Dead Ball Era1900-1919

Causes

Strategy

Players

Stadiums

Tobacco Cards

Causes

• Foul Strike Rule- Foul balls now count as Strikes

• Dead Baseball- Baseballs had a dead center until 1911

• Spit Ball- Pitchers spat on the ball, causing one side to spin faster than the other. The ball would move erratically

• Emery Ball- Discovered in 1913 by Russ Ford, pitchers would create dents to cause the ball to fly erratically

Famous Spitballer Burleigh Grimes

Emery Ball DiscovererRuss Ford

Small Ball Strategy• The prototypical player was smart, fast, and had great

bat control• Due to the difficulty of scoring runs, teams would bunt,

steal, and hit and run to play for a one run inning.

• The Baltimore Chop- a strategy masterminded by then-Baltimore manager John McGraw. The hitter would hit the ball straight down to the dirt in front of home, hoping to get a high bounce and reach first base safely

Trends

Category Per Game

Runs 3.5-4.5

Homeruns 0.1-0.2

Stolen Bases 1.1-1.4

Triples 0.4-0.6

Complete Games 0.5-0.9

Errors 1.4-2.5

Trends• With the adoption of the foul strike rule, runs and homeruns

decreased until the 1911 invention of the cork-centered baseball. Runs and Homeruns increased for a two year period, but with the discovery of the emery ball, runs and homeruns returned to normal dead ball levels

• Stolen Bases have throughout history been inversely related to homeruns. Stolen bases were high until the 1911 cork ball invention, and returned to high levels when homeruns returned to lower levels.

• Throughout the history of baseball, stolen bases have been increasingly less popular, with the exception of the late seventies and eighties, when homerun totals were down

• Triples were highest in the dead ball era due to spacious ball parks and the ground-rule triple. Errors were highest due to the sub-par fielding gloves. Complete Games also have decreased drastically since the dead ball era

Ty Cobb

4189 Hits- 2nd All-Time

892 SB- 4th All-Time

.367 BA- 1st All-Time

23 consecutive seasons hitting over .300

Honus WagnerOF SS

3415 Hits- 8th All-Time

722 SB

.327 BA

17 consecutive seasons hitting over .300

Best Fielding Shortstop

Nap Lajoie Tris Speaker

.426 BA in 1901- AL Record

3242 Hits- 13th All-Time

.338 BA- 21st All-Time

2B OF

3514 Hits- 5th All-Time

.345 BA- 6th All-Time

Cy Young Walter Johnson

511 Wins- 1st All-Time

749 CG- 1st All-Time

2803 Strikeouts-19th All-Time

2.63 ERA- 57th All-Time

7354.2 IP

417 Wins- 2nd All-Time

531 CG- 4th All-Time

3509 Strikeouts- 9th All-Time

2.17 ERA- 11th All-Time

Starting Pitchers

Christy Mathewson Grover Alexander

373 Wins- 3rd All-Time

437 CG- 13th All-Time

2198 Strikeouts- 49th All-Time

2.56 ERA- 48th All-Time

373 Wins- 3rd All-Time

434 CG- 14th All-Time

2502 Strikeouts 29th All-Time

2.13 ERA- 8th All-Time

Starting Pitchers

StadiumsPolo GroundsNew York Giants New York Yankees

Ebbets FieldBrooklyn Dodgers

Sportsman’s ParkSt. Louis Browns

Baseball Parks had deep centerfield fences, often 500 feet away from home. Fences down the lines were under 300 feet, while the gaps were over 400 feet.

These stadiums were partially responsible for the utilization of small ball strategy

Housed 20,000 fans and were the first ballparks to be built with steel

Other Parks

• Fenway Park

• Crosley Field

• Shibe Park

Tobacco Cards• Inserted in American Tobacco Company Cigarette Packages

to boost sales• 16 different backs corresponding to different brands• 523 cards• 1 7/16” X 2 5/8”

• Honus Wagner- Best Condition Sold for 2.35 million• Wagner was personally opposed to smoking, so he wanted

his cards removed from circulation, so very few survived.

End of an Era

• The spitball was banned, swinging the advantage to hitters

• After the fatal beaning of Indians’ shortstop Ray

Chapman, multiple baseballs were used in each game, resulting in increased visibility for batters

• Babe Ruth introduced the upper cut swing and made homerun hitting popular

http://andrew.appelbaum.googlepages.com/home