Game has changed over the years

Posted March 28, 200520 yr

With all this talk about the "Steroids Era," it seems like a good time to identify various other eras since the American League joined the National League in 1901. Warning: with one notable exception, all of these eras are the creation of my own, occasionally overactive imagination.

1901-1919: The Dead Ball Era

Oddly enough, this remains the only era that has a widely accepted label.

And a well-deserved label it is, as the baseballs of the era were indeed dead. At that point in the game's history, both leagues were still essentially experimenting with the baseballs, and the baseballs in use for most of this era simply weren't designed to be hit particularly hard or far. What's more, beginning in about 1905 pitchers began doing all sorts of disgusting things to the balls: They spit on them, they rubbed slippery substances on them, they scuffed them with sandpaper, they gored them with the spikes on their shoes. Basically, if you could think of it, pitchers in this era were doing it.

What's more ? and more important, probably ? most players of the era simply weren't trying to hit the ball particularly hard or far. This led to low batting averages and very little power-hitting; in 1908 the American and National Leagues combined for a .305 average ? that is, a .305 slugging average.

1920-1941: The Babe Ruth Era

Everybody knows that hitting picked up in the 1920s (and peaked in the early '30s), but reasonable people might disagree about why hitting picked up. It's still commonly believed that the death of Indians shortstop Ray Chapman ? killed by a pitched ball ? resulted in new policies regarding spitballs and the use of clean baseballs. Which seems to make sense, except those policies were in place before Chapman's death in August, 1920; the new rules were adopted before the season started.

But yes, clean baseballs certainly did help the hitters. So did the knowledge that if you swung the bat hard, the ball might travel a long ways. Babe Ruth, in the process of demolishing the old record by hitting 54 home runs, proved that in 1920.

Still, using 1920 as the dividing line is somewhat arbitrary. The American League was already trending upward in 1919, and 1920 fell right in line with the previous season. The National League trailed the American League, which might have been due to Ruth's absence from National League ballparks but was more likely due to differences in the baseballs (then, and for some years afterward, the two leagues used different baseballs).

1942-1946: The Wartime Era

During World War II, the game was so different than any time before (or since) that this four- or five-season period really does stand alone. Just like the Dead Ball Era, nobody was hitting home runs, in part because of substandard baseballs and in part because, especially later in the war, nearly every able-bodied baseball player was serving in either the army or the navy. In 1945, Tommy Holmes led the National League with 28 homers, and in the American League, only one player (Browns shortstop Vern Stephens) managed to hit more than 18 home runs. And for some reason the power outage outlasted the war, at least in the National League, where Ralph Kiner topped the loop with 23 homers in 1946.

1947-1962: The Jackie Robinson Era

It's simplistic, of course, to name an entire era after Jackie Robinson, because if he hadn't integrated the major leagues, eventually somebody else would have. Perhaps Branch Rickey deserves the credit ? since without him it's not likely that integration would have happened until at least a few years later. But it's Robinson who symbolizes the era, as his arrival in the majors foretold the arrival of all-time greats such as Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson, and so many others.

1963-1968: The Pitchers' Era

For no apparent reason, Major League Baseball redrew the strike zone in 1963. As the Official Baseball Guide noted the next year,

At a meeting in New York, January 26, the Official Playing Rules Committee expanded the strike zone by restoring it to its pre-1950 status ? from the top of the batter's shoulders to the bottom of his knees. The armpits and the top of his knees had been the upper and lower boundaries. "The high strike zone definitely made it a pitcher's year in the American League," commented Ralph Houk, New York Yankee manager, at season's end.

And how? As Bill James writes in his latest Historical Baseball Abstract, "The action cut deeper than anticipated. Home run output in 1963 dropped by 10 percent, and total runs dropped by 12 percent, from 4.5 per game to 3.9. Batting averages dropped by 12 points. Baseball's second dead-ball era had begun."

Except we can't call it that, because the ball wasn't actually dead, as it was a half-century earlier. No, the ball was still plenty lively. But in almost every other way, the deck was stacked in the pitchers' favor. In addition to the expanded strike zone, some clubs built their pitcher's mounds to the maximum allowable height of 15 inches. At least.

Finally, after five years of generally decreasing hitting stats, things got completely ridiculous in 1968. That was the season in which Bob Gibson posted a 1.12 ERA, and American League hitters combined for a .230 batting average. And in 1969 the pitching mounds were shaved by a few inches, the strike zone was shrunk, and some semblance of balance returned to the game.

1969-1981: The Dynasties Era

Eight teams accounted for 41 of the 52 available division titles: The Reds, Pirates, Orioles, and A's each won six division titles; the Yankees won five division titles; the Royals, Dodgers, and Phillies won four division titles. Nine other teams did capture division titles, but only one of them ? the Mets in 1969 ? managed to win a World Series.

1982-1994: The Parity Era

Except for the Expos ? who did have the best record in baseball before the strike in 1994 ? every team in the National League won at least one division title, and it was only toward the end of this era that teams ? first the Athletics, and then the Braves, Pirates, and Blue Jays ? were able to put together multi-season runs. And at the same time that every team seemed to have a fighting chance, every sort of player seemed to have a place in the game, too.

This was the era in which Rickey Henderson stole 130 bases in one season, and in which Vince Coleman topped 100 steals in three straight seasons. But power hitters enjoyed life, too; 17 different players hit at least 40 home runs in a season. And there were also high-average hitters in this era, as a dozen different players batted higher than .350 in a season.

1995-2004: The Power Era

Power hitting, power pitching, power payrolls. Since the Strike of '94, the most powerful franchise in the game's history has earned 10 straight postseason berths. Before 1995, no player in the game's history had ever hit more than 61 home runs in a season; since 1995 it's happened six times. And the top 10 strikeout rates for starting pitchers? All have come since 1994 (mostly Randy Johnson, but also Pedro Martinez and Kerry Wood).

The chattering classes have already dubbed this the "Steroids Era," but the world's not nearly so simple a place. Absent steroids, players would still be hitting home runs, Randy Johnson would still be setting strikeout records, and the Yankees would still be winning pennants every year. We can't know how long this era will last, but the new drug-testing policy notwithstanding, there's no reason to think we'll see a significant change anytime soon.

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