks (Municipal Stadium in Cle., Arlington Stadium, Memorial Stadium in Bal.) to bandboxes like Camden Yards, Coors Field, Jacobs Field, Ballpark at Arlington, etc.  Is it possible that nothing in the Metrodome changed, but increased hitting performance in these new parks changed the league average that it was being compared to?  

[fknmclane]

RockRaines, that is an incredibly intelligent point.  It's ture that the time the Metrodome went downhill (or is it uphill) was the same time that a bunch of new parks were being built.  Very observant.

We're getting off the subject of whether or not Donnie Baseball (The Man) belongs in the HOF but a very good point nonetheless.

[MarquisEXB]

I don't think it was other ballparks. I've checked the Yankees and they don't really follow the same trend as the Metrodome, although they slightly dip in '94, they don't in other years. Actually Yankee stadium although a pitcher's park, does fluctuate pretty wildly. Also to verify I checked Oakland. Oakland does dip in '94 & '95, but in '96 comes back to it's pre-94 self. 1994 could be an abberation because of the strike. No one has the specific downfall that Minny does.

Unless I get better data, I stand by my hypothesis.