Do yourself a favour and read this article. It's a long, lengthy analysis with tons of data to back it up. More...

"However, Fenway's Offensive Impact does not match that of Ameriquest in the thirteen seasons that the two parks have both been in the AL. During this period, the Fens has given a modest boost to run scoring (10697 runs in 1027 home games, 10106 in 1013 road games, an Offensive Impact of 1.0584). It's just another hitter's park now, nothing particularly special. The change is generally attributed to new press box, built in 1988, which appears to have affected the wind currents at Fenway. Of even more interest during this period is that the Red Sox HFA has actually fallen below the league average - they've played .578 ball at home during these last few years and .522 on the road, an HFA of just .056. That last fact further hints at how the Sox home-field advantage has been declining, and I think it's time to produce another pretty picture so that you might see for yourself:"

Damn. Here are all the data tables.

http://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20070320041601162#comments

Best fans in baseball!

I always thought pitching homeparks would favour the hometeam over the long haul. Easier to have good pitching there, and pitching wins championships. The more obscure the park I guess the harder to adapt for opposing teams.

Ah, for the days when you could sell sausages with the slogan: "U.S. Government Inspected!"

I was checking out that photo of Crosley Field and I became curious about identifying the game, as the scoreboard shows the score, as well as the lineups---the Reds are beating the Cardinals 8-0 in the top of the 5th.

I was able to peg the game as being in the late '60s since the numbers for Brock, Flood, Javier and McCarver are all there, and Cepeda is at first so it's post-Bill White....

Pitching for the Cardinals at that point is #47, worn by, among others, Hal Gilson, who played only in 1968.

And the game was June 9, 1968.

And shortly after that photo was taken, after the current batter's (Lou Brock) at bat, the Cardinals went on to score 10 runs in the inning (Javier RBI double; Cepeda RBI single; McCarver 2-run single; Maxvill 2-run single; Edwards RBI single; Brock 3-run homer), and held on to win 10-8.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN196806091.shtml

I always thought pitching homeparks would favour the hometeam over the long haul.

I believe there's a Bill James study that found the same. I wonder how much wear and tear it saves a given staff?

What wasn't mentioned in the article is that teams in a new park historicall have a lower than average HFA in that first year, so the Cardinals were truly an abberation.

Looking at the Fenway HFA graph, it has been really high (again) in the Theo years (2003-2006). Coincidence or smart team construction?