The umps used to rub up the balls.
I thought the humidor was introduced to reduce offense in Colorado.
“I thought the humidor was introduced to reduce offense in Colorado.”
You’re right. In 2002, they began using humidors starting exclusively with the Colorado Rockies to counteract the dry, thin air at Coors Field. Following a 2018 MLB study, the league slowly expanded their use over the next few years before mandating humidors at all 30 stadiums starting in the 2022 season.
But their use is completely opposite in theory. How a humidor affects the ball depends on the local climate of the stadium.
In dry, arid climates (like Denver or dry summer days), storing balls in a humidor adds moisture to the leather and wool, making the ball slightly heavier and softer. This reduces its bounciness and causes fly balls to travel a shorter distance.
Conversely, in extremely wet or humid cities, the humidor can actually dry the baseballs out slightly, making them harder and bouncier, which could theoretically cause them to travel farther. MLB introduced this standardization to eliminate fluctuations in the ball’s weight and “carry” across different ballparks.
Frankly I’m not smart enough to figure out how it does the opposite at the same time in both locations and various moistures to get a standardization.
The decision to use the humidors was made by the Rockies organization to try to save pitchers . With the light air, offense went both ways and they couldn’t protect their pitchers’ arms.
And they even tried to slow offense another way. The Rockies built an unusually large stadium specifically to offset Denver’s high elevation which did more damage than good. When Coors Field opened in 1995, its designers extended the outfield fences to create the largest outfield in Major League Baseball—spanning approximately 117,800 square feet—to prevent the thin, dry air from causing a massive surge in home runs. Large outfields may cut home run production but that, also, creates more places to cover, putting outfielders in bad positioning, and giving a lot more space for balls to drop in. And this is why games had so much offense in Denver and average hitters would have great days. Unlike the pitchers. It also effected the staff as they had a need for more long guys and less setup pitchers. Damed if you do....
wy69