The Gezer and the stick

Notice anything striking about the team batting statistics for the season?

Teams   G    AB     H     R    BB    SO    HR
Bet    41  1106   325   286   186   198    60
Mod    41  1092   297   218   157   192    52
Net    40  1063   295   185   113   182    17
Pet    40  1003   235   161   186   216    17
Raa    41  1059   277   196   159   240    21
Tel    41  1047   293   230   202   229    20

Two numbers virtually jump off the page: Bet Shemesh and Modiin's home run totals. They're about three times the league average. By coincidence, both teams share Gezer Field as their home field.

Or is it a coincidence? Did they rack up those homers because of something about Gezer, or were they just loaded with powerful sluggers who could hit well anywhere?

For a first cut at an answer, let's break down the season by venue.

Gezer:

Teams       G     AB      H      R     BB     SO     HR
Bet        24    648    213    190    105     99     51
Mod        27    711    198    147     96    122     41
Net        11    308     91     60     35     74      5
Pet         9    228     55     51     51     68      8
Raa        11    274     70     42     44     69      5
Tel        12    312     70     34     36     92      7

Sportek:

Teams       G     AB      H      R     BB     SO     HR
Bet         7    184     47     29     31     37      4
Mod         6    173     53     39     32     26      4
Net        13    329     88     54     31     52      5
Pet         9    216     51     27     31     41      3
Raa         8    234     79     58     34     37      7
Tel        19    454    136    106     90     82      9

Yarkon:

Teams       G     AB      H      R     BB     SO     HR
Bet        10    274     65     67     50     62      5
Mod         8    208     46     32     29     44      7
Net        16    426    116     71     47     56      7
Pet        22    559    129     83    104    107      6
Raa        22    551    128     96     81    134      9
Tel        10    281     87     90     76     55      4

Are you rubbing your eyes yet?

Bet Shemesh and Modiin each played somewhat more than half their games at Gezer. But they hit about 80% of their home runs there!

What's more amazing: only some of the teams seem to have had a power boost at Gezer. Let's look at the stats per game:



Oddly, only Bet Shemesh, Modiin and Petach Tikva had a home run boost at Gezer. Perhaps Bet Shemesh and Modiin got used to the field and learned how to hit there?

You can also see from this chart that both Bet Shemesh and Modiin hit more home runs at the other fields than any other team (except Raanana at Sportek), and that Modiin actually outslugged Bet Shemesh in away games. (But keep in mind the small sample sizes we're working with, especially at Sportek.)

New questions on my mind: Was the power boost restricted to specific batters? Did it increase as the season progressed (indicating a learning curve for the home teams)?

L'hitraot!