THOMAS COLUMN Drawing the lines between baseball's eras Local Sports - Abbeyfeale Golf Club Abbeyfeale THOMAS COLUMN Drawing the lines between baseball’ s eras Local Sports Facebook Twitter WhatsApp Telegram Every 20 years or so, baseball lurches in a different direction. It is, by a long established pattern, slightly past time for the pastime’s next turning point. Which leads me to suspect the rule changes to be imposed next season — in particular the pickoff throw limitations — will have a more substantial effect than I thought when the announcement was made. For now, a brief rundown on baseball’s past turning points: 1876-1900 Evolution Change, change and more change. The National League formed in 1876; it did not return the same clubs for a second year until 1882. Other “major leagues” came and went. Playing rules changed drastically, notably for pitchers — overhand pitching was banned until 1884, the pitching mound came in 1893. 1901-1920 Deadball The American League formed in 1901 and quickly did what the American Association, Union Association and Players League could not in the previous era: Compete financially with the National League. For the next half century, Major League Baseball had a stable structure: two leagues of eight teams, always in the same cities. On the field, the game was marked by “scientific baseball” — hit-and-run, steals, bunting. Balls were dirty, scuffed and rarely changed; even the pitchers who didn’t actively deface the ball were throwing spitters and scuffballs because that’s what they had. 1921-1941 Livelyball A pitch thrown by Carl Mays in 1920 killed Ray Chapman. Around the same time, the Black Sox scandal — the fixing of the 1919 World Series — was revealed. And in the same season, Babe Ruth hit 54 homers, blowing up the theories behind “scientific baseball.” Chapman’s death resulted in banning the defacing of baseballs. Pitchers had to learn new ways to make the ball move, and that took time. Batting averages and homers soared. 1942-1960 WWII Integration For no obvious reason, batting averages plummeted as soon as the US entered World War II and have never recovered. The war ended in 1945; the Dodgers signed Jackie Robinson in 1946 and brought him to Brooklyn in 1947, and the rest of this era is marked by the slow integration of the rest of the 16 teams (and the concurrent destruction of the Negro Leagues). 1961-1981 Expansion Two teams were added in 1961, two in 1962, four in 1969, two more in 1976. The 16 teams were now 26. Every expansion led to brief increases in offense. So did the addition of the designated hitter in the American League. Despite this, the era is marked by pitching. Runs were at their post-deadball low in the late 60s and after a short-lived surge in 1969 fell off again. The 1970s are the one decade in baseball history in which starters worked more innings than in the previous decade. 1981 -2002 Labor and steroids This is the one point at which I have trouble identifying a clear dividing line. I’m going with the split season of 1981 with its lengthy midseason players strike, but that might be forcing it into the every-two-decades pattern. But we see in this era two dominant trends: As players adopt weight-training, power surges. And the union-management division gets ever more bitter: The 1981 strike, the collusion of the mid 1980s, and finally the Armageddon strike of 1994. There is no obvious starting point for the PED culture, although it was clearly going on in the late ’80s and it really exploded in the late ’90s. 2003-now The rise of analytics Steroid testing and penalties were established for the 2003 season, and while it may be more of an intelligence test than anything else (only the dumb get caught), the once-routine 50 homer seasons have subsided. New technologies sharpen both player skills and our perception of strategic advantages. Fastballs are ever faster — and are thrown less frequently. Unconventional defensive alignments torment pull hitters. Steals, hit-and-runs, bunts and pitchouts have all but vanished, as have complete games by pitchers. The rule changes are intended to reverse much of that last paragraph — and usher in a new era more like the past. Edward Thoma is at [email protected] Twitter: @bboutsider. . Related Facebook Twitter WhatsApp Telegram Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * Advertisement Recent Posts 32 seconds ago THOMAS COLUMN Drawing the lines between baseball’ s eras Local Sports 2 mins ago New Book INSPIRATIONAL STORIES OF BASKETBALL AND COMPASSION 4 mins ago Braves sign rookie pitcher Spencer Strider to six-year $75 million contract 5 mins ago Deshaun Watson has been cleared to return to the Cleveland Browns Now what 6 mins ago Kyrie Irving acknowledges the lack of physicality by the Nets in preseason play Back to top button Abbeyfeale Golf Club