How Babe Ruth Helped Change the Game of Baseball

 

            In the early-20th century, strategies differed greatly from the ones of today. Though rules prohibiting pitchers from defacing baseballs existed, they were rarely enforced. Hurlers used every dirty trick in the book, scuffing up balls and covering them with mud and/or tobacco juice. Rather than replacing the old ones in a timely manner, umpires kept balls in play until they were lopsided and spongy. Most major league ballparks had spacious dimensions in the outfield, putting hitters at a further disadvantage. Runs were manufactured one base at a time using old school tactics such as bunting, stealing, and sacrificing. Home runs were a somewhat rare event.  

            In August of 1920, Indians shortstop Ray Chapman was struck and killed by a Carl Mays pitch. The sound of the ball hitting Chapman’s skull was reportedly so loud that Mays assumed his offering had made contact with the infielder’s bat. When the ball rolled toward him, Mays actually scooped it up and threw to first base. Chapman collapsed on the field, dying hours later at a nearby hospital. Things took another dark turn for the sport in September of that year when pitcher Eddie Cicotte of the White Sox admitted that he had conspired with gamblers to throw the 1919 World Series. Eight Chicago players were permanently banished in the wake of the scandal.

            Prior to the 1920 season, major league executives decided to enforce a ban on spitballs (with the exception of 17 pitchers who were allowed to use the pitch under a grandfather clause). In the wake of the Chapman incident, umpires were encouraged to put fresh balls into play more often. The result was an offensive explosion unparalleled in the game’s history.

            In his first campaign as a full-time outfielder, Babe Ruth set a new single-season record for home runs with 29. With the new guidelines in place, the Babe eventually increased that number to 60. Ruth wasn’t the only one breaking down fences. In 1930, Hack Wilson pushed the National League single-season home run mark up to 56—a record that stood for nearly 70 years.   

            With Ruth and Wilson leading the way, baseball was transformed from a ponderous game of strategy to an explosive exhibition of raw power. The outcome of games could be changed with a single swing of the bat. And as balls began flying out of parks with regularity, old strategies were virtually abandoned. There were 3,265 stolen bases recorded in 1910. By 1930, that number had dwindled to 1,080—a decrease of 67 percent. Baseball historians now refer to the 1920s and ‘30s as the “Lively Ball Era.”

            Conditions in the major leagues continued to favor hitters until the 1940s, when collective batting averages fell into the .260-range. Prior to then, they had hovered in the .280s for nearly two decades. Baseball’s offensive renaissance peaked in 1930 with an average of 5.5 runs scored per game. The composite major league batting mark that year was .292—the highest single-season average since the dawn of the 20th century. By way of comparison, the game has seen a sharp decline in batting averages over the past several years. Between 2010 and 2021, collective major league averages ranged from .257 to .244.

Read More about this topic in my latest book, Lore of the Bambino: 100 Great Babe Ruth Stories.