Dead-ball era

The dead-ball era is a baseball term generally used to describe the period between 1900 (though some date it to the beginning of baseball) and the emergence of Babe Ruth as a power hitter in 1920.

Origins of the term

Specifically defined, the dead-ball era refers to an era in baseball characterizied by extreme low scoring games, in fact, it was the lowest scoring period in major league baseball history. Using major league statistics, the dead ball started in about 1903, and continued to 1918. A common misperception of the dead-ball era is a scarcity of home runs, yet home runs were also rare in the 1890's-a very high run scoring decade. The deficiency of scoring in the dead-ball era simply magnified the problem of a lack of home runs in the game.

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