Baseball’s Dead Ball Era: 1900 to 1919

The dead ball era reportedly encompassed the progressive reform era leading up to the Roaring Twenties, which ran from 1900 to 1919. During this time, professional and semi-professional ball clubs relied heavily on the defense and shooting, and scoring was very important.

Pitchers dominated the pace of games and several legendary pitchers established their lasting legacy during this period. Some of the most notable were Cy Young, Walter Johnson, and Grover Cleveland Alexander. In part, these guys and several others were responsible for the lack of offensive production during this period, but there were other reasons as well.

“Dead Ball” also describes the actual condition of the baseball, especially in the later stages of games after it had been tampered with, defaced, and altered, which was standard practice at the time. Baseballs were considered expensive, and at three dollars each, only one ball was usually used per game. The hardness and aerodynamics of the ball were poor by modern standards, and thus the sphere was detrimental to a batsman’s success.

Generally speaking, while the ball was “dead” in most cases, it didn’t really provide much of an advantage on offense or defense. The ball could not be hit a great distance, but the poor condition of the ball slowed it down while increasing pitch motion, making contact somewhat easier for batsmen. The hit balls didn’t generate the tremendous speed early on like in today’s game. This benefited the defenders on the field. Balls were only replaced if they hit the stands and were lost. There weren’t many long ball hitters and the “short game” strategy was common, though some sources say the strategy as a whole was lacking in the dead ball era, which may have further contributed to the lack of offensive production. .

The “foul-strike” rule was installed in 1901 in the National League and in 1903 in the American League, while batters were charged their first two strikes on foul balls. The new rule benefited pitchers and caused offensive production to drop even more. It also remained legal to throw “spittle balls” and, although illegal, defacing the ball in any way was a very common practice. Consequently, as is to be expected under these conditions, hitting a soft, wet, and generally disfigured ball resulted in many singles and fewer doubles, triples, and home runs.

Dividing pitching responsibility among a larger bullpen also became fashionable, as did the sacrifice bunt. Both strategies also had a detrimental effect on the batter’s overall performance. Interestingly, there were some legendary record-setting hitters around this time, most notably Ty Cobb. Hailing from Georgia, his nickname was “Georgia Peach”, Cobb was best known for his striking accuracy and stubborn character of him who never gives up. He set the record for career batting average at .366 and runs scored at 2,245; both brands still stand to this day. He also finished his career first in hits; this record stood until the mid-1980s when Pete Rose broke the record. In 1936, Ty Cobb became baseball’s first Hall of Fame inductee, earning 222 of 226 votes.

During the “Dead Ball Era”, coaches relied on defensive strategy much more than offensive strategy. He told himself, “You could shake a tree and find a bat, but finding a glove was an entirely different matter.” Offensive skills were not highly sought after by managers. The focus was on defense. Some critics argue that “dead” baseballs were probably not the cause of the low score, given that there was no change in ball construction between the high-scoring 1890s and the low-scoring 1900s. The 1894 season saw the highest offensive totals for runs scored ever recorded in the National League. The construction of the ball was changed in 1911 in an attempt to make the ball livelier and increase scoring. The balls were plugged for the first time. And yet, the Dead Ball Era continued for another eight years, until 1919.

In 1908, an incident occurred in the National League that is widely known as the “Merkle Incident.” It happened during a regular season game between the Giants and the Cubs. In a tied game with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, runners on first and third, a single hit by Al Bridwell apparently won the game for the Giants at running back. he scored from third. However, Fred Merkle was on first and ran into the clubhouse instead of advancing to second base, partly because fans were packing the field at the Polo Grounds and partly because it was not entirely customary at the time to run out of hits. game winners. Cubs second baseman Johnny Evers later claimed to have retrieved the ball alertly and touched second base. Due to a strict interpretation of the rules, Merkle was ejected at second and the game-winning run was nullified. Due to the chaos on the field, none of the umpires saw Evers make the play. Since an official protest was registered, the League ordered the match to be replayed at the end of the season only if necessary. It turned out to be necessary when the Cubs and Giants finished the regular season tied for first place. The Cubs won the repeat game and went on to win the League pennant and then the World Series. The Chicago Cubs haven’t won a World Series since.

Although it didn’t come to the attention of the media and the public until 1920, no article on the dead ball era would be complete without mentioning the 1919 White Sox, or as they are widely known: the “Black Sox.” Many of the White Sox players felt they were underpaid. This was in light of a new trend where owners in both leagues were offering top players much higher salaries than they had previously been paid. At the same time, White Sox owner Charlie Comiskey felt that cutting costs was the best response to his team’s poor performance in 1918. As a result, eight of the White Sox’s starting players conspired to launch the Series. World.

Many watchers of the series suspected this to be the case and a lengthy controversy eventually led to a Grand Jury investigation. Eddie Cicotte was the first to come forward and admit his involvement in the conspiracy, followed by “Shoeless” Joe Jackson. All eight of the “Black Sox” were suspended from baseball. Even though there was no law against conspiracy to pitch baseball games, and all 8 players were ultimately acquitted, they were all declared permanently ineligible.